Art a la mode: Six decades of fashion illustration
By David Livingstone, Fashion Reporter On one of those days when it seems that Toronto has had no fashion past, that it is always going to happen soon, an invitation arrived at an exhibition that shimmers with all kinds of history; of wearables, yes, but also of eyes and hands, and the heart. Opening tonight at The Alexander Gallery (154 King St E.), where it will hang through March 21, the show is called Three Canadian Artist: 45 Years of Fashion Illustration, and is not to be missed. On display is work by Rene Marcil, Evelyn Rowat, and Frederick Watson. Watson is the junior. He was born in Barrie, Ont., in 1935 and was drawn to drawing women’s faces and fashions when he was 6, though it was some time before he realized that there could be in such inclination any chance of a livelihood.
Then in 1957, working a checkroom at Simpsons in Toronto, he was given Jean Miller’s portfolio to tend. He snooped and thereafter was inspired and encouraged by Miller, a flamboyant stylish legend who smoked from a long cigarette holder and who, for years, was responsible for the illustrations gracing advertisements for The Room – itself a legendary establishment – for which she also designed the logo. Fired up by Miller, Watson pursued his own career. His first printed advertisement was for Fay Jackson, a Hamilton shop. Later he freelanced for Jay Dee, Bridal Modes, J. Michaels and Mr. Smith. For three years, he was on staff at Fairweather, but he quit when he was expected to do, besides sketches, pay slips. For the past 12 years, Watson has worked as a dispatcher at a hospital. From time to time, he has illustrated theatre posters, and gamely awaiting the opportunity to draw from life, has rerendered existing images by Rene Gruau, the French illustrator he idolizes or, as in the case of a largely painted triptych in the show, from a fashion photograph by Hiro. Bearing truer testimony to his own irrepressible gifts is ahead, tossed off on a napkin in a New York restaurant, in his distinctive, elongated, glamorizing lines.||
Watson and Evelyn Rowat have been friends since they met. She felt she had encountered “my one and only fan.” They are, however, of differing experiences and tastes. For example, arriving at the gallery for an interview last Friday morning, Rowat dressed athletically and totally in black, took notice of Watson’s colourfully patterned tie. “Isn’t it wonderful?” said he, “No, I hat it,” said she.
By such means does Rowat make a secret of a tender nature evident in more than 50 years if drawing and painting. Born in Ottawa in 1918, she got her first job as an illustrator with Eaton’s in Montreal in the late 30’s. After a year, she took off for New York and landed at Lord & Taylor, doing advertisements for that store that Watson would later collect. To her, they were “just a way of making a living.” Her interest always less in fashion than in form, lines and compositions, she practiced an art that eventually wound up in Vogue, Mademoiselle, Glamour and Elle. It is also featured in Fashion Drawing in Vogue, the most authoritative book on fashion illustration, whose author, William Packer, writes of her freshness, strength, clarity, elegant animation and graphic sophistication. And she is still working, Last year, she completed a children’s book (text and pictures)that now only needs a publisher.
Meek in the matter of her own accomplishment – “I’m a commercial artist,” she says – Rowat directs her esteem at the art of her husband, Rene Marcil. Filtering love and pride from her assessment, she is yet able to declare, “I’m living with a bloody genius!” Born in Montreal in 1917, Marcil met Rowat when he was working at Eaton’s too. They married in Ne York in 1944. Because Rowat was making what she remembered as “a helluva lot of money.” Marcil was able to leave a position as the art director of an advertising agency and devote himself to fine art, such as has been the basis for more than 14 one-man shows. However, he always understood fashion and at The Alexander Gallery are a couple of pieces from 1947 that demonstrated his instinct for the exquisite and unstrained.
Physically challenged from birth – an atrophied right arm, uneven legs – Marcil has suffered major heart ailments of late. Nevertheless, in the exhibition are drawings that prove how he, even in hospital last fall, was able in no time at all to make coloured markers and blank paper say something dashingly anarchic, funny and informed about dress and vanity.
