Charles Comfort
1900 - 1994
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Trained and employed as a commercial artist early in his career, Comfort was very attentive to the emerging artistic movements of his time, particularly abstract expressionism. He was always careful, however, to never get carried away in a new movement so much so that he would give up his artistic personality and values. His portraits and landscapes show an appreciation for traditional themes and techniques with an interest in the abstract.
This cautious personality was probably why Comfort was hired as Director of the National Gallery of Canada in 1960. He took over for Alan Jarvis who tended to be too unconventional for the Gallery's board.
Comfort apprenticed at Brigdens in Winnipeg, studied in New York, and worked in Toronto, where he joined the Arts and Letters Club and met members of the Group of Seven. Their 1920 inaugural show deeply inspired Comfort. He took painting trips with LeMoine FitzGerald and W.J. Phillips, and had a studio next to A.Y. Jackson in the Studio Building. In 1932, he was commissioned to create his first of many murals, for Toronto's North American Life Building. He taught historical painting techniques at the University of Toronto for 25 years and served as an official war artist in the Second World War.
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