The OCAD U community is deeply saddened by the passing of prominent artist and educator Hugh Seaforth Mackenzie who taught at OCAD University from 1968 to 1991. He passed away at the age of 93 on August 1, 2021.
“Hugh was an excellent teacher – playful, mischievous, impassioned and deadly serious. He excited the room with knowledge and enthusiasm. He taught us to see the whole space, paint bold shapes, work the mass before the details. He was radical in his thinking and his approach; he kept us on our toes,” remembers Catherine Beaudette, Adjunct Professor at OCAD U.
“He was still there when I started teaching, dropping by to reassure my students they were in good hands. He passed the torch and I adopted both his tips and his enthusiasm. I am reminded daily of Hugh’s passion by his etching on my wall of an ancient industrial building titled Cathedral,” she says.
OCAD U Professor Michèle White recalls that “Hugh was one of the few male teachers back in the day who treated women as equals in the classroom and the board room. While the majority of our students were female, the faculty didn’t reflect that. He was a pleasure to work alongside, with his twinkling eyes that held a bit of mischief behind them, and a devilishly delightful smile.”
Barry Coombs was a student of Mackenzie’s in the late 1970s who says that “Hugh was a great man. His legacy is written in the love of the many students he guided and inspired. He was the most generous teacher I had at OCA. I was a mediocre student and slightly rudderless but Hugh saw something that few other teachers recognized. His support and his sound advice were very important to my development. Most of all, he believed in my work.”
He recounts how during his fourth year, Mackenzie connected with a gallerist in Yorkville at the Fine Line Gallery on Cumberland. He went for an interview and, much to Coombs’ shock and surprise, was offered an exhibition for the year following my graduation. However, he elected to participate in the Florence program as a fifth year student and TA after graduation. Upon his return, the gallery had folded. Says Coombs: “Still, the faith that Hugh had in me has never been forgotten.”
Mackenzie also suggested that Coombs consider teaching and he has made an independent career of over 30 years. He says that it was “Hugh’s perceptiveness and insight that put me on a practical career path that sustained me as I developed a parallel career exhibiting my work.
“Hugh’s passion and intensity were renowned but I never heard an unkind word directed at a student. He worked hard and spent the classroom hours in the studio with his students, which stood out in an era in which many of the mostly male faculty retired to the cafeteria or even the Beverley Tavern while the students worked,” says Coombs.
ABOUT HUGH MACKENZIE
Born in Toronto, Ontario and raised in London, Ontario, Mackenzie studied at the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD U) from 1947 to 1950. He continued his studies at Mount Allison University under Alex Colville, and would meet Dorothy (Dot) Johnson who would become his wife and chief critic for more than 60 years.
Mackenzie was a well-known Canadian painter, draftsperson, printmaker and educator whose life and work are discussed in several comprehensive Canadian art history books. He began as a high realist painter before turning more to abstraction. He switched easily between the figure and industrial landscape, from the representational to almost pure abstraction and from painting to his other great passion, etching.
According to the obituary published in the Globe and Mail, “As an artist, Mackenzie created his place in the Canadian art world though his constant search for the essential form. Throughout his evolution from high realism to a freer abstract style, he retained his essential loving respect for the human form and the world around him.”
His works have been exhibited extensively across Canada and are the subject of numerous catalogues and publications, and are represented in major collections at galleries that include the Art Gallery of Ontario, Carleton University Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Montreal Museum of Fine Art.
In 1967, he was selected to paint the official portrait of Prime Minister Lester Pearson. The egg tempera portrait of Pearson captures him sitting in a chair in a characteristic pose, with his hands clasped and legs crossed. The Prime Minister quickly dubbed his portrait “The Sloucher,” saying, “it’s orthodox enough to be acceptable, and yet different enough to be interesting.”
A memorial scholarship supporting students at OCAD U is being established in his honour.
Sources
Cowley Abbott, Canada’s art auctioneers
"A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume 4: Little - Myles", compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1978