By David Livingstone, Fashion Reporter On one of those days when it seems that Toronto has had no fashion past, that it is always going to happen soon, an invitation arrived at an exhibition that shimmers with all kinds of history; of wearables, yes, but also of eyes and hands, and the heart. Opening tonight at The Alexander Gallery (154 King St E.), where it will hang through March 21, the show is called Three Canadian Artist: 45 Years of Fashion Illustration, and is not to be missed. On display is work by Rene Marcil, Evelyn Rowat, and Frederick Watson. Watson is the junior. He was born in Barrie, Ont., in 1935 and was drawn to drawing women’s faces and fashions when he was 6, though it was some time before he realized that there could be in such inclination any chance of a livelihood.
Then in 1957, working a checkroom at Simpsons in Toronto, he was given Jean Miller’s portfolio to tend. He snooped and thereafter was inspired and encouraged by Miller, a flamboyant stylish legend who smoked from a long cigarette holder and who, for years, was responsible for the illustrations gracing advertisements for The Room – itself a legendary establishment – for which she also designed the logo. Fired up by Miller, Watson pursued his own career. His first printed advertisement was for Fay Jackson, a Hamilton shop. Later he freelanced for Jay Dee, Bridal Modes, J. Michaels and Mr. Smith. For three years, he was on staff at Fairweather, but he quit when he was expected to do, besides sketches, pay slips. For the past 12 years, Watson has worked as a dispatcher at a hospital. From time to time, he has illustrated theatre posters, and gamely awaiting the opportunity to draw from life, has rerendered existing images by Rene Gruau, the French illustrator he idolizes or, as in the case of a largely painted triptych in the show, from a fashion photograph by Hiro. Bearing truer testimony to his own irrepressible gifts is ahead, tossed off on a napkin in a New York restaurant, in his distinctive, elongated, glamorizing lines.||
Watson and Evelyn Rowat have been friends since they met. She felt she had encountered “my one and only fan.” They are, however, of differing experiences and tastes. For example, arriving at the gallery for an interview last Friday morning, Rowat dressed athletically and totally in black, took notice of Watson’s colourfully patterned tie. “Isn’t it wonderful?” said he, “No, I hat it,” said she.
By such means does Rowat make a secret of a tender nature evident in more than 50 years if drawing and painting. Born in Ottawa in 1918, she got her first job as an illustrator with Eaton’s in Montreal in the late 30’s. After a year, she took off for New York and landed at Lord & Taylor, doing advertisements for that store that Watson would later collect. To her, they were “just a way of making a living.” Her interest always less in fashion than in form, lines and compositions, she practiced an art that eventually wound up in Vogue, Mademoiselle, Glamour and Elle. It is also featured in Fashion Drawing in Vogue, the most authoritative book on fashion illustration, whose author, William Packer, writes of her freshness, strength, clarity, elegant animation and graphic sophistication. And she is still working, Last year, she completed a children’s book (text and pictures)that now only needs a publisher.
Meek in the matter of her own accomplishment – “I’m a commercial artist,” she says – Rowat directs her esteem at the art of her husband, Rene Marcil. Filtering love and pride from her assessment, she is yet able to declare, “I’m living with a bloody genius!” Born in Montreal in 1917, Marcil met Rowat when he was working at Eaton’s too. They married in Ne York in 1944. Because Rowat was making what she remembered as “a helluva lot of money.” Marcil was able to leave a position as the art director of an advertising agency and devote himself to fine art, such as has been the basis for more than 14 one-man shows. However, he always understood fashion and at The Alexander Gallery are a couple of pieces from 1947 that demonstrated his instinct for the exquisite and unstrained.
Physically challenged from birth – an atrophied right arm, uneven legs – Marcil has suffered major heart ailments of late. Nevertheless, in the exhibition are drawings that prove how he, even in hospital last fall, was able in no time at all to make coloured markers and blank paper say something dashingly anarchic, funny and informed about dress and vanity.