Biographical Information
Illingworth Holey Kerr ~ [1905-1989] Canadian ASA, CM, RCA
Kerr was born in Lumsden, Saskatchewan in 1905. In 1923, he moved to Toronto where he attended the Central Technical School and the Ontario College of Art. There, he studied under influential Canadian landscape painters such as Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald, F.H. Varley, and J.W. Beatty. In 1936 he moved to London, England where he attended the Westminster School of Art. While in England he wrote short stories and was the Assistant Director of documentary film work. When Kerr moved back to Canada he taught at the Vancouver School of Art (1945-46). Kerr worked mostly in oil and watercolour, but was familiar with a wide array of techniques. He brought a new vision to the prairie landscape as one of the first western landscape painters who was born in Canada, rather than abroad. He became the head of the art department of the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in 1947. He is credited with building the art department of the Provincial institute into a separate college, now known as the Alberta University of the Arts. He made a lasting impact on through his works of the prairies and the animals of Western Canada,

see
Harvest of the Spirit, by M.Callahan, E.A.G., 1985;
Paint and Circumstance, by I.Kerr, Calgary, 1987

biography and other examples in
N.G.C. Vol.2 G-K, ed.C.Hill, pg.368;
Founders of the A.C.A., by V.Greenfield, pg.87;
Biographical Dict. Of Saskatchewan Artists - Men, by M.Newman, pg.137, Fifth House Pub., 1994;
Dict. Of Canadian Artists, by C.MacDonald, Vol.3, pg.633;
Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction, by A.Westbridge, Vol.2, pg.91, Westbridge Pub., 2000

listed on Artists in Canada, a Union List of Artists' Files, by National Gallery of Canada Library et al, see website at Canadian Heritage Information Network [CHIN]

Historical Results for this Artist