Bertram Richard Brooker
Bertram Richard Brooker
1888 - 1955
CGP CSGA CSPWC OSA RCA
Bertram Brooker came to Canada from England with his family in 1905, settling in Portage la Prairie in Manitoba. In 1921 he moved to Toronto, where he worked as a magazine editor. He joined the Arts and Letters Club, meeting Group of Seven members, in particular Lawren Harris, who introduced Brooker to his beliefs concerning the importance of spiritualism in art and to the theories of Wassily Kandinsky. The idea of music resonated in Kandinsky's abstract painting, and he considered colours to be like chords. This resonated with Brooker, as reflected in titles of his works such as Abstraction - Music. By 1926, Brooker was painting seriously, and had become a pioneer in abstraction in Canada. By 1927 he had his first exhibition, showing his abstract works at the Arts and Letters Club, then at the Group of Seven's 1928 exhibition. Considered radical and challenging in the late 1920s, the power of Brooker's abstract paintings gathered respect and renown over time. The National Gallery of Canada subsequently acquired his canvases Ascending Forms, Evolution and Alleluiah, all from the late 1920s. Other museums such as the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Vancouver Art Gallery have collected abstract work from this period.

After encountering Group artist Lemoine FitzGerald in Winnipeg in 1929, Brooker abandoned abstraction in favour of realism. He then produced nudes, portraits, still lifes and landscapes, with approaches ranging from a stylized realism to the use of elements of Cubism. Like Edwin Holgate, he encountered the controversial reactions to nudes that took place in the 1920s and 1930s in Toronto. In the 1930s, Brooker was working for the Toronto advertising firm J.J. Gibbons, but in 1934 took more time off to paint, and the subsequent few years were very productive. His work from this period was realistic, dynamic, harmonious in palette and had strongly defined form and volume. A founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters, he participated in their first exhibition in 1933.

Also a well known writer, Brooker wrote a syndicated column The Seven Arts, in which he critically reviewed theatre, music, visual arts and poetry. A group of his poems from the 1920s and 1930s was published in the book Sounds Assembling: The Poetry of Bertram Brooker, and he was awarded the first Governor General's Literary Award for his 1936 novel Think of the Earth.

Brooker joined the MacLaren Advertising Company in 1940, and by his retirement had attained the position of vice-president. He continued to paint both stylized and naturalistic landscapes. He died in Toronto in 1955.
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Hot Weather by Bertram Richard Brooker sold for $55,250
Bertram Richard Brooker
Hot Weather
36 1/4 x 30 1/4 in, 92.1 x 76.8 cm
circa 1937
oil on canvas
Estimate: $25,000 - $35,000 CDN
Sold for: $55,250 CDN (premium included)
Canadian, Impressionist & Modern Art on Thursday, May 25, 2023
Still Life with a Bag #3 by Bertram Richard Brooker sold for $34,500
Bertram Richard Brooker
Still Life with a Bag #3
24 x 30 in, 61 x 76.2 cm
circa 1929
oil on canvas
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 CDN
Sold for: $34,500 CDN (premium included)
Fine Canadian and Irish Art Fall 2003 on Friday, November 28, 2003
Fawn Bay by Bertram Richard Brooker sold for $32,450
Bertram Richard Brooker
Fawn Bay
24 1/4 x 30 in, 61.6 x 76.2 cm
1936
oil on canvas
Estimate: $30,000 - $40,000 CDN
Sold for: $32,450 CDN (premium included)
Fall 2016 - 3rd Session on Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Thick Stem by Bertram Richard Brooker sold for $21,250
Bertram Richard Brooker
Thick Stem
15 x 11 3/4 in, 38.1 x 29.8 cm
oil on canvas on board
Estimate: $15,000 - $20,000 CDN
Sold for: $21,250 CDN (premium included)
Post-War & Contemporary Art on Thursday, November 29, 2018
Willows by Bertram Richard Brooker sold for $16,250
Bertram Richard Brooker
Willows
11 x 14 in, 27.9 x 35.6 cm
oil on board
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CDN
Sold for: $16,250 CDN (premium included)
Modern Landscapes on Thursday, September 26, 2024
The Finite Wrestling with the Infinite No. 1 by Bertram Richard Brooker sold for $15,210
Bertram Richard Brooker
The Finite Wrestling with the Infinite No. 1
24 x 17 in, 61 x 43.2 cm
1925
oil on board
Estimate: $3,000 - $4,000 CDN
Sold for: $15,210 CDN (premium included)
May 2013 - 5th Session on Thursday, May 30, 2013
Near Fawn Bay by Bertram Richard Brooker sold for $14,950
Bertram Richard Brooker
Near Fawn Bay
11 x 14 in, 27.9 x 35.6 cm
oil on panel
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 CDN
Sold for: $14,950 CDN (premium included)
Fine Canadian Art Fall 2005 on Thursday, November 24, 2005
Trees / Abstract Figure (verso) by Bertram Richard Brooker sold for $11,700
Bertram Richard Brooker
Trees / Abstract Figure (verso)
15 x 11 1/2 in, 38.1 x 29.2 cm
double-sided oil on board
Estimate: $1,000 - $1,500 CDN
Sold for: $11,700 CDN (premium included)
September 2010 - 3rd Session on Thursday, September 30, 2010
Untitled by Bertram Richard Brooker sold for $11,700
Bertram Richard Brooker
Untitled
24 x 17 1/4 in, 61 x 43.8 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 CDN
Sold for: $11,700 CDN (premium included)
September 2010 - 3rd Session on Thursday, September 30, 2010
Trees / Commotion (verso) by Bertram Richard Brooker sold for $11,115
Bertram Richard Brooker
Trees / Commotion (verso)
11 1/2 x 15 in, 29.2 x 38.1 cm
double-sided oil on board
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 CDN
Sold for: $11,115 CDN (premium included)
September 2010 - 3rd Session on Thursday, September 30, 2010