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Art of Perception:
Jack Chambers’s
Inner Vision


Curated by Mark A. Cheetham

Painting by Jack Chambers of highway lanes surrounded by buildings and green fields under a large blue sky filled with fluffy clouds. The perspective is slightly from above and the horizon line is tilted.

A painter with unsurpassed technical proficiency and a bold experimenter in film, Jack Chambers (1931–1978) created his art and lived his life with passion. After studying in Spain, he returned to his hometown of London, Ontario, to challenge conventional notions of regionalism. His theoretical 1969 essay “Perceptual Realism” encouraged artists to express their primary sensory experience, not simply reproduce their surroundings. Chambers achieved prominence as both a painter and a filmmaker and was vigorous in organizing Canadian visual artists’ rights. His work is as challenging and controversial today as it was when he made it. For more on Jack Chambers read Mark A. Cheetham’s Jack Chambers: Life & Work.



About the Curator: Mark A. Cheetham

Mark A. Cheetham is a professor of art history at the University of Toronto. A Guggenheim Fellow, he has published extensively on historiography and art theory, abstract art, and art in Canada. His book Landscape into Eco Art: Articulations of Nature Since the ’60s was published in 2018.



Banner Image: Jack Chambers, 401 Towards London No. 1 (detail), 1968–69, oil on wood, 183 x 244 cm, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.

Gallery

Painting by Jack Chambers depicting a table filled with white dishes, fruit, and an overwhelming amount of yellow flowers. The table gradually transitions into white hills sparsely populated with blue triangular trees. Above the trees float six heads and glowing orbs.

McGilvary County, 1962

Painting by Jack Chambers of two women sitting and talking on a long sofa covered in green and pink striped blanket. It is painted in a flat style with a minimal colour palette of browns, yellows, greens, and pinks, and a single navy chair to the right of the sofa.

Olga and Mary Visiting, 1964–65

Black and white illustrated print by Jack Chambers divided into three parts. In the top left, bold numbers on a white background read "1 + 1 = 9" and "1 + 1 + 9 =." Below that, a row of grey Xs appear on a lighter grey background. On the right, a two-tone negative portrait of a man is shown, one hand clutching his chest and a worried expression on his face.

Plus Nine, 1966

Artwork by Jack Chambers consisting of several parts. A realistic black and white illustration of a family with two adults and three small children is in the middle. A strip of photos of a boy is placed to the right, reproduced realistically in the middle and then as a silhouette in adjacent frames. Above and below the photos are scenes of a regatta, with triangular black and white sailboats drawn on a pink background. A blue plastic frame surrounds the artwork overall.

Regatta No. 1, 1968

Painting by Jack Chambers of highway lanes surrounded by buildings and green fields under a large blue sky filled with fluffy clouds. The perspective is slightly from above and the horizon line is tilted.

401 Towards London No. 1, 1968–69

Close-up image of a colour film strip. Three stacked frames show a white house with a brownish red roof, obscured with a fence and tall trees.

Circle, 1968–69

Close-up image of a colour film strip. Three stacked frames show a boy in a blue sweater holding cupped hands up to the mouth of a deer with large antlers.

The Hart of London, 1968–70

Realistic painting by Jack Chambers of a scene in a living room in the early morning. Two small boys wearing robes and footed pajamas sit on chairs watching a small TV set in the corner. A large window shows a neighbourhood in winter with a clear blue sky.

Sunday Morning No. 2, 1968–70

Painting by Jack Chambers depicting a family with two adults and two small boys sitting at a dining room table having lunch. Behind the table is a large window showing a winter day with a clear blue sky. The painting is unfinished; the shading of the family and table is mostly rendered, while the floor is flatly coloured and the picture frames on the wall are blank.

Lunch, 1969 (unfinished)

Realistic painting by Jack Chambers of a winter scene under an overcast sky. A hospital is small in the centre of the frame with other smaller buildings and trees visible along the horizon line.

Victoria Hospital, 1969–70

Painting by Jack Chambers depicting a table filled with white dishes, fruit, and an overwhelming amount of yellow flowers. The table gradually transitions into white hills sparsely populated with blue triangular trees. Above the trees float six heads and glowing orbs.

McGilvary County, 1962

Painting by Jack Chambers of two women sitting and talking on a long sofa covered in green and pink striped blanket. It is painted in a flat style with a minimal colour palette of browns, yellows, greens, and pinks, and a single navy chair to the right of the sofa.

Olga and Mary Visiting, 1964–65

Black and white illustrated print by Jack Chambers divided into three parts. In the top left, bold numbers on a white background read "1 + 1 = 9" and "1 + 1 + 9 =." Below that, a row of grey Xs appear on a lighter grey background. On the right, a two-tone negative portrait of a man is shown, one hand clutching his chest and a worried expression on his face.

Plus Nine, 1966

Artwork by Jack Chambers consisting of several parts. A realistic black and white illustration of a family with two adults and three small children is in the middle. A strip of photos of a boy is placed to the right, reproduced realistically in the middle and then as a silhouette in adjacent frames. Above and below the photos are scenes of a regatta, with triangular black and white sailboats drawn on a pink background. A blue plastic frame surrounds the artwork overall.

Regatta No. 1, 1968

Painting by Jack Chambers of highway lanes surrounded by buildings and green fields under a large blue sky filled with fluffy clouds. The perspective is slightly from above and the horizon line is tilted.

401 Towards London No. 1, 1968–69

Close-up image of a colour film strip. Three stacked frames show a white house with a brownish red roof, obscured with a fence and tall trees.

Circle, 1968–69

Close-up image of a colour film strip. Three stacked frames show a boy in a blue sweater holding cupped hands up to the mouth of a deer with large antlers.

The Hart of London, 1968–70

Realistic painting by Jack Chambers of a scene in a living room in the early morning. Two small boys wearing robes and footed pajamas sit on chairs watching a small TV set in the corner. A large window shows a neighbourhood in winter with a clear blue sky.

Sunday Morning No. 2, 1968–70

Painting by Jack Chambers depicting a family with two adults and two small boys sitting at a dining room table having lunch. Behind the table is a large window showing a winter day with a clear blue sky. The painting is unfinished; the shading of the family and table is mostly rendered, while the floor is flatly coloured and the picture frames on the wall are blank.

Lunch, 1969 (unfinished)

Realistic painting by Jack Chambers of a winter scene under an overcast sky. A hospital is small in the centre of the frame with other smaller buildings and trees visible along the horizon line.

Victoria Hospital, 1969–70

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Art of Perception: Jack Chambers’s Inner Vision