Alec and the Firestone Family

In the early 1950s, federal economist and avid art enthusiast O.J. Firestone was beginning to seek out artists from across the country, including A.Y. Jackson in Toronto in 1954.

When Firestone learned that Jackson had moved to Manotick, he arranged to visit Jackson’s studio. They spoke extensively on the subject of Canadian art and the Group of Seven and developed a relationship that lasted for more than a decade.

During this time, O.J. and Isobel Firestone collected hundreds of works by Canadian artists that would later become the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art that we know today.

The Firestone home, named “Belmanor” after Isobel, was designed to function as both family residence and art gallery. Certain rooms in the house were dedicated to the display of artwork of a single artist, and the “Jackson Room” held some of the 250 works by the artist collected by the family.

Firestone introduced Jackson to figures in his Ottawa social circle and occasionally acted as a chauffeur. They also threw Jackson elaborate multi-day birthday celebrations which brought the entire arts community together in their home. Jackson often joined the family for lunch. While his wife Isobel addressed Jackson as “Alec,” and the four Firestone children (Brenda, Catherine, Bruce, and Peter) admired him greatly, Firestone continued to call him “Mr. Jackson” for many years, indicating how he regarded the artist as one of Canada’s greatest painters. In 1979, five years after Jackson’s death, O.J. Firestone wrote a memoir titled The Other A.Y. Jackson, which documents their friendship as well as other notable events of Jackson’s life that occurred during the thirteen years he spent living in the Ottawa region.¹¹

11. O. J. Firestone, The Other A. Y. Jackson, Toronto, The Canadian Publishers, 1979, p. 63-77.

After drawing O.J. Firestone, A.Y. Jackson was hesitant to become the subject himself. Yet, he conceded, as described by the collector, “[l]ike a good sport, Alec did a quick self-portrait, shaking his head and murmuring to himself, though loud enough for me to hear, ‘What a face. I like the hat better (10).’” 10. O. J. Firestone, The Other A. Y. Jackson, Toronto, The Canadian Publishers, 1979, p. 72.

Created at Lake Kingsmere one afternoon in 1963, O.J. Firestone described “I asked Alec whether in spite of his reluctance to draw figures or faces, he might like to draw the face of a professor. He said he would not be very good at it, but he would try … In five minutes, the drawing was done. I protested a little, saying I had more hair than Alec indicated. ‘That’s the way I see you,’ he replied with a chuckle (9).” 9. O. J. Firestone, The Other A. Y. Jackson, Toronto, The Canadian Publishers, 1979, p. 72.

In the Firestone home, the family designated rooms for the display of works by specific artists, including the “Jackson Room.” During a three-day event for held for Jackson’s 80th birthday, the artist stayed in this room.

O.J. and Isobel Firestone’s son Bruce Firestone speaks about his experience of his family’s art collection and encounters with A.Y. Jackson.

Alec and the Firestone Family

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