Richard Karon Was A Capable Artist and It Shows With His Diverse Portfolio of Subjects and Style

 

The Importance of Richard Karon's Polish Heritage to his Art Creations

"Throughout his trip (across Canada), he (Painter Arthur Lismer), had urged that attention to the folk arts which he felt so integral a part of the Canadian renaissance; he had also expressed over and over again his concern at the loss of the folk crafts and talents of New Canadians," wrote John A.B. McLeish, in the 1955 (second edition in1973) biography, entitled "September Gale - The Study of Arthur Lismer of the Group of Seven," by John A.B. McLeish (J.M. Dent & Sons, Canada). "Although Lismer sincerely admired the Americans, and was far too perceptive to miss the rich and growing artistic life of that great modern culture, he distrusted what he called a 'lazy melting-pot'; by this he seems to have meant the indiscriminate melting out of some of the fine folk traditions and skills in order to produce an acceptable cast of American citizens," writes John McLeish, of the Group of Seven Artist. "He spoke forcefully to the point, in Vancouver, in a passage which, through a piece of loose reporting, made it appear that he was in favor of some sort of segregation of the immigrants into separate communities - an absurdity in an otherwise excellent press account."

What Lismer meant, was that this folk heritage, brought to Canada from homelands overseas, should be thoroughly incorporated in the work they are inspired to do here, as new residents of Canada…..not art traditions destroyed because of some national imperative to perform or create to a particular standard, and common objective.

The artist noted that, "In what we call 'Canadianization' of the foreigner, we often lose a treasure. Instead of encouraging European immigrants in their artistic embroideries, metal work, stone-cutting, wood-carving, we put them to work in factories, or at best copying the designs supplied to them by shops. They should be banded into communities where their craftsmanship would be developed and stimulated……A busy country, especially where its citizens are busy with their hands, is a country of peace."

We are at somewhat of a disadvantage, studying the art work of Richard Karon, that we do not know the full extent and breadth of his painting, while in Europe, to be able to assert, with any confidence, he carried on with his characteristic work in Canada, honed in Poland, Germany, Austria and France. We suspect that in his escape from Poland, in and around 1948, that he carried few things with him, other than clothes, blankets and some food provisions, which in part, consisted of cubed sugar they ate, when there was little else to consume. It may be the case, that in his home town, in Poland, there are family members still, who own some of Karon's original work. It is possible, that as this biography is circulated in Poland, someone may come forward in the future, to provide us with an image for our archives, of a sketch or painting from the period of the German occupation, dating back to September 1939. As these art works show up, we then may be able to see the stylistic similarities and differences, between his early sketches and later, his abstracts and landscapes done in Canada. There have been some art owners, who, without actually meeting the artist, have commented, Richard Karon must have been European, despite not knowing this for sure. They claim the artist's use of color seems European in nature, which is a broad stroke, untutored assumption. It was his personal choice for expression. It was what he saw of the vistas he painted. He didn't have a European format to follow. He had an artist's eye. Again, as he didn't bring much in the way of art, when he arrived in Canada, in the early 1950's, it's assumed he started again with a clean slate, having no anchor of previous work to build upon.

Did his Polish heritage influence his painting? In some cases, this had some foundation, such as his ability to work with wood and carve. When he passed away, he left his son Richard Sahoff Karon, a beautiful wood trunk he had made by hand. He had learned these skills from his father Jan, in Poland, who was proficient carving religious icons. There is considerable evidence, scattered throughout this biography, that Richard Karon held a special place in his heart and mind, for Poland, and his family that still resided there. He loved to hear his favorite polka tunes, read about news events in Poland, (in magazines) and was fond of Polish and Jewish cuisine. He was able to talk about life in Poland, and he had a long-standing plan to return one day. This never happened. I don't know if he ever referred to himself as Polish-Canadian, or as a Polish Canadian Artist, while working in the District of Muskoka. He did refer to himself freely as a Canadian Artist.

As Lismer had noted, these cultural and historic influences, of New Canadians, was to be welcomed and encouraged, to enrich our national identity, as a proud multicultural nation.

THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN - THE HORROR OF WAR

CANADIAN ARTIST RICHARD KARON, 1928-1987

After a couple of sunny, warm weeks, in the early spring of 2012, it has become quite cold here now, for the final days of March. This morning is clear and sunny, but well below freezing, and that may damage some of the perennials now poking through the earth. I worry about the lilacs which are at least a full month advanced, from where they would normally be, as minuscule buds, at seasonally cold time of the year. Most of us however, are of the heart and weary soul, that we simply can't refrain ourselves from bestowing an unspoken thanks to a kindly nature…..for this mercy of an early warm spring. Admittedly it is nice not to be wading through new snow, or being buffeted by a blizzard that can happen in Muskoka, right up to the end of April. Oldtimers talk of this, and although I'm only fifty-six, I can remember heavy snow in late April, and the ice leaving the lakes as late as the first week of May. It is beautiful out there this morning, and the woods are beckoning. This might have been the kind of bright and cheerful morning, Richard Karon would have found perfect for sketching, near his Lake of Bays home-studio. The kind of invigorating spring morning, that would lend itself to long walks along the well trodden lakeshore paths, and the narrow foot-trails snaking down into the lowland, and widen up some far incline which affords the voyeur a panorama of the landscape below. The artist might sense this is a day for adventure and discovery. I would like to have watched Richard Karon sketch these thriving natural places, in that strange solitude of creation. It would have been a wonderful opportunity fulfilled, to then watch the artist, in his studio, apply paint to canvas, with his palette knife, and see for myself, the landscape emerge beneath the studio lamps.

I have been reading through a book, written by World War II historian, Martin Gilbert, in his landmark research, entitled "Atlas of the Holocaust," published by Michael Joseph Limited, in 1982, in a failing attempt, I'm afraid, to put myself back in the years Richard Karon, (pronounced "Karoin" in Polish) experienced the Nazi occupation of his native country. I can actually start feeling ashamed, reading through these accounts of the Holocaust, from the comfortable perspective, of my own sheltered, coddled existence, having had a safe and prosperous life from the beginning. Looking out this office window, down onto the sunlit lowland we call, The Bog, it is so difficult to comprehend how the artist dealt with his memories, while immersed in such beautiful places. How such savagery, he witnessed daily during the occupation, adversely, and permanently influenced the artist, I am studying for this biography.

It is almost impossible to measure the degrees of difference in our lives. The biographer who has enjoyed a privileged life in Canada all his life. The painter who found art, an effective escape from the brutal reality of day to day living, within the domain of the Nazi regime. I have been looking out, and wandering freely through these alluring woodlands all my life, without ever being held still, by the barrel of a gun aimed at my head. Never once having my view of these beautiful landscapes, compromised by fear, and anger. Was his appreciation of these open places, of the limitless possibilities of nature, more profound than mine? Had his incarceration given him greater appreciation, for the expansive boundaries of freedom and the unfettered sense of life's liberation? He never talked about this with his family, as such, but those who were fascinated by his landscapes, sensed of his art, that he had an inner passion for escaping what confined or confounded him. He was not politically active, but was aware of the politics of the day.

