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Wally Brants My attitude toward the landscape is portrayed in a realistic style. I like to capture the peace and the timeless beauty of Newfoundland's landscape the land and sea, the lonely roads, the sky and clouds.Excerpt from artist statement in 12 Newfoundland Painters exhibition publication organized by Memorial University Art Gallery, 1985. Wally Brants was born in Latvia in 1909. He studied fine art at Roman Suta Studios in Riga and exhibited his art there. Brants' fine art training led him to work with the Latvian film industry during the years prior to World War II. The war deeply effected all people in occupied Latvia and Brants', along with many others involved in the film industry, found himself in a camp for displaced persons in the British zone of Blomberg, Germany for two years. In 1947 he emigrated to Australia.
In 1955, Brants and his wife Anna, moved to St. John's, Newfoundland. In addition to painting, Brants was an active member of the Art Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. He also worked as a set designer for CBC television and local drama and musical productions.
Brants won several provincial government Arts and Letters Competition awards. In 1981, the Memorial University Art Gallery (now the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador), held a 25-year retrospective of his artwork, and in 1996, organized an exhibition of original paintings of Newfoundland churches which were featured on the CBC's annual corporate Christmas cards for more than 20 years. Brants' work is represented in public and private collections, including the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador's Permanent Collection, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Brants passed away in 1998 at the age of 89.
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