Manuel GONSALVES

GONSALVES, Manuel
June 12, 1926 - April 29, 2012
Painter Mannie Gonsalves, AFCA, IWCA, having had a productive and interesting life as an artist, mentor and father, nearing 86 years old, died peacefully on April 29, 2012, after a mercifully short fight with cancer. Mannie, along with Roland Gissing, revealed through art the beauty of the Alberta landscape. Mannie showed Alberta to much of the world as the author of the internationally best selling educational painting book Winter Landscapes published by Walter Foster Art Books of California. Though known as a landscape artist his talent enabled him to paint figures and wildlife equally well. His art has been represented by galleries throughout Canada, Europe, South Africa and the USA. He received awards from the prestigious Charles Russell Museum in Montana, the Federation of Canadian Artists, and the Calgary Stampede Western Art Showcase, which he participated in over many years. Art was always a calling for Mannie. Starting in his teens, he studied at the Art College in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he was born June 12, 1926. Always practical, he also studied accounting as an alternative career. In 1955 Mannie came to Calgary from South Africa. Mountains, ranches and the plains, the perfect place for a painter, he was lured to Alberta by the diversity of the landscape. Nonetheless, he first worked as an accountant in the oil industry. While with Mobil Oil, he was posted to Portugal where he continued to pursue his art studies at the Escola de Belas Arts in Lisbon. Back in Calgary, he studied at the Alberta College of Art and joined the Calgary Sketch Club where he came under the influence of renowned landscape artist Roland Gissing, who became his regular sketching partner. Continually drawn by the arts in 1961, he opened his own gallery, Chinook Art Gallery, which was renamed to Heritage Galleries when moved to more commodious quarters. As a skilled painter, he gained acceptance from many of the top American artists including his good friends and mentors Robert Lougheed, CAA and California artist Sergei Bongart, NAWA. He in turn influenced other artists like W.L. Stevenson, and saw the talent in a young Harley Brown. Mannie sought out Harley and brought him into his circle of influence where Harley steadily rose to the high international regard he now receives. Mannie with the reputation as a fine teacher was revered by younger painters, including Doug Swinton, Robert E. Wood and many other promising young artists whom he accompanied on frequent sketching trips to the mountains. He was generous with his vast knowledge of painting; in his eyes a good painting, one worthy to be called art, was without hard edges. Mannie is survived by his two daughters and son, Tobi Hetherington (Kelly Hughes), Nina (Keith) Rogers and Michael Gonsalves; his two granddaughters, Tedra and Miranda Rogers, all of Calgary; his two younger sisters, Tess and Delores, of South Africa and numerous nieces and nephews in both Canada and South Africa. A Memorial Service will be held at McINNIS & HOLLOWAY'S Park Memorial Chapel (5008 Elbow Drive S.W., Calgary, AB) on Monday, May 7, 2012 at 3:00 p.m. Condolences may be forwarded through www.mcinnisandholloway.com . In living memory of Mannie Gonsalves, a tree will be planted at Fish Creek Provincial Park.