C. Anthony Law

Artist Bio: C. Anthony Law (1916-1996)

Anthony Law was born in London, England in 1916 to Canadian parents, Law was inspired and encouraged to study art by his grandfather Law, himself an artist, and family friend and noted anthropologist, Dr. Marius Barbeau. He has studied painting and drawing with Franklin Brownell, Fred Varley, Frank Hennessey, and Percyval Tudor Hart.

During the Second World War, Law served as an officer in the Canadian Navy. He was mentioned twice in dispatches and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. In 1943/44, while his flotilla of Motor Torpedo Boats was being prepared, he was commissioned as an Official War Artist; an assignment which was confirmed by his appointment as an Official Naval War Artist in 1945. Transferring to the permanent forces after the War, he traveled to the Arctic, and to the East and West coasts of Canada.

Upon retirement, he became active in the art community of Nova Scotia. Tony Law was artist-in-residence for Saint Mary’s University between 1967 and 1980 and was the first curator of Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery. In 1981 Law was made an honorary Doctor of Letters by Saint Mary’s University. Bernard Riordon, Director of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Curator of Law’s Retrospective Exhibition in 1989, says of Law’s work;

“His paintings have provided us with a vision of Nova Scotian and Canadian landscape in vigorous and bold realism. In the tradition of the Group of Seven, his works demonstrate a distinctive Canadian point of view by their fresh and robust approach to landscape and by their honesty of purpose.”

Anthony Law has exhibited in many public galleries including the National Gallery of England (1944), the National Gallery of Canada, and the Royal Canadian Academy.