In the past twenty years I have made it a priority to read every book I can find, about the horrors faced during Nazi occupation, and the deeply etched injuries on civilization generally, inflicted by the inhumanity of the Second World War. And with this latest attempt, trying to better understand the magnitude of suffering, as so poignantly documented by Mr. Joseph. I still find myself stunned by the immensity of the challenge. To truly appreciate the fear and loathing this young man, the aspiring artist, felt every day of his life, from the moment of the invasion of Poland, September 1st, 1939. It was not lifted from his soul, even when the Nazi war machine was halted by the Allied Forces. We have no way of truly appreciating, the huge and overwhelming breadth and depth of the personal suffering he dealt with, for the rest of his life. How long does it take, to erase the memory of your mother's execution, or the many children he saw shot by Nazi soldiers…..and block-out the distant echo of the screaming he could hear, coming from inside the jammed box cars of human cargo, that passed him at trackside, day after day, for nearly six years of a young life? Could he suppress those flashbacks, when sitting out on some pinnacle of Muskoka rock, looking down at a mirroring lake, on a bright and cheerful day like this? Or was it a haunting reality of every day, that it influenced every panel he ever painted? It wasn't something he wished to talk about, and didn't read books detailing the war years. He didn't need to be reminded. From what I have learned about Mr. Karon, he wasn't retrospective about his life, unless it was something anecdotal, such as being inadvertently served carrot soup, which inspired a brief reprimand to the cook, of reasons why he despised it……that it reminded him of the near starvation, he and his family had faced, from 1939 to the end of the war. If he had been handed Mr. Gilbert's excellent book, documenting more completely those years in Occupied Poland, I suspect he would have placed it back down, plainly adverse to having someone else explain to him, what kind of suffering had been endured then…..as he recalled as a bright and intelligent young man, trying to help his family survive what for some was unsurvivable.

"Although this 'Atlas' is one of Jewish suffering, no book or atlas on any aspect of the Second World War can fail to record that in addition to the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered at least an equal number of non-Jews was also killed, not in the heat of battle, not by military siege, aerial bombardment or the harsh conditions of modern war, but by deliberate, planned murder," writes Martin Gilbert. "Hence, even in this 'Atlas', which traces the Jewish story, mention has frequently been made, often as an integral part of the Jewish fate, of the murder of non-Jews. These include Polish civilians killed after Poland's capitulation, the first, mostly non-Jewish victims at Auschwitz, the tens of thousands of victims of the Nazi euthanasia program, the non-Jews killed with Jews in the slave labour camps of the Sahara," and the "Poles expelled and murdered in the Zamosc Province." Richard Karon was not Jewish. His mother was executed for being associated with the Resistance. But they knew Jews, as close friends, neighbors and business people in their beautiful and historic city. The city's population was thirty percent Jewish. According to his son, "It wasn't until I was a little older that I began to understand why my father enjoyed so many traditionally Jewish foods, such as matzo crackers and potato latkes, as well as other dishes." By August 1940, 1,000 citizens had been sent to slave labour camps, but only a few survived. In 1949 Richard Karon was twelve years old. This was his world. And on that fateful day of the Nazi invasion, 180 citizens were executed, to send the message, this is how life and death would balance in the future.

When you view the paintings included in this blog, created over many decades, by Richard Karon, you will see how deeply and profoundly he immersed himself, into the scene he was depicting. I have not viewed even one of his landscapes, to this point, where I have felt, he had lacked perspective and an inner joy, at being afforded such an opportunity to express his true feelings. There are paintings I can hear, feel the deep vibration, from the rushing, powerful flow of dark water over a cataract, deep inside some misty woodland enclosure, and I am compelled to ask whether he found such scenes suited to his outlook on life. The rigors and hurt in his own life, did not appear to have adversely influenced these nature studies, from what they represented to him of beauty and spirit…..mystery and discovery. Painting owners might wonder themselves, how someone who had endured so much, could paint with such delicate, appreciative intent, to capture the essence of what he most appreciated about his surroundings. Was it his way of surviving, as it had been the case, as a young man, sketching around his city, copying the architecture on old post cards, friends and family had given the aspiring artist? One would like to believe he enjoyed the effort to paint these landscapes, as much as we have enjoyed viewing them, over these many years.

"The procession of the months is a chromatic joy," wrote Group of Seven artist, Arthur Lismer. "Spring with its fresh, quick greens, and yellow flowers; summer - hot dense foliage of blue-greens and bronze, vibrant and lighter in hue than an English summer. The fall (comes) with such an amazing pageantry of warmth and hue, from the first scarlet splash of maple in the spruce woods in early October until the last fluttering leaves of the poplars fall in late November, and the undergrowth of scarlet creeper on the purple rocks begins to mark the sombre decline of the year in December. The coming of snow gives evidence of the changing rhythm and order of color. Keen air, blue and green skies, bright sunlight make a thousand baffling qualities of color, in light and shadow on the snow." (1977, "A Border of Beauty - Arthur Lismer's Pen and Pencil," by Marjorie Lismer Bridges.)

I have just been out for a walk along the narrow, winding paths above our neighborhood wetland, here at Birch Hollow. I have been pleasantly distracted from my work, by two greedy squirrels thumping at the bird feeder, on the verandah, and this has engaged the two cats in my office window, that overlooks the lilac and raspberry garden. After being interrupted by the banging of the feeder outside, and the tapping at the window pane by cats wanting to chase these squirrels, I gave myself permission to wander outside for a bit. I can become so totally absorbed in what I'm working on, that I've been known to miss appointments, and on numerous occasions, been terribly late picking up my wife from work. These squirrels have given me good reason to pause, and enjoy what has become a beautiful and warm spring day.

I have been trying to step away from some of the other writing projects, I've been laboring on, since the first week of November. It was in January, that I met with Richard Karon Jr., and we discussed the possibility of working together, to document the life and work of his artist father. He was only seven years of age when his father died from lung cancer, after a split-up between his parents. Admittedly, he felt there was much more to his father's life and work as an artist, beyond the few paintings he'd been left, and the dog-eared scrapbooks that contained notices of Richard Karon's latest exhibitions, and published reviews from the local press, critiquing his work in and out of the studio. As I had known the work of his father, from earlier in my career with the community press, and having written some of those early reviews myself, I was quite eager to work on the project, and honored to have been asked to compose the artist's biography. For weeks now, I've wandered through the late-winter woodlands of Muskoka, the enchanting play of light and shadow, through the leafless birch, and fanning of evergreen, down on the tufts of remaining snow, the sodden-down canopy of autumn leaves, the open earth; a vista, a panorama that had also intrigued the artist. Each time I visit, I think about the scene as the artist might have framed it, according to what he felt was representative of forest and lakeland. I wondered what it would have been like to stand behind him, as he sketched a scene he liked, the sound of birds and the wash of tiny cataracts from black, snaking creeks, through the matted-over humps of marsh grasses. I wanted to know if he was influenced as much by the scene in front, the forest surrounding him, and the myriad of sounds of the spring re-awakening. I have studied his landscape panels, and have found myself daydreaming, what it was like when the subject scene was being sketched out in the open. I am easily mesmerized, I think, because I can hear the landscapes he has captured on canvas. The wind brushing through the tall pines, shaking the loose bark on the leaning birches, the flutter of leaves against themselves, on venerable old oaks, and hear the barely audible rush of water along the rapids of a shallow creek. I am at home, in the company of Richard Karon's art.

