Art Gallery of Newfoundland and
Labrador (AGNL)
Shaped by the Sea
Permanent Collections
Gerald Squires was born in 1937 at Change Islands, Newfoundland. He moved to Toronto, Ontario, at the age of 12 with his family.
While attending high school, Squires received his first artistic training through commercial art classes and began painting at the age of 15. He went on to study for a year at the Ontario College of Art before taking a position as a newspaper illustrator. It was while working for the now defunct Toronto Telegram that Squires' work started to be noticed. He was asked by the newspaper to publish a series of his line drawings of historic Toronto area churches, which was followed by his series of Toronto street scenes. One of his first successes was the 1962 series St. Francis of Assisi, a number of which were bought for the personal collection of American actor Vincent Price.
It was this early encouragement that lead Squires to quit his newspaper job and begin full-time work on his art, with his first solo exhibition in 1958. He moved back to Newfoundland in 1969 and eventually settled in Ferryland, living in an unused lighthouse with his wife, Gail, and two daughters, Miranda and Esther.
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Ferryland Downs #4 1978 Lithograph, 13/18 48 x 56.8 cm 
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Squires became known for three separate bodies of work: the Boatman, Ferryland Downs and Cassandra series. The Boatman and Cassandra paintings have been described as political and surreal, as well as personally expressive. During the 1970s, he made welded steel sculpture. He has been commissioned to paint religious subjects, such as The Last Supper. These paintings portray biblical events along with distinctly Newfoundland images, such as Signal Hill and Cabot Tower and objects like nets, lines and other fishing equipment. He is also known for his portraits and dramatic landscapes of Newfoundland. His work hangs in churches, galleries and public and personal collections.
Squires continues to live and work in Newfoundland. He teaches art classes through Memorial University of Newfoundland's Department of Continuing Studies, and was awarded an honorary degree by the university in 1992. Squires is also one of the Bordeaux Group of Newfoundland artists, for exhibiting in France along with Scott Goudie, George Horan, Lise Sorenson, Ilse Hughes, Julia Pickard and Jean-Claude Roy. In 1995, Breakwater Books published Gerald Squires; Newfoundland Artist, which is illustrated by reproductions of many of his sculptures and paintings.
