John Meredith – The Last Decade

John Meredith was a great painter. So, it’s fitting that one of the most memorable things Kayoko Smith recalls her late husband speaking to her about was painting. Or about looking at paintings in general. Enjoy it. Don’t analyse too much. Kayoko was an ambitious viewer, she needed to analyse, to understand what she was seeing. Just look slowly -whatever you feel is right.

Kayoko Smith, then Kayoko Hayashi, and a friend had embarked on travels together, leaving their native Japan for Canada in 1973. They made friends with strangers, learning English as they went, and Toronto grew on them quickly. Kayoko began working in the floral industry, designing bouquets, arrangements for events and weddings, and so on. When her friend decided to move on to Montreal, Kayoko found herself on the hunt for new accommodations. A mutual friend introduced her to a woman named Anna, who was getting separated from her second husband at the time. Anna was renting out a beautiful room in a hundred-year-old home at Avenue Road and Dupont. Kayoko can recall being taken with it the moment she walked in, I’ll rent it.

And it was great. Kayoko was swept into Anna’s world, coming to know her and her circle closely. Unbeknownst to the still new-to-town Kayoko, Anna was a model with close ties to Toronto’s bustling yet tight-knit art world, evidenced by her past marriage with artist Richard Gorman. Gorman and John Meredith had been close for years, sharing a studio early in their careers, and maintaining a lifelong friendship. Even after Richard and Anna separated, Anna and John remained close friends.

It was at a small get-together in Anna’s home in 1974, that John Meredith and Kayoko Hayashi met.

With their meeting, her fast-paced life began to slow down. Kayoko and John’s relationship grew gently, over time. It was not love at first sight. There was no dramatic first encounter.

He was introverted, he was very honest with himself. I think many artists are, but he was very shy and introspective. I think that was always his intention, he didn’t want to hide himself.

She was 26 at the time, and he was 16 years her senior. But Kayoko doesn’t recall feeling the age difference when they met or during their marriage. At 42 years old, Meredith had already enjoyed a sizeable amount of fame and critical reception in the art world, when they met.

In the decade prior, Meredith’s career had taken off, having been represented by the Isaacs Gallery since 1962. He was widely recognized for his contributions to Canadian art, with work included in important institutional shows and collections, and exhibited abroad. His trademark black smudged line paintings, with calligraphic brushstrokes and vibrant colours, defined his practice at the time. His work was detailed, and his process was arduous. Upon viewing, the work seemed to consist of effortless strokes of genius, but each canvas was the result of weeks of effort, including detailed, to-scale diagrams on paper that were then projected by means of a drawn grid onto his expansive canvases. Meredith took time with his work from the beginning, undeterred by outside conventions or influences.