If I had a chance, to ask the artist one question today, knowing what I have uncovered this far along in his biographical research, it would be this: "How did you feel about a painting once it was complete?" When he looked at that framed landscape, hung in the soft illumination of his gallery, was it what he had anticipated it would reflect, when he had first found it a suitable scene to sketch? Satisfaction? Had the mission been successfully completed? Was it a sensation of liberation? Or was it the case, something else immediately beckoned?

After reading chapters from Martin Gilbert's book, and feeling the need for a brief hiatus, to stroll these pathways, that border above the lowland, I can only believe that his answers would have been purposely evasive. What I may have desired as confirmation, that he used art as an escape, couldn't be simply defined or identified as such, at least without his own confessional. He did not keep such a journal, where I might have found some of the answers. I did not know the man. No amount of biographical digging is going to change this. Now it's what family knew of him, during those highly productive years, that carries this biography. But then, he may have also cautioned me, in my exuberance to psychoanalyze the unwilling subject, that it is not so simple to pronounce that art and nature were the great liberating forces in his life. He might never have thought of it this way, and it is presumptuous to assess this, as the reason Richard Karon pursued a career in art. His sense of freedom was much more expansive, and horizonless, but his true and safe comforts were his family, the home he constructed in the woods near the Village of Baysville, in the Township of Lake of Bays; living with his second wife Irma, and young son, Richard Sahoff, the second name, given to him by his artist father.

As a human being, Richard Karon was soft-spoken, a gentleman, an attentive, loving father, who held great stock in family values. His son noted that "My mother mentioned that my father had told her once, that you should raise your children, treat your children in such a way so that they always want to return home, to be close to their parents and family. He was kind to many people who have offered corroborating stories about meeting the artist, and finding him amicable and very polite. He was honest and hard working, and made every effort to provide for his family. But he, like many professional artists, had moments of withdrawal, moodiness, impatience and habits that family, friends and business associates recognized as difficult, and in some cases anti-social. It can be noted with accuracy, that Richard Karon Sr. enjoyed "a relaxing drink." "I don't know if I would say that he drank too much; he did like to have a few, but was never a drunk or an alcoholic, to the best of my memory or my mother's," according to Richard Karon Jr. He smoked an excessive number of cigarettes in a day, that eventually contributed to his destiny with cancer, and was by personal accounts, a controlling, chauvinist, who was greatly influenced by the seeds of jealousy. He had an obsessive nature, didn't want his wife to work, have friends, strong relationships with family, or have a social life that didn't involve him. It ultimately led to the break-up of their marriage, but those close to him, believe his character was honed early in life, by the brutal realities of a compromised life in his native Poland. While some might argue that the Nazi atrocities that he witnessed didn't make him a chauvinist, or superimpose upon him, his jealous nature, it did afflict him with what he never really understood.

If he had lived to this time in history, when so much has been revealed about the powerful and deep grasp of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he may himself, have understood some of his excesses and fears, he had simply learned to live with…..while others, close to him, could not. When Richard Karon, passed away in March 1987, the knowledge of P.S.T.D. was still being broadened, and understood, in ongoing studies of the troubled lives faced by Vietnam Veterans, still, many years following the war, trying to salvage their lives at home. To think that Richard Karon, in the middle of these horrors unfolding, almost daily, wasn't affected in this way, is to deny just how traumatizing it was for all citizens then, watching the executions of family, friends and neighbors, as a matter of public routine. Some, like the young Karon, found the strength and resolve to defy the occupiers, and while it nearly cost him his life, he found it an intimately better philosophy, to fight for survival, than to confess fear, surrender, or feel himself conquered. His sisters and father, survived the occupation, but their mother had been shot for her undermining of authority. Millions perished in a most brutal, inhumane way. Yet the young Karon, found a way to cope with tragedy and fear. He worked. When he wasn't attempting to improve his art form, he would do practically anything, included risking his life frequently, to help his family survive. He cut hair. He found ways to secure provisions, and once, when got caught, with a loaf of bread he had stolen, was nearly shot in the head by a Nazi soldier. He was given a warning. Most were killed on the spot. It didn't stop him from stealing bread. He just became more adept at doing so, and securing anything else that would ease the suffering they, like so many others, endured during those dreadful years.

"On September 1939, the German army invaded Poland, advancing across a land where Jews had lived for over 800 years," records historian, Martin Gilbert. "Rapid though the German advance was, the Polish forces fought with skill and bravery at many points in a series of fierce battles. During the fighting, more than sixty thousand Polish soldiers were killed, of whom some 6,000 were Jews. In addition 3,000 Jewish civilians were among those killed during the bombing of Warsaw." He adds that, "Thousands of Jews and thousands of non-Jews, were killed during these early days of German rule."

Richard Karon, Lake of Bays Artist Invited Us To Come Closer To The Environment of Muskoka

RICHARD KARON - INVITED US TO BECOME INTIMATE WITH THE ENVIRONMENT

     When I began writing the original rough manuscript, as a biographical first-attempt, to, in a modest way, represent the life and work of former Muskoka artist, Richard Karon, I admit to spending a lot of time, wandering in the neighborhood wetland, here in our South Muskoka sanctuary, we call "The Bog". It has the kind of landscape that Karon might have found interesting to profile, on his paint boards, not because of its profound beauty, but rather, it's more obscure splendor throughout the four seasons. It doesn't have lake or river-front, but it does have diverse vegetation, with many small creeks running through the clusters of cattails, and the numerous tiny cataracts that shimmer like bands of silver in the spring sunlight. Karon didn't always pursue the obvious, and the scenes that might have made him more popular as a Muskoka artist. Instead, he was interested in finding places in nature, that others had overlooked, or deemed uninteresting. It's why I used to wander around The Bog, when I found myself at an impasse, as to how to proceed with the story.
     Richard Karon could have been a successful portrait painter. He could have painted city scenes and profiles of heritage architecture, and offered us romantic, sentimental images of places in this country, that would have found many more buyers. Instead, he pursued landscapes because they appealed to him, for any number of reasons, that may well go back to his early days, as a struggling artist, trying to survive in occupied Poland, during the years of the Second World War. At this time, he would use any spare moment, to sketch from old post cards of Polish architecture, and landscapes, friends in the neighborhood offered the apprentice artist, who would look over the shoulder of any painter he could find in the war-torn city. Even after arriving in North America, after escaping Poland and the Russian influences that began to penetrate his homeland, Karon was still fascinated by portraits including nudes, and from samples known, he was highly skilled representing the human form. It just wasn't what he most wanted to pursue in his art career, if that's what earned him enough money. Arriving in Muskoka many years later, he knew that the area of the Township of Lake of Bays, near the Village of Baysville, was full of potential for the aspiring landscape artist, who wasn't adverse to painting images of lowlands and creeks, and heavily treed lakeshores; and even those barren points of land, with a modest smattering of small trees laden with newly fallen snow. He did not paint like Tom Thomson, and I've seen nothing comparable to the "West Wind," or "Jack Pine," but then Karon wasn't trying to imitate the work of any other artist. His were serene images, of places of interest, that for whatever reason caught his eye, and meant something beyond what would be worked onto a canvas. This is what I most appreciated about his choice of subjects. They were pockets of Muskoka topography that deserved representation in the range of local art work. There was more to the Muskoka region, than images of the larger, more popular lakes, and trademark watercraft traversing the waterways during the summer months. Karon was a four season artist, and he found remarkable scenes whether it was in December, March, or November. He didn't paint just to turn a profit. He had to believe in what he was doing, and his very private relationship with nature, may have been more deeply intimate, than even his family knew at the time.
     Some of his painting owners have offered the opinion, that his landscapes of Lake of Bays lowlands, and bogs especially, are lonely, haunting depictions, that inspire thoughtfulness, and questioning, about the integral nature and cycle of such wild places. What dwells in these places? At the same time, these are not scenes that depress emotions, or make the viewer uncomfortable with the environs the painter uncovered. Instead, his landscapes invite you to participate, in writing the story behind its creation; it's relevance, and its inherent enchantments. This was the magic I found in the work of Richard Karon.

