Douglas Elliott

A painter and a prominent mid 20th century Canadian musician and music teacher, Douglas Ferguson Elliott was born in Woodstock, Ontario and died in Toronto (about 90 miles east of Woodstock), where he had lived most of his life. He was a member of the Ontario Institute of Painters*. He was also on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto; on the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto; and an organist and choirmaster in Toronto at various venues for 53 years. His paintings are in the Government of Ontario Art Collection and in the permanent collection of the Musee de la Civilisation in Quebec City. (1)(2)

His mediums were acrylics and oil paint (applied with a palette knife or thick brush), watercolors and pen & ink. His subjects were landscapes, rural scenes, seascapes, boats and fishing communities. The locations were in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Gloucester, Massachusetts, all places he visited regularly for half a century. His styles were Impressionism* and Plein Air Painting*. The AskART auction results have many excellent illustrations of his work.

He had a Bachelor of Music degree; but, as a painter he was mostly self-taught. However, he did some studying in the United States under Emile Gruppe; and, was probably influenced by artist Adrian Dingle RCA who was a frequent Elliott painting companion. (3)

Elliott was an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music, an Associate of the Canadian College of Organists, a member of the Ontario Institute of Painters*, and a member of the Fine Arts Society of Milton (a community in the Greater Toronto Area). He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force in WWII.

In addition to exhibiting with the Ontario Institute of Painters* (1977); Elliott's works were the subjects of solo exhibitions at Gallery 1667, Halifax, Nova Scotia (1976); the Eaton's Art Gallery, Toronto (1976, 1983 and 1985); and Skelton Galleries, Collingwood, Ontario (1977).