Much of Mr. Flood's advice to art students was as valid then as it is today. Over two hundred works by Mr. Flood - made available through the generousity of his son John form the permanent Wifrid Flood Memorial Collection available for computer viewing at www.tinangallery.com

This parent child cosmology guided 

Canadian artists continue into the new millennium  struggling against this cosmology that Mr. Flood and his fellow artists encountered.

by  Wilfrid  Flood    (May 1943) 
 
 

The ways of a nation are reflected in the ability of the artist. In a truly democratic state the artist's outlook should be strongly progressive and

 individualistic.  

The vision and technique of the artist should be as distinctive as adult hand-writing, and mass-mind painting of schools, groups of movements, strictly avoided.Much fine pioneering, however, has been done by groups. In Canada the impact of the Group of Seven jolted Canadian art from its smug foundation of Europeanism. The task of injecting life into the art of this country was, perhaps, beyond the power of one man. It was a service nobly performed and chiefly responsible for the present healthy condition of Canadian painting.  

One of the main obstacles to development of character in painting is the student's inclination to copy the master. Admiration of the instructor's work causes him, unconsciously, to adopt the same outlook and mannerisms. Modern instruction seeks to eliminate this tendency and the individual must strive to assist this end in every  
way possible.  

Another pitfall to be avoided is exhibitionism. Flashy works that are full of meaningless brush swaggering attract the eye but have no lasting interest for the mind. The early years of the student should be devoted to the practice of rapid and accurate draughtsmanship. Together will intellectual development, the foundation of future skill is thus laid. With the command of drawing at his disposal, the artist's mind is free to concentrate on the intellectual message of his work. Only for this purpose should dexterity in handling be encouraged, not as an end in itself.  

In judging art, the lay mind is inclined to favour strict photographic realism. The attitude is reasonable, because very few  
are endowed with a natural ability to draw and thus this talent is admired and popular. The persistence of this esteem is largely  
responsible for the common difference of opinion, between the artist and layman, on the true purpose of art.  

At no time in life should one have a closed mind on any thought or style of painting. Experiment should be encouraged, not derided. Our viewpoint on art may be diametrically opposite a few years hence.  
  
The economic position of the fine artist has always been unsound. By this statement I do not wish to conjure up the age-old conception of a starving aesthete in an attic. The Canadian artist of today is  
down to earth. Fortunately, he has not adopted the affectations and  super-intellectual in populous centres. In appearance he cannot be distinguished from his fellow-citizen, but economically he lacks the organization of other fields of endeavour.  

Due to the social insecurity of living by painting alone, a large percentage of our artists are "Sunday Painters". The "Sunday Painter" has to cram; he seeks to accomplish in fifty-two weekends what the professional artist can do in fifty-two consecutive days.  

[editors note: the Canadian Government did not view the war artist as a necessary contirbutor to the historical recording of Canadian History which was viewed as an adjunct to British and Americian History]  

Our artists are only  too eager to do their share in this war, but not until official facilities are also extended to the part-time painter, can we hope  for a diversified fulfilment of this end. A solution might lie in the issuance of passes to responsible civilian artists, or art students, to various centres of military or wartime activity. Any exhibition contains a large number of works from the "Sunday Painter" group and their efforts should be no small item in the contribution to Canadian war painting.  

It is unfortunate that a great deal of art talent is hampered, or lost, by economic insecurity. A personal experience of a few years ago pinpointed for the author the tragedy of lost talent. While sketching in the outskirts of Hull I was approached by a youth of about eighteen years whose conversation revealed a remarkable  
knowledge of art. I gathered that his father was unemployed - had been so for a number of years - and that he, himself, was not in very good health.  

Taking me to a shed in the yard of his home, he humbly showed some examples of his art work. Pieces of sacking had been used for canvas; paint had been "bummed" from leavings in a nearby railway yard; a discarded piece of lead piping had been hammered into a fine symbolic figure. His work was imaginative and ambitious. Lino  
prints on cheap paper were one of his untutored endeavours, and when he generously offered his last print of one of these I regret now that I refused to deprive him of it.  

After this absorbing visit, it was my intention to return without delay. Unfortunately, several weeks elapsed and when I did return I was shocked to hear that he was dead. He had died from physical undernourishment.  

Officialdom, in Canada, is slow to realize the potentiality of the artist. Numerous fine public buildings have been erected in  
Ottawa in recent years. In only one, the French Legation, was the artist thought of. Art work in this structure was considered, not as a mere decoration, but as an integral part of the edifice. The French government sent artists from France, a muralist, a sculptor, an engraver and their various assistants. How much could Canada have  
gained had our government showed similar initiative!  

Until such time as the government and public are thoroughly art conscious, social insecurity for the artist will prevail, and the  
progress of Canadian art will be correspondingly handicapped. Let us  
all ensure that our energies are constantly directed to the correction of this blemish as we strive, with true artists' enjoyment, to make Canada's art outstanding.  

[editor's note: when you view Mr. Flood's paintings remember that he was a part time painter and that he held down a full time job five days a week] 

WILFRID FLOOD