N THE FIELD - THE ARTIST

"Art is a way of life. It is not entertainment nor professionalism, but a necessity." Arthur Lismer.

When the beaver ambled onto the embankment, the artist could clearly hear the rustle of the taller shoreline grasses, as it proceeded along the jagged rocks of the small, sunlit lake. The highly animated chipmunk darts over, and through the tangle of broken-off branches, fallen on the exposed rock; beneath the cluster of venerable old birches, leaning out over the water, as if writer Robert Frost, had placed them there purposely, as a metaphor of life and wisdom. The tiny creature, being eyed by a predator, has come to settle on a bit of driftwood clumped along the sandy shore. A hawk, perched on a pine bough, in one of the towering evergreens wreathing the lake, awaits the opportunity to swoop with stealth, quickly down upon its prey. For a moment, the hawk seems preoccupied by something else moving in the long grass below. The painter is aware of pending change, if not the sudden demise of the chipmunk, it will soon be the rain, as the bank of dark clouds rise over the band of tall pines, just to the west.

The painter is aware of the fat blue jay, and its intrusive, echoing squawks, reverberating across the still, mirroring water. From the corner of his eye, he sees the bounding and leaping of two squirrels in the low pine boughs, and annoyed somewhat, by the insects that have caused him to stop sketching, to swat the flies off the backs of both his hands. There is just a slight breeze this moment, that had been enough to clear away the morning mist, to reveal this sparkling jewel of waterscape, in the heartland of Lake of Bays Township, where Richard Karon had constructed his studio / gallery. But it was in a place like this, immersed so picturesquely, in the alluring embrace of lake, trees, rock and sky, that made his work a comforting pleasure.

The painter was entertained by the sounds of the light wind, passing through the long-reaching cedar branches, and the rustle of new spring grasses, and shoreline vegetation, so vibrantly green and willowy, dancing in wavering reflection, against the shadowed water. The incessant calling of the blue jays, and abrasive cawing of three grumpy crows, perched at the top of a dead birch, were being sketched into this art panel as its patina; the sounds very much influencing the mood of the artist in the field.

All the intrusions on this sanctuary were welcome. They were very much establishing the mood of the environs here, at this moment of capture onto paper. The essence of a natural day, where the myriad life-forms are not considered intrusive at all, to the voyeur, and the artist is aware, how gentle he must be, not to influence the daily activities of all these creatures; going about the habitual chore of survival amongst predators. He is very careful moving around, the spot he has chosen to paint, that he not adversely change the landscape, and the habitat he is trying to represent in art. Such that if an art patron, was to look at the subject panel, these intricacies of nature would prevail; inner evidence of the bird calls, rustling of beaver and muskrat, squirrel and chipmunk, and the soft wash of wind through the pines. It could all be imagined upon viewing the same captured lake scene, framed and prominently hung in a gallery. When someone would comment to Richard Karon, that they knew where he had painted a landscape, and commented that he had captured the color, textures of the rock and trees, and the true qualities of lake and sky, he would feel the work then, had been successful. If an art admirer, would study a particular landscape with considerable intensity, turn to Mr. Karon, and say, "I can feel the wind blowing across that lake," or "I hear the waves breaking over those rocks you have painted," he would have been pleased his palette-knife, and choice of colors, had peaked such sensory perception.

To engage sensory perception, was what the artist desired. While he was encouraged by the sale of his art work, he found it difficult, at times, to be a painter for profit only. The commerce of being a good artist was, of course, critical to the artist's business success or failure. Knowing that a purchased art panel had evoked a sensory connection, and paralleled similar emotions he had felt, at the time of composition, made him feel his art had attained an important allure, and the representative peak, he felt was needed to continue as a landscape artist.

Richard Karon was known as a volatile critic of his own work. As artists are usually compelled, Karon destroyed many sketches and even larger paintings, he felt missed this pinnacle of personal standard. He was prone to considerable mood-swings at his easel, and might walk away in frustration, and anger, acknowledging that the palette knife, in hand, and his mindful intent, were too far apart at that hour, or for that day, or week, to create anything more than the escalation of discontent.

So when some hiker, or picnic group suddenly came upon the Muskoka artist, sitting alone in an alcove of rock, sketching the landscape below, while he might have initially been annoyed by the intrusion, he would soon perk up, when one passerby, might have complimented the depiction, tabled by his knees; as being beautiful and accurate to what they could look out, and see of the lakeland vista. Karon didn't ask for these impromptu critiques of his work, but he listened intently to the passing reviews, and benefitted from the observations. He often found the critiques, by those who had no interest in buying art, his or anyone else's, were far more honest and trustworthy, as there was no pretense, with either party, that a purchase was imminent. He paid attention to what people had to say about his panels, and was very much interested in harsh critiques, because he was aware of the necessity to mature and broaden his work. In Poland, he had many accomplished artist-types, offer him advice on his early sketches of city scenes and architectural studies, and he benefitted, as a fledgling artist, because he had purposely exposed himself to more than just praise and admiration of his finished pieces. Karon was aware of his inabilities as an artist, and made a huge commitment to adapt to new realities, and accommodate the changes around him, into his art. He wanted exposure to lakeland scenes, like this, where there was so much diverse natural activity, and nothing typical or predictable. Every visit was different. The light on the water, creating a new color. The approach of a storm, making what was a picturesque scene, into a forboding place, the water a cauldron of wind-raised whitecaps……the sky white against the tumbling grey of a spring thunderstorm.

