Collectors of Canadian post-war art are familiar with William Ronald’s large impressive central image paintings. However, Ronald’s remarkable watercolours on paper from the early 1950’s are worth closer examination. These paper works are dynamic and bold, displaying virtuosity on par with paper works by the most celebrated international abstract artists of the 1950’s.

William Ronald was the first Canadian artist to establish firm ties with the New York art scene in the 1950’s. Ronald studied with internationally acclaimed art figure and teacher Hans Hoffmann in 1952 in New York. Ronald also played a key role in organizing the participation of the Painters Eleven artists for the American Abstract Artists Show at the Riverside Museum in 1956. Ronald was closely aligned with the American abstract expressionist movement.

William Ronald

William Ronald (detail of painting), 1953, Untitled,
watercolour on paper, 18 in. x 24.5 in,
signed and dated bottom right.
Price: $11,750.00

In this rare William Ronald work pictured above we see the spontaneity of line, the brilliance of colour, the drips and splotches of ink that are associated with the works of the great American abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock and Bradley Walker Tomlin. His New York connections and encounters with these American abstract artists likely influenced William Ronald’s freer and more spontaneous paintings of 1953 and 1954. Untitled, 1953 by William Ronald reproduced above is a superb and rare example of Ronald’s strongest work from his early period.

James Rottman Fine Art carries a significant inventory of historical artworks by William Ronald. Do not hesitate to contact us with inquiries regarding this artwork or other works by William Ronald.