George Swinton
(1917-2002)
George Swinton was born in Vienna, Austria in 1917. He emigrated to Canada in 1939 and completed his Bachelor of Arts at McGill University in 1946. He also took courses at the Montreal School of Art & Design from 1946-1947 and at the Art Students League in New York from 1949-1950. Swinton spent most of his career teaching at universities. He taught art and history classes at Smith College, Queen’s University, the University of Manitoba, and at Carleton University. His teaching career spanned from 1950-1985, and he was the recipient of many honors including, Professor Emeritus from Carleton University in 1986 and an L.L.D. from the University of Manitoba in 1987. Swinton also worked as an art critic for the Winnipeg Tribune from 1954-1958 and hosted the CBC television series, “Art in Action”, from 1959-1962. He was a renowned authority on Inuit art. Swinton’s artwork is in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. He wrote four books: What is Good Design in 1964, Eskimo/Sculpture/Esquimaude in 1965, Sculpture of the Eskimo in 1972, and Almost Poems in 2001. Swinton died in 2002 in Winnipeg, Canada.