A fish jumping for an insect, a small watersnake swimming along the shore, the thunderous bolt through the thicket, from the escape of two startled deer, was the actuality that provided Richard Karon, his sense of adventure in art; restored each new outing, and from every secluded portal he found in nature. The exciting bombardment of life forces, re-generated, time and again, his ambitions and purpose, to capture the legendary enchantments of Muskoka on has canvases.

Arthur Lismer, of the famed Group of Seven, Canadian artists, also wrote, "The artist uses nature in its present aspect, not as a standard to copy, but as a source of inspiration."

 

Richard Karon Was A Diversified Artist Who Could Adapt To Many Artistic Opportunities

A BRIEF PROFILE OF THE ARTIST

Ryszard Jan Karon was born on May 19th, 1928, in the city of Czentochowa, Poland, the fourth child, and only son, to parents Jan and Wladyslawa Karon. His mother's maiden name was Jadczyk. The historic and architecturally beautiful City of Czentochowa, is situated 124 miles southwest of Warsaw. It is well known and revered by Catholics because of the legendary "Black Madonna painting, of Jasna Gora. His father was a trained teacher, who did not practice his profession, preferring instead to work with wood, to create many varieties of religious icons. He was also a well known baker, and hat maker……all three occupations that would be taken-up by the Karon's son in later life, in an attempt to earn a living. There is little available information on his mother, although she was known to be a particularly strict parent, at least in her son's opinion. She was allegedly associated with the fledgling Resistance Movement, following the German invasion of Poland, on September 3rd, 1939. What was known as the "AB Action" in 1940, the Nazi occupiers rounded up all the city's leaders and intelligentsia, including professors, teachers and priests, and executed them. As we have not yet been able to find the date of Mrs. Karon's death, it is possible she was executed at this time. She had been revealed as a member of the Resistance by another citizen…..possibly a neighbor. Even though her husband was a qualified teacher, he was not included in the Nazi effort to reduce political / civil disobedience.

For an unspecified period of time, the young Richard Karon, was placed in what may be described as a concentration camp, although there is no indication where it was located, or the reason he was interred. He had confessed to his wife certain incidents that had occurred, in confinement, such as a situation when his only blanket had been stolen, and he complained to a guard, asking for a new one, being told aggressively there were no replacements…..and to get out of his sight. It was known of his bowel regularity, for example, that he was particularly timely each day, which may have come from his interment, and the fact he was allowed only one trip to the latrine each day. Additionally, he despised carrot soup, because of the daily diet of a vegetable that was most abundant and affordable, even during the war. It is presumed this also had something to do with his period of incarceration. What is known, is that he had been caught stealing a loaf of bread, at one point, whether still at home or after being interred, and was threatened with immediate execution by a German guard. He was let off with a warning, that if he was seen again in the area, he would be shot dead.

After the occupation ended, following the Second World War, Ryszard (simplified in spelling, in Canada, as "Richard") lived with his sister in Poland, but there is no reason given why he left his father's home at this time. During the period of intrusive Russian influence, immediately after the war, and sensing his freedom as an artist would be crushed by a communist regime, Karon fled to Germany with a group of refugees, in company of a German national (who had been residing in Poland) named Frieda, and another woman, pregnant at the time. It is known that just before he had planned his escape, he sought-out advice from a fortune teller, about his prospects of crossing the border, unchallenged, and the woman found him so nervous, she requested he come back when he was calmer…..as she couldn't provide a reading to someone so agitated. It is likely he was worried she would report him to authorities. He never returned to the fortune teller, but he did escape successfully, crossing half-frozen rivers, and miles of difficult overland travel, eating sugar cubes they had brought along, to keep up their energy. He would later travel to France, where he was employed as a baker (burned his eyebrows off) sometime in 1948, and where he found enough work, as a hatter and potentially a laminator, to feed himself….., and eventually secure the cost of passage to Canada, sponsored through the International Refugee Organization as a displaced person. It was a derogatory reference, to be referred to as a "DP," as many refugees from Europe were called, that he found easier to live with, in a free country, than to be smothered by communist rule in his native Poland.

He landed in Halifax, Canada, in 1951. It is alleged he had emigrated with the same German woman, named Frieda, (he had escaped from Poland with) who he may have had a common law relationship, later in this country. It is known she took his last name but there were no marriage papers. In Canada, another woman, who had emigrated from Germany, (some time earlier), by the name of Kathy Rickard ( we believe this to be the correct spelling), became hugely influential in the young artist's life, encouraging him to continue painting. It is believed she was also his model for many of his early career paintings. This information is vague, but what is known, is that this same woman, continued to be a key inspiration, to the advancement of his career in art, and became friends of Karon's future wife and son, during the years of the Muskoka home-studio. There is no evidence that he ever returned to Europe, following his arrival in Canada, although he had talked of this in the 1980's. His illness later in the 1980's, limited his travel capability, and he decided against returning to Poland. His father, Jan, had wished to see his son before his own death, in 1984, but members of the family in Poland, had not contacted the artist, to relay this death-bed request.

After a period in Callander, Ontario, and a lengthy association with an art gallery in North Bay, he found a small tin-wrapped cabin, situated near Baysville that accommodated him, until 1972, when he was able to purchase the property on the opposite side of Highway 117, in the Township of Lake of Bays, where he commenced construction of a future home, and place to work on his Muskoka landscapes. It is known that he paid for some of the construction work, on the property, with a number of his framed landscapes, which will appear later in this biography, as generously provided by the gentleman who was offered them, by the artist, for work clearing the lot of trees. He married his partner, Irma in Februrary 1978, in Mexico. Their only child, Richard Sahoff Karon, was born in 1979. He was a member of the first two Muskoka Autumn Studio Tours in 1979 and 1980. He did participate in numerous outside exhibitions and sales, and at the time of writing this brief biographical overview, I was contacted by Bracebridge resident, Joyce Medley, who remembers purchasing a large landscape of a lake scene, near the Karon Studio, from the artist himself, during a sale at the Bracebridge Memorial Arena in and around 1972, during what may have been one of the annual autumn home shows, that were often held in this venue. The home and studio in vicinity of Baysville was sold in 1985, and the artist used some of the proceeds to purchase a motor home for a planned trip. He gave the motor home to his wife as a gift. The couple had separated prior to their motor trip west, which was most likely, a final attempt at reconciliation. The family would take a lengthy motor trip to British Columbia, in the summer of 1985, and there was some discussion entertained, while on the travel adventure, about moving to Western Canada for a new start. It may have been understood by the artist that this was going to happen, but Mrs. Karon decided against making the move after they returned to Ontario. When the couple sold their property in 1985, an auction sale was held to settle dispersal of some contents. The artist and family would move to Toronto, where they lived apart, Mrs. Karon having custody of their young son. Karon then opened up a small framing shop, and had a large motor home, that he often stayed in, while visiting his son at his wife's Toronto apartment. He would eventually move from Toronto, to open a framing shop in Aurora. Suffering with the advance stages of lung cancer, he managed to keep the business going until his death in March of 1987. His wife Irma had to run the business, known as Artistic Frame Shop, immediately after her husband's death, which she carried-on until well into this new century. After re-marrying Irma Karon opened a new framing store, in Mildmay, Ontario, known as "La Galeria." Richard Karon is buried in a Catholic Cemetery in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

BY TED CURRIE

In 1971 Richard Karon was part of the same gallery exhibition, in North Bay, Ontario, as legendary First Nation's Artist, Norval Morrisseau. The event was sponsored by the "K.Brothers Art Shoppe and Gallery," who he had been associated for some time, and the Algonquin Chapter of the IOOF. Karon was not only a part of the art show, but was asked to demonstrate his palette knife technique to patrons. Other participating artists for this event included Ernest Taylor, T.C. Cumming, James Lindsay, Carl Ray and Ron Hartvickson. At the same time, the artist was planning to open an art school in the North Bay area, but decided against, when he had the opportunity to purchase the studio property near Baysville. During his years in North Bay, where he had a rented house, and the use of a property (with trailer) near the Dionne Quintuplets birthplace in Callander, Nick Kripotos acted as Karon's sales agent, through the K. Brothers Gallery.

