Shot on location in Spain and Canada, this visually lyrical film provides a carefully constructed narrative of the artist’s complex, inspired life. As a young art student, Jack Chambers left the provincial town of London, Ontario in the early 1950’s and sailed to Naples. In Spain he broke into Picasso’s house to ask him for advice, and ended up enrolling at the Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. He lived in Spain for nine years, and when he came back to Canada he brought with him an artistic discipline as sharp as Spanish steel, a sophisticated Argentinean wife, and a new religion—Catholicism. The film includes the full range of Chambers’ work up until his death at the age of 47 including oil paintings, drawings and experimental films. His effort to integrate the influences of photography and to reconcile abstract art with the conservative technical tradition that he embraced in Spain reflects the central conflicts that have defined artistic expression in the 20th century. For the last nine years of his life, Chambers struggled with leukemia, traveling as far as India in search of a cure, yet during his last years he produced much of his most radiant work.

Credits
Director: John Walker
Writers: Seaton Findlay, Christopher Lowry
Cinematographer: John Walker, csc
Editor: Sally Patterson
Sound: Aerlyn Weissman, David Springbett, Andy McBrearty, Robin Russell, Richard Lightstone
Music: Larry Crosley
Narrator: Cedric Smith
Producer: Christopher Lowry
Executive Producers: Michael MacMillan, Janice Platt, Seaton McLean
Production Company: Atlantis Films Inc.