William Arthur Winter
1909-1996
William Winter was born in Winnipeg MB, and studied at the Winnipeg School of Art (1923-1929) under the tutelage of Frank Hans (Franz) Johnston (G7) and Lionel LeMoine Fitzgerald. He continued to study are while working as a commercial artist both in Winnipeg and then Toronto, where he created an advertising agency with Lesley Wookey and Jack Bush in 1942. In 1955, Winter left his career in commercial art to work as an independent artist.
Winter became known in the 1950s for his lively city scenes, many depicting children in a modern realist style. This social realism extended to painting the street activity and people of the inner city. His work extended across media and he painted in oil, acrylic and watercolour, also creating drawings in pencil and coloured chalk.
“I paint with a great deal of nostalgia. I paint my own boyhood.” Winter’s paintings are often sensitive portrayals of youth. Today, they evoke a reminiscence of a less complicated time.
In the 1960s, Winter taught drawing and painting at the Ontario College of Art and the Artist’s Workshop, both in Toronto. He died in England in 1966.
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