A clipping from a newspaper, in the early 1970's, pasted into the family scrapbook, contains an exhibition notice, with the following description: "beautiful Ontario landscapes captured on canvas, in the inimitable palette knife style, of Canadian Artist, Richard Karon."

Canadian Group of Seven Artist, A. Y. Jackson, in his biography, "A Painter's Country," (1958 Clarke, Irwin Co.) wrote a summary passage about his painting colleague, Tom Thomson, and his approach to both nature and his efforts to interpret what he witnessed, that seems appropriate when examining the art work of Muskoka landscape painter, Richard Karon.

"There is an old saying that 'Gazing man is keenest fed on sparing beauty.' To most people Thomson's country was a monotonous dreary waste, yet out of one little stretch he found riches undreamed of. Not knowing all the conventional definitions of beauty, he found it all beautiful; muskeg, burnt and drowned land, log chutes, beaver dams, creeks, wild rivers and placid lakes, wild flowers, northern lights, the flight of wild geese and the changing seasons from spring to summer to autumn."

Richard Karon, a prolific painter of Muskoka landscapes, also found inspiration where other artists would pass by, finding nothing remarkable to record or depict. It might even seem, looking at a large cross-section of his art work, in and around the District of Muskoka, that he purposely sought out these little over-grown alcoves of rock and forest, where shimmering pools of dark water reflected the wreathing of tall evergreens, and the old leaning birches, poet Robert Frost bestowed dignity in his poems. It was if the artist was trying to uncover some hidden mystery of the landscape, by breaking trail into these places of gentle solitude, thriving with tangled growth, and the habitat of so many woodland creatures, he witnessed frequently on this travels.

While many artists in Muskoka, have long subscribed to the commercial art ideal, creating landscapes that are alluring and beautiful in their thick wood frames, of identifiable locations, Richard Karon seemed at times in his work, to have little interest in what his colleagues in the art community were painting. Scenes of familiar and popular lakes, that were proving profitable to other local artists, on the Muskoka market, didn't appeal to Karon in the same way. He may have sacrificed a much more substantial income, by preferring instead, to depict those curious little bays and lowlands, almost lost in the tangles of spruce and cedar, and points of land overlooking the lake, with a narrow, precise focus. His work was not extravagant. He didn't over-paint, or complicate his canvases with too much, just as he didn't cheat the panels, or art patrons with too little detail. Generally, his art panels were of modest proportion, but effective in creating the sensory perception, that there was a gentle commotion going on, with insects flying about, the water rippling at, and over the moss-covered rock shore, birds chirping and squirrels shaking the overhead boughs. One might hear the croak of a frog in the shoreline grasses, or sense the wind was picking-up, by the caress against your cheek. Karon has taken his patrons on many adventures to these curious places, these portals from which to study the natural paradise, as if in the bow of a canoe, traversing the waterways, leading to his own liberation, his own escape from the rigors of commercialism in art. He wanted patrons to buy his studies of natural places. His interpretation of the seasons. He seemed to shy away from painting well known and identifiable lakes, preferring it when an admirer begged him to admit where he found such a scene.

Even when he confessed where a painting had been inspired, such that you might feel it possible to retrace his steps, you would not find the exact spot……and even if you did, you would not see precisely what he saw, that inspired the initial sketch. Karon saw it as a great privilege, of his new life, a robust career, to provide his own unique impression of a landscape or lakeshore, a winterscape or azure sky, he had witnessed, but they were not photographic in content and detail. It was his form of poetry, within paintings, that he shared with his art admirers, although he would never have admitted being influenced by literature. Instead of wasting his time reading, he painted to relax. But he was influenced, on these sketching trips, by not only what he saw, but the sounds he heard, the temperature that prevailed, and the scented wind or breeze that etched over the elevated points of land, he often found himself perched, staring over a white-capped lake, or out upon a silently reflective pond, surrounded by dark, almost threatening evergreens. His emotions were ingrained in his art pieces, and his moodiness would reflect through his cunning use of light and shadow. His ethereal joy, at experiencing a sunrise, or the subtle melancholy he felt, witnessing a sunset, prevailed in his depictions, such that a future owner can detect the rigors of a day in the life, of the artist, who painted the scene.

Richard Karon could have made a career, of painting traditional landscape panoramas, of recognized Muskoka scenes and well known landmarks. He could have greatly profited by his choice of lakes to paint. Creating art panels of lakes like Rosseau, Lake Joseph, Muskoka and Lake of Bays, would have been of infinitely more commercial success, than his studies of these landscape nooks and crannies, bogs and hillsides, and so many other unidentified bays and river-sides. He must have known this, but opted to follow his own aspirations, to represent nature, not just for its inherent majesty, but still as a place of vast mystery, he felt compelled to seek out. So many places undiscovered……locations he wanted to show us, because he found something remarkable within. A talented painter, with the intent of a poet, soul of a musician, curiosity of a philosopher, he took nothing for granted about the integrity, and responsibility of being an artist. It was as if he felt obliged to represent this region of Ontario, with an historian's dedicated respect……much as I feel honored, to be afforded this opportunity now, to profile his life as an artist. Karon handled each study of the landscape, much as if it was a visual biography of the seasons. A heartfelt mission to capture its intrigue. Incorporating into his sketches, the subtle changes of light and shadow, from sunrise, through the hours of the day, the ever-changing hues of the deep water, from black to silver, until that final glory of sun setting over the dark band of evergreen. Without a doubt, he found a liberating quality, to his nature studies, and his many forays into the wild areas of the district, must have been so profound for him, considering the bleak period he had experienced, as a young man in Nazi occupied Poland…..copying the images from old postcards he had been given by neighbors, onto scraps of paper he had been able to find, the nub of a pencil held tightly in his hand.

"The power of the imagination is put to very feeble use if it seems merely to preserve and reinforce that which already exists," A.Y. Jackson stated of his colleague Tom Thomson. "He gave us the fleeting moment, the mood, the haunting memory of things he felt."

