Robert Wakeham Pilot | |
|---|---|
| Born | 9 October 1898 |
| Died | 17 December 1967 (aged 69) Montreal General Hospital, Quebec, Canada |
| Nationality | Newfoundlander (until confederation); Canadian |
| Alma mater | Académie Julian |
| Occupation | Painter |
| Spouse | Patricia Dawes |
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Robert Wakeham Pilot MBE RCA (October 9, 1898 – December 17, 1967) was a Canadian artist, who worked mainly in oil on canvas or on panel,[1] and as an etcher[2] and muralist.[3] He is considered to be the last artist in Canada to paint Impressionistically with any authority or significance.
Pilot was born on 9 October 1898, at St. John's, Newfoundland, to Edward Frederick Pilot and his wife Barbara (née Merchant).[2][4] In 1910, his widowed mother married the artist, Maurice Cullen, moving into Cullen's home in Montreal.[3] As a child, Pilot assisted Cullen in his studio, and the two would take sketching trips together.[3] He later studied in Montreal with William Brymner,[3] then, in March 1916, joined the army. He served as a gunner on trench mortars in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, Fifth Division Artillery, during World War I.[2] From 1920 to 1922, he studied at the Académie Julian in Paris.[1][4] In 1922, he exhibited at the Paris Salon.[1] He was influenced by Impressionism after he visited the artists' colony at Concarneau.[1]
On returning to Canada, he was elected an associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1925, serving as the Academy's president from 1952 to 1954.[4] The subject he preferred to paint was the urban landscape, particularly that of Quebec. His first solo show was in 1927, at the Watson Art Galleries.[3] He won the Jessie Dow Prize at the Art Association of Montreal in that year and in 1934.[2]
He re-enlisted in 1941, during World War II, serving as a captain in The Black Watch,[5] and was mentioned in dispatches while in Italy, which resulted in him being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1944.[2] He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal in 1953.[3]
Paintings by Pilot were presented to Winston Churchill and to Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh.[3] Others are in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada[6] and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.[7]
Pilot died at Montreal General Hospital on 17 December 1967,[4][5] and was survived by his wife Patricia (née Dawes) and son, Wakeham.[2] A retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1969.[1]
