City Accepts Generous Gift of Paintings from Artist Charles Pachter

On May 7 Toronto City Council voted to accept from Charles Pachter, one of the city’s best known artists, a magnificent gift of his 1812: The Art of War series. The artist himself wrote about it in The Fife and Drum, March 2012, where five of the works were illustrated. It is expected that the fourteen donated paintings will hang in the orientation theatre of the Fort York Visitor Centre when it opens in 2014. Some may also be available for loan and display elsewhere.

Widely-admired for his gentle humour and kindness, Pachter is known for his remarkable imagination in choosing his subjects, many of which are inspired by contemporary events and national institutions; for his recognizable style, freshness of colour, and good-natured titles. His outstanding talent and unselfish love for Canada were recognized when he was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1999 and promoted to the rank of Officer in 2011. He also holds an honorary doctorate from Brock University.

However, Pachter’s interest in Fort York doesn’t end with his paintings. In 2009 he was a member of a jury that chose the winning design for the new Visitor Centre, now under construction. And when the Fort York branch of the Toronto Public Library, being built currently on Bathurst Street opposite the fort, is opened in late 2013 or early 2014, it will include a public art component by Pachter and his good friend, Margaret Atwood. His sketch for ‘The Planters’ from their joint work, The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1980), will be etched on aluminum louvers along the exterior wall overlooking Fort York. Some of her poems will be inscribed nearby.