About

Duncan de Kergommeaux is a first generation Canadian of Breton descent born in northern BC in 1927. His career as an artist has spanned seven decades beginning in 1951 at the Banff School of Fine Arts and then in Victoria BC under the Czech artist Jan Zach. In 1953 he moved to Ottawa where in 1955 he had his first solo exhibition. His early work was informed by studies of Piet Mondrian and Hans Hofmann with whom he took a two-week summer course in 1955. During the 50’s he taught at the Ottawa Community Art Center (Now the Ottawa School of Art) and in the 60’s at Carleton University in Ottawa as an extension lecturer and art advisor founding their permanent art collection with donations from artist friends. Also during the 60”s while maintaining his studio practice, he founded an directed the Blue Barn Gallery and later the Lofthouse Galleries in Ottawa both dedicated to introducing contemporary art to the Ottawa public through an outreach program of exhibitions at various venues in the Ottawa area. During Expo67 he was a project designer and then Director of the Canadian Pavilion Art Gallery.

  In 1970 he moved to Western University in London Ontario where he was Head of Studio and is now a Professor Emeritus. He has taught summer sessions at Carleton University, the Banff Centre, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and the University of Victoria. Since 1953 He has had over 50 solo exhibitions and been included in 100+ group exhibitions including the Third and Sixth Biennials of Canadian Art at the National Gallery of Canada. During 1967-68 The National Gallery of Canada toured an exhibition of his work. Two major surveys with catalogue and critical essays were organized by the London Regional Gallery: “An Art of Ordered Sensations” curated by Mathew Teitlebaum, 1986 and “Process Structure Meaning” curated by José L. Bario—Garay, 1995.   A survey exhibition— (funded by The Trinity Development Foundation)— “These Are the Marks I Make” With catalogue essays by Bernard Bonario, Emily Falvey and Andrea Fatona examining his landscape based abstractions and “Grid Paintings” of the 1970’s was exhibited at the Ottawa Art Gallery in 2010 and then in 2011 at Museum.
There are major collections of his art at the Carleton University Art Gallery, Museum London, the Ottawa Art Gallery and the McIntosh Gallery at Western University. His work is also part of many private, public and corporate collections including the Art Gallery of Ontario and National Gallery of Canada.
In his 90’s he continues his journey of visual exploration from a retirement residence in Ottawa, close to his family.