Name Anthony Batten | ||
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Anthony J. Batten (1940) is a Canadian visual artist.
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Early life and education
Canadian visual artist Anthony J. Batten was born at Eynsham Hall, in Oxfordshire, England in 1940. Receiving his early schooling in the U.K. he moved to Canada with his parents and brother in the 1950s. While still resident in England he had received a scholarship to attend Christ's Hospital School in Horsham, Sussex.
His family settled near Montreal where he attended Chambly County High School and then McMasterville School. He attended classes at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts and at the Museum School of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts with Arthur Lismer. His initial degree programs were at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University). While living in Montreal he regularly sketched in the old port area of the city attracted by the historic buildings and streetscapes. In 1966 Batten was commissioned by Canadian Industries Limited [C-I-L] to produce a tourists' map of that historic area in readiness for the 1967 World's Fair (Expo '67). The map was reproduced widely in both official languages. That exposure resulted in him having his first exhibition in 1967 at La Galerie Place Royale. In 1968 Batten moved to Ontario to study at the University of Toronto.
Career
A teacher for many years with the Scarborough Board of Education, Anthony Batten became the Head of the Arts Department at Sir Oliver Mowat Collegiate Institute. During those same years he was a lecturer in art history with the CBC's Institute of Scenography (now integrated into Ryerson University's Theatre Program), a demonstrating artist with the University of Toronto's Woodsworth College and the Faculty of Fine Arts and later a painting instructor with the Royal Ontario Museum. In the mid 1980s he was the resident artist with the Canadian School at Cambridge University, England.
He produced architectural renderings for a number of prestigious clients including Rod Robbie and Robbie, Wright and Young. Batten's rendering of the Gardiner Museum was featured in the Art Gallery of Ontario's 2006 show on new culture related structures in Toronto.
He was the 1996 winner of the prestigious A.J. Casson Award.
Anthony was one of twenty five Canadian artists who as part of 2006's Arctic Quest traversed the North West Passage in celebration of the centennial of Roald Amundsen's historic expedition. He has for many years painted and exhibited internationally with a group of former colleagues collectively known as the PORDS.
While he has worked in many styles over the years he has become best known for his architecturally inspired images that often underscore contemporary disregard for architectural conservation.
Elected to the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour (CSPWC) in 1980 he later served as the Society's President from 1993-1995. In 2002 he received the CSPWC's Julius Griffith Award and was made a Life Member in 2007. Batten is an elected member of the Ontario Society of Artists (OSA) and the Society of Canadian Artists (SCA). His principle dealer is Toronto's Westmount Gallery.
Among the institutions holding Batten's work are The Royal Canadian Military Institute, The Government of Ontario Art Collection, The Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador, The Royal Collection U.K., the Vancouver Maritime Museum and the City of Toronto Archives.
With a lifelong commitment to volunteerism in arts related endeavours he twice chaired the Art Committee for the Volunteer Committee of the National Ballet of Canada and then in 2014 he co-ordinated their "Gallery at Paper Things Project". He also served as a Board Member with Queen's Park's John B. Aird Gallery. Donor of works by Albert Dumouchel to the National Gallery of Canada and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. In recognition of his volunteer activism he was a recipient of the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal in 1992 and the 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
His ongoing involvement with the Royal Collection Project on behalf of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour has been a major focus. Concluding in 2025 the project will have placed one hundred Canadian contemporary watercolours in the Royal Collection. To date seventy five works each by a different artist have been exhibited and deposited at Windsor Castle's Royal Library.