McKendry, Blake

Persona

McKendry, Blake

1919-2003

Born 4 July 1919 in South Gower, Grenville County, he was the second son of Edward McKendry and Blanche Ault McKendry. After acquiring his B.Sc. at Queen's University in 1941, Blake worked at RCA Victor (1941-46) and then Smart & Biggar & Fetherstonhaugh & Co. in Ottawa (1946-61).

In the mid 1950s, he and his wife, Ruth, became interested in art, rare books, and antiques, both as sellers and collectors. During this period - at a time when Canada's decorative arts were only beginning to be appreciated - the McKendrys owned and operated The Pioneer Shop in Ottawa (1957).

In the 1970s, they restored the Snook House, a stone-farmhouse of 1820 near Elginburg where they lived until moving to Kingston in 1994. Author, scholar, and photographer, Blake McKendry leaves a significant cultural legacy, particularly in his books on Canadian art and folk art. He assisted museums and art galleries in acquiring historic Canadian paintings and sculptures, and was a recognized appraiser and consultant on Canadian art and antiques. Moreover, he and Ruth assembled an impressive private collection of Canadian folk art, antiques, and reference books. As a photographer, Blake executed the photography for some 13 books and journals, such as Ruth McKendry's "Quilts and Other Bed Coverings in the Canadian Tradition" (1979), Ralph and Patricia Price's "'Twas Ever Thus" (1979), Gerald Stevens's "Glass in Canada" (1982) and Edith Fowke's "The Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Songs" (1986).

Blake McKendry's own publications include several articles in professional journals, as well as such books as Folk Art: Primitive and Naïve Art in Canada (1983), A Dictionary of Folk Artists in Canada from the 17th Century to the Present (1988), A to Z of Canadian Art, Artists & Art Terms (1997), An Illustrated Companion to Canadian Folk Art (1999), The New A to Z of Canadian Art (2001), and Key Dates in Canadian Art (with Jennifer McKendry, 2001). He continued to write into his eighties.

Always open to fresh ideas and interested in new technologies such as computers, Blake had a lively mind and was a source of inspiration to a younger generation of antique and art collectors. Blake and Ruth's collection of early Ontario furnishings was dispersed by auction on 21 and 22 November. He would have been pleased by the close attention paid by bidders to the artifacts' provenances and original finishes and by the zeal with which his beloved books - numbering more than 2000 - were acquired.

On 30 October 2003, Blake Ault McKendry, a loyal member and benefactor of KHS, passed away at Trillium Ridge Centre, Kingston at the age of 84. Blake McKendry is survived by his wife, Ruth, his children, Jennifer of Kingston and David of Ottawa, daughter-in-law, Nancy, and grandsons, John, Ian, and Martin.

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