House on Baldwin Street, Toronto

woodblock print, 1/8

(limited edition of 8)

12 x 15.5 inches

1969

signed

framed

Catalogue No: TNYIL-224

During his years at the Ontario College of Art, Tibor Nyilasi and his classmates were often sent out by their instructors to visually explore the back alleys of the streets around the art college in downtown Toronto. They were to find striking subject matter by looking at the private informality of these alleys: the back porches, clutter, staircases, laundry hung out to dry.

Nyilasi's creative imagination was stimulated by this assignment, and throughout his career, from time to time, he would seek out and portray neglected houses, unnoticed corners, and discarded items.

In 1969 he returned to this theme in this limited-edition woodcut of Baldwin Street as viewed from a back laneway. Baldwin Street is near the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University).

In this woodcut print, the chosen artistic medium allowed emphasis of the architectural features of the buildings portrayed. The storeys rise vertically and are counterbalanced by the horizontal lines of the shingled sidings. This makes the viewer feel that the houses are full of activity, bustle and private lives lived in close proximity.

Also, this row of conjoined homes is placed solidly between the earth in the foreground and the sky above, thereby suggesting that long-established urban housing eventually becomes a part of the natural environment.