Breakers, Cape Breton by Eric Riordon

Born in St. Catharines in 1906, Eric Riordon grew up in Montreal where his family relocated two years after his birth. He was educated at Ashbury College in Ottawa, and McGill University in Montreal. After studying charcoal drawing for a year at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Montreal, he traveled to Paris in 1932 where he trained at the Grand Chaumière and Academy Julian. On his return to Canada, he painted in the Laurentians where he had spent many summers of his youth at the Riordon family summer residence north of Mont Tremblant at Riordon Island on Lac Caché. During the thirties he became known for his fine paintings of the Laurentians.

Riordon held his first official solo show at the Continental Galleries in October of 1935. He was also recognized for his seascapes, which featured scenes from Brittany, France, and elsewhere in Europe, as well as North America. Riordon’s interest in the sea prompted him to join the R.C.N.V.R in 1940 where he completed a seven-month training course to become Lieutenant. At the end of the war he held the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve.

During his time in the Navy, he took moments from his duties to paint a series of images that were later used for a publication about the Canadian Navy at war. Thirty-four of his miniature sea paintings portraying a typical trans-Atlantic convoy run during the Battle of the Atlantic were exhibited across Canada. Following his discharge from the Navy he built a house on a hilltop where he painted many of his Laurentian scenes. He was elected A.R.C.A. in 1946 and exhibited
with the Academy from 1937 until his death.