Project Description

Artist Biography

Illingworth Holy Kerr was born in Lumsden, Saskatchewan, in 1905. From 1924 to 1927 Kerr studied in Toronto at the Central Technical School and later at the Ontario College of Art under members of the Group of Seven.

Following a brief period of work in England and Scotland in the early 1930s, he attended the Westminster School of Art in London in 1936.

Kerr returned to Canada, working a variety of jobs before teaching at the Vancouver School of Art in the mid-1940s.

In 1947, he moved to Calgary to assume his role as head of the Art Department of the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, now the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD).

Continuing his own artistic practice, he was fortunate to study under the great American Expressionist teacher and painter Hans Hoffman during the summer of 1954.

In 1967, he retired from ACAD to paint full time.

In 1982, he received the Order of Canada; he died in Calgary in 1989.

Featured Artwork:

1930 Ravenscrag Ross's Ranch - low res

Ravenscrag Ross’s Ranch – 1930

Artistic Style → Expressionism

Other Artwork by Illingworth Kerr: