Robert Pope Archive

This simple self-portrait shows that Robert has been looking at Baroque images, with their moody lighting effects. Most of his face is drawn in shadow, with the hair and clothes left as an unfinished, frame-like outline. Robert has further stylized

Robert was living on Veith Street in the North End close to the shipyards when he first moved to Halifax. Thickly painted in black, white and gray, this cityscape dates from Robert’s art school days, at the same time he

In the 1970s and 80s, teachers and students at NSCAD were challenged to examine the nature of the media with which they worked. In this manifesto-like sketchbook entry, Robert asks himself, “Is painting obsolete?” He begins by noting that “Something

In art school, Robert was introduced to Pop Art by his British-Canadian painting instructor John Clark. Pop Art borrowed imagery from mass produced sources, (comics, ads, movies, as well as sensational tabloid imagery of crime and violence), to portray a society with a short attention span bombarded

While studying at art school, Robert rarely photographed people. When he did, the images tended to play down individual identities. These two photos contrast dancers at a party (probably at NSCAD) and dancers rehearsing in a studio. The left hand

Of the hundreds of photos Robert took while attending art school, he only took three photographs inside the school itself. These are two of them. The other is of a dance event. The poverty and dilapidation of the city that was

This ambitious image, with its multiple overlapping figures, tries to express some of Robert’s ideas of social microcosm and the mythology of pop culture. The dance serves as an initiation rite: graduation from high school and testing relationships. Robert was

This invitation card announces Robert’s graduation show at NSCAD. “Oppositions” was the perfect theme for Robert, who was particularly gifted at finding and creating visual contrasts. The poster features Robert’s image, Nail Garden, a collage of flowered wallpaper with 2” nails

This Pop Art mirage offers an ironic escape from an uninviting desert. The sand glued to the canvas is real sand, while the island, palm tree and pond are painted representations, created in such a cartoon style that no one could