George Paginton; the man who quietly painted Peel

BY STEPHEN WEIR

The 401 superhighway winds through Peel County like a strip of concrete spaghetti. There are glass and steel condos where cows once grazed. Last century painting great George Paginton would not recognize his old stomping grounds where he loved to wander and paint.

Back in the 1930s, 40s and 50s George Paginton was the patron saint of landscape painting in a part of Ontario that would one day become the busy metropolis of the Toronto GTA, Brampton and Mississauga. Inspired by the Peel landscape like the Group of Seven’s love of the outdoors, Paginton’s direct, truthful and rugged paintings of the land brought out a sense of beauty rarely seen nowadays in art galleries and museums.

Born in the UK in 1901 and orphaned at the age of three, he came to Ontario as a 10-year-old farm labourer. Eight years later he headed to Toronto where he soon took up painting. He was good, so good that he painted and shared studio space in Toronto’s Rosedale Valley with members of the Group of Seven. He stayed with them until he built his own home and studio in what is now Etobicoke overlooking the Lake Ontario shore.

Like many recognized Canadian artists, Paginton became a commercial artist. Starting in 1926, he began a 43-year career at the Toronto Star. As an editorial illustrator, he covered events such as: the construction of the Toronto subway, Toronto’s City Hall, and the building of the St. Lawrence Seaway. He painted his own signature style landscapes in his free time. Many of his cityscapes and industrial paintings are included in the Brampton exhibition.

A prolific yet very private artist, Paginton created over 1,500 oil paintings, the majority of which were never exhibited or sold commercially. After his death in 1988, his paintings and sketches began to be purchased by esteemed private collectors, museums and art galleries. The Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA) in Brampton collection includes a Paginton, and with the help of the late artist’s family, it is launching a new exhibition and a written-in-Brampton book about the artist and his work.

George Paginton: Painting a Nation opens at PAMA this weekend. The show runs to February 9^th, 2020 and is accompanied by a beautiful hard cover publication about the artist, written by two PAMA curators Darrin Martens and Sharona Adamowicz-Clements. George Paginton: Painting a Nation marks the introduction of his work, which spanned over 70 years.

“The opportunity to create new Canadian art history is thrilling,” notes PAMA Senior Curator of Art Darrin Martens.

“Paginton pursued his private passion of capturing the essence of the Canadian landscape with a sense of purpose,” says co-curator Sharona Adamowicz-Clements.

The show is open to the public seven days a week. The Paginton book is also available at the historic gallery and museum. PAMA is made up of a series of buildings, two of which are over 150 years old and used to operate as the Peel County Courthouse and Jail. Operated by the Region of Peel, PAMA is located on Wellington Street in Brampton. Visit pama.peelregion.ca to learn more.