I have no capability, other than as an admirer of art, to say, with any certainty, that Richard Karon was one of our best regional artists. This district of Ontario, from the earliest days of settlement, has been profiled by thousands of painters, including talented artists such as Thomas Mower Martin, Seymour Penson, George Thomson, his brother Tom Thomson, and members of the Canadian Group of Seven. Even in the modern era, our region has hosted so many talented painters, sculptors, artisans and craftspeople, who have taken inspiration from the hinterland, and incorporated this enthusiasm into their art forms. Muskoka has been interpreted well and abundantly throughout its own history of occupation, and it is still very much the case today, that creators in all art endeavors, are motivated by their surroundings to create and flourish doing so. I have long been a fan of the Muskoka Arts and Crafts Community, and the various other art-support groups working within the region, including the Muskoka Autumn Studio Tour, Mr. Karon was once a part. It is the same environs that Richard Karon chose, over a life in the city for his family, to build a home and studio, on a picturesque acreage, near the Village of Baysville, in the Township of Lake of Bays. It was the powerful allure of the landscape, that pulled at him to explore the wilds, looking for these hidden jewels of water, rock and forest, bathed in sparkling sunlight, windswept and scented of pine and moss. He created his place amongst the evergreens, and with his wife and son, began a lengthy relationship with Muskoka.

His art panels evoke a sense of open spaces, and haunted places. They are all signature pieces, exemplifying not only his appreciation for the intricacies of nature, but his appreciation of freedom, and the right to express this liberation through art. His had not always been a life without confinement. Richard Karon understood what it meant to be denied basic rights and freedom. Even as a youngster, he was quick to learn how quickly one, in occupied Poland, could be executed just for having a look of defiance, or even profound nervousness. He knew what it was like to have a gun barrel pointed at his head. He grew up quickly. When the Germans invaded Poland, during the Second World War, death and confinement were a part of daily life. His own mother, who was suspected of being part of the Polish Resistance, was executed without anything more than a soldier's suspicion. What the young Mr. Karon, the future artist witnessed, was beyond what most of us can comprehend. Life altering events tumbling upon citizens hourly, not knowing if they might be executed next. Would they be rounded-up and loaded into boxcars, for excruciating transport to concentration camps? The lack of food a compounding misery. Bodies of friends, neighbors and friends strewn along streets and highways, frozen in the mind of the young voyeur.

This was the early life experiences of Richard Karon. He escaped death many times during his time spend under German authority. Danger was everywhere. Murder might occur with the wrong answer to a guard, or being perceived a trouble-maker to an occupier, insisting on compliance and submission. When this Muskoka artist, wandered along the shoreline, of a mirroring waterway, passing through the lowland mire of bullrushes, hitting against his shoulders, how did that early history play upon his emotions, experiencing this vast open space and unlimited freedom? Could the personal experiences of a young man, amidst such horror of war, ever truly liberate to the prevailing freedom afforded by this new life? Was nature amplified for him? For someone who had been restricted and confined, and threatened with death, what was the transference of emotion, from mind to palette knife, to canvas? Were these landscape depictions, his truthful, biographical joy, for the unfettered existence, he found in the Muskoka wilds? Could it be said, that because of the turmoil and day to day danger, of once, that he appreciated freedom more than others….who had never stared down horror as a day to day reality? How did it influence his creativity? Did the ever-wandering, unsettled landscape painter, use his career as an artist, to escape in perpetuity? If he didn't succeed at this for himself, there will be lose admirers of his work, who would re-affirm, that his paintings have long provided such pleasurable, ethereal escapes from the burdens of imposing realities.

"He had that rare inner vision that sees beauty in subjects which would not commonly be called beautiful. Through the windows of his own eyes he interpreted intrinsic truths with unerring accuracy," noted author Albert Robinson, in a 1937 biographical sketch of artist Tom Thomson. I could not find any better description, to apply to the work I have studied, painted by Muskoka's Richard Karon. "In his work he adhered to the broad base of representation, weaving a selective concrete realism into a lyrical pattern glowing with vitality and sparkling with individuality."

Richard Karon, Lake of Bays Artist Part1

 

RICHARD KARON SERIES STILL ONE OF MY FAVORITE BIOGRAPHIES - AND AN INTERNATIONAL TRIBUTE TO A FINE LANDSCAPE ARTIST

RE-VISITING THE WORK OF A MUSKOKA ARTIST, WHO ADORED THE SCENERY OF LAKE OF BAYS TOWNSHIP

     I like Richard Karon paintings because they are honest depictions of nature as he witnessed it, on his excursions to find the most interesting vantage points. He was never so foolish, as to think of himself as a great artist, and he made no foray into any debate, that would compare his art to others. He was confident with his palette knife, but he was haunted by self doubt, seeing each panel as a challenge to improve upon the one immediately before. Yet he knew what he needed to capture, to make his panels mean something more, than simply art pieces to match the color scheme of a livingroom or cottage wall. These were his interpretations, the result of his profound interest in Muskoka, and like a short story, each has a story-line attached, that gradually, over time, becomes obvious to whoever owns the subject piece. I find it remarkable, that a man who knew so much suffering, and saw it up close during the years of occupation, in his homeland, Poland, could liberate his soul to paint such uplifting and inspirational panels for our great benefit.
     I've been thinking all week, about Richard Karon Jr., who I haven't seen in a few years, dating back to the occasion when I wrote the biography of his artist father, also named Richard. Richard Karon was, for a time, one of Muskoka's best known, and prolific artists. He painted the scenes around his Township of Lake of Bays studio, while he was working from his home studio near Baysville. I have long admired his art work, but more so, Karon's passion for this region of Ontario. In many ways, I have tried through the years, since I was first introduced to his work, back in the early 1970's, to mirror his depictions of the district, but not in paint. I have tried to replicate the passion he had for capturing landscapes, of the township, and region, via editorial copy, and I've never once felt I reached his capability to represent it, as his palette knife sculpted vibrant colors.
     As has happened many times before, since commencing the biography quite a few years back, I suddenly got an email last evening from young Richard, who has moved back to Ontario, after a several year stint on the West Coast. When we do connect, we usually have stories to share about discovering additional canvases his father painted, found in curious places around the province, and sometimes under unusual circumstances. It is in the spring of the year, I think most of the artist Karon, because it was the time of year I felt, working on his biography, that always seemed to awaken something in him, a sort of sleeping creative giant, that was most prolific for him, when the land was reawakening after the long, snow-laden, bitter winter season. I have always enjoyed my most prolific writing periods in the spring and autumn, as did Mr. Karon, in his choice of artistic expressions.
     As with most years, even before I had written the first paragraph of Karon's biography, I was getting five to ten requests each year, from Karon painting owners, asking for more information about the work they possessed. Seeing as I had written many feature articles for local publications, about Richard Karon's early painting years in Muskoka, it sort of stuck, that I was the go-to writer for this biographical information. When the younger Richard Karon agreed to co-produce a more complete biography of his father's work, it established once and for all, that I was going to be an ongoing source of information about the Lake of Bays artist. I was good with this task. I continue to get the same number of information requests each year, yet only several will ask for a valuation, sometimes just for insurance purposes. Occasionally I will get a request for evaluation, and the last one I did, was for someone in British Columbia, who had just purchased one from a regional antique dealer. They had no plan to sell the painting, but just wanted to know its market value especially in Muskoka. It is true, that his work does sell for considerable more, when offered by either a Muskoka gallery or antique dealer. Most have read the biography posted online, and are just as fascinated as I have been, for all these years, about Richard's passion for the home region, which to me, emanates boldly from his panels, large or small.
     I think Richard Karon Jr. and I are a wee bit surprised about how many of his fathers paintings are out there, in private and public collections, that we didn't know about previously; but feel the biography has had something to do with liberating new information, which we have been adding when possible. Richard has, since arriving back home, already connected with folks who have originals in their collections, and more stories coming from previously unknown sources, continually infilling the biography where it was deficient.
     In respect to this, I have once again decided to re-run the Richard Karon series, which by the way, has gone international, in the past, especially with Richard's connection to Poland, dating back to its years of Nazi occupation beginning in 1939. It's a damn compelling story when it comes to learning how the artist escaped, with friends, from the his native country, immediately following the Second World War, arriving in North America ready to begin a new life, and expand his painting career that had begun in Europe. But what I enjoy the most, is knowing that this man, who most likely watched the execution of his own mother, at the hands of the Nazis, and the deaths of many in his home community, was able to find peace in the embrace of the Muskoka hinterland he so enjoyed portraying in his art work. It can be said, with considerable evidence, his years living and working in the Township of Lake of Bays, were some of the finest years of his career, and his family life, spent with his wife, and son, at their Baysville studio. Here now is part one, of my favorite biography, of which I've done more than a few, that reminds me what passion can overcome, when harnessed as creative enterprise. Enjoy.
     Richard Karon and his art, will never cease to remind me of what passion can accomplish in this world. We need many more passionate people to safeguard this magnificent hinterland from the ravages of future development, grossly unsuited to the landscape.

A FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, THE MUSKOKA LAKELAND

THE BIOGRAPHY OF CANADIAN LANDSCAPE PAINTER, RICHARD KARON

"There will be a one-man art show in North Bay. The artist is a quiet, unassuming professional Canadian Master, and his first show will be his first this far north," reported an early 1970's news feature, published in the North Bay Nugget. "In 1962, he left the bustle of city life for the Muskoka area, and began to devote all his time to painting. It was in this scenic part of Ontario that he began to capture the beauty of the northern landscape in his own rare style of palette-knife painting. Richard Karon's brilliant color combinations and versatility of styles have set him apart from many other artists favoring the more realistic landscape form. The years spent in Muskoka have enabled Richard to capture the area's outstanding spectrum of colors and magnificent sunsets of this favored land."

INTRODUCTION

There will be some who read this brief biography, possibly those who knew his work intimately, studied with him, or joined him as participating members on the Muskoka Autumn Studio Tour, back in 1979 and 1980, who may rightly question, why it was deemed important enough to write such a biography in the first place. Was Richard Karon's art work amongst the best ever created in our region of Ontario? Could he be of the accomplishment, with his landscape art, that he might one day soon, be welcomed into the McMichael Gallery, or his work sought out for the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, or the National Archives? Was he good enough, during the peak of his craft, to have earned the respect today of major art auctioneers in this country? The answer to each question, to be fair, is "no." He wasn't the finest or most accomplished artist to paint in the District of Muskoka. His work might never be purchased and exhibited by any major art gallery in this country. It is only slightly possible at this point in history, that Richard Karon originals will ever set auction records, as compared to the most noted and celebrated artists in Canada.

This biography will be interpreted by some readers as a tragic story. Others will find the story uplifting and inspirational. Despite the hardships the artist endured, the freedom he found through art, and what he experienced of paradise, in these healing woods of Muskoka, was painted into his art panels. Although he did not live and paint here for decades, as some artists can claim, or have generations of family rooted in the lakeland, his work, none the less, is highly representative of the kindred spirit of nature, he found so alluring and powerful. I have communicated with quite a number of people, from around Muskoka, who own Karon originals, and all have confessed their respect for his interpretations of the region. They've have generously offered to share the images of paintings in their private collections, and provided important insights about how they themselves, feel about Karon's relationship with nature. These are not gushing testimonials. They are honest and humble assessments, of how they have lived, for many years, in the company of these paintings. They have confessed nothing more, or less, than getting a "good" and "contenting feeling," seeing these art pieces day after day. They haven't sent me a single request for an evaluation, of how much these same paintings might be worth on the open market. They consider these paintings to be heirloom items, and some who have contacted me, admit they have already passed some of their Karon landscapes to family members as keepsakes. As I have been regularly communicating with the artist's son, through the past months of research, stories like this mean a great deal to him. Knowing there are people who bought his father's paintings in the 1960's to the mid 1980's, who still find them as attractive now, as they were when first acquired. Richard Karon Jr., was only seven when his father died of lung cancer. So this biography has been a journey of discovery, as much as a text to be published as reference, to assist future art researchers. I have passed on each of the emails to Richard, who has added these kind notes, and generous offers, to his own scrap-book of his father's life.

I have worked on many biographies since the late 1970's, including published work on the career of Bracebridge artist, Robert Everett, (Muskoka Today), and pioneer artist, Ada Florence Kinton, of Huntsville, "Muskoka Sun, Muskoka Today, and Curious; the Tourist Guide," but I have not had one that was so dimensionally intriguing and challenging. Admittedly it is a story that keeps butting up against what most would consider "the tragic," and some readers will feel the story ended as it began…..with misfortune and tragedy. Yet there is something that has held my attention to Richard Karon, that goes back to his own early days painting in Muskoka. Not only had my father Ed, worked with him on the construction of his home, studio and gallery, in Baysville, as a lumber agent, but some of the first news stories I wrote, for the Muskoka press, were about Richard Karon exhibitions; one I remember, that was to be held on Bigwin Island. Some of the first paintings I owned, were Karon landscapes. More than this however, is the fact, my own Muskoka impressions, in part, came as a young writer, who just happened to have a passion for art. I desired the work of regional artists, as I continue to this day. Truthfully, I was living a lonely life, in a tiny, sparsely furnished apartment in uptown Bracebridge……, feeling the inadequacy of a reporter's wage, but having several Karon paintings, my mother gave me, hanging above the desk that I wrote-at, on most quiet nights away from the busy newsroom. I found an escape in his art work, that he celebrated daily, living in the lush wreathing of Muskoka woods, in his Baysville home and studio. At a time when I first began writing my own landscape, pieces about Muskoka, which has been part of my editorial provenance for the past thirty-five years, it was seeded back then, when his paintings were my constant, obliging companions. So when his son emailed me, about the possibility we might partner, to compose this biography, I was understandably pleased the circle had been completed.

Richard Karon chose art and nature to escape from realities that fettered him back to his youth in Poland. His were not the childhood memories we can easily relate. Why would he need to escape at all? What was it about art that offered him this unspecified liberation? What did it mean to him in later life? Did he interpret nature as his protector? His muse? Please enjoy this humble offering, as a long overdue memorial tribute, to a friend of Muskoka.

Artist Richard Karon, 1928-1987.