William Ronald 1926 - 1998

Acquired directly from the artist
Private Collection, Princeton, New Jersey

Following a tumultuous art education, William Ronald enjoyed success early in his career. On the advice of his teacher, friend and later fellow Painters Eleven member Jock Macdonald, Ronald enrolled in Hans Hofmann's Manhattan art school in 1952. Under Hofman's tutelage Ronald began to develop the creative self-assurance he needed. One year later, in 1953, Painters Eleven was formed.

Ronald spent the following three years working in Toronto, but returned to New York in 1955 searching for inspiration he knew could only come from the epicentre of abstract art. From 1955 to 1957, he painted a series of large canvases with strong central compositions; Back Thru Spring is from this series of paintings completed in New York. These works were often built around a central black feature although the artist occasionally deviated from this format to include the reds and blues seen in Back Thru Spring. At once expressive and controlled, this work balances a tension best described by critic Harold Rosenberg as "not a picture but an event."