Oct 23, 2025

Seamus O'Regan on David Blackwood’s Art

O'Regan discusses his personal relationship to Blackwood’s art and its subversive nature

A black and white photograph of Seamus O'Regan

Image courtesy of Seamus O'Regan

David Blackwood’s stirring depictions of Newfoundland’s once thriving outport culture made him a legend in Canada. Capturing rugged beauty, hardship, and endurance, his large-scale prints are filled with memories of his childhood and myths of his ancestral home. To better understand the impact of Blackwood’s art, on Wednesday, October 29, the AGO welcomes the Honourable Seamus O'Regan, for an evening of conversation and storytelling with exhibition curator Alexa Greist.

A national broadcaster, four-term Cabinet Minister, academic and lifelong advocate for Newfoundland, O’Regan’s storied career has taken him far from his birthplace in St. John’s. “My siblings and I were reared on David. As a host of Canada AM for 10 years, I interviewed celebrities like Matt Damon and Taylor Swift. But I was never more nervous than when I interviewed David. More nervous even than when I interviewed Bill Clinton. For me, David was a real celebrity.”

Before his conversation at the AGO, Foyer had the pleasure of chatting with O’Regan about seeing Blackwood’s art as a child, its enduring significance and meeting the artist himself. Excerpts from that conversation are below.

“I first encountered David’s work at home. My parents had started collecting his work when they were young, before they had me and I grew up surrounded by it. Dad was fresh out of law school, and Mom was fresh out of Dalhousie University and there wasn’t a whole lot of money, but because he was making prints, they and people like them could afford to buy them. Their first purchase was Burning of the SS Viking. And to this day, my mom resents the crease that you can see in the corner because they had it rolled up underneath their bed, before they could afford to frame it.

David Blackwood. Burning of the S.S. Viking, 1971. etching and aquatint on paper, Overall: 58 x 88.3 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Gift of David and Anita Blackwood, 2018. © Estate of David Blackwood. Photo: AGO. 2021/109

For a whole generation of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, the vision of outport life they had been fed was an idealized one. David broke that tradition and presented work that embraced both the bleakness and the light. For a culture raised on idyllic portraits of happy fisherman, David’s work was subversive. I think it was that raw honesty that my parents and my generation appreciated so much. Life in outport Newfoundland, particularly early in the 20th century, was hard and David showed us that. For us it was new.

What struck me when talking to David was what a pleasant, calm and measured fellow he was. In his work, it's not like he was ascribing blame. He was just telling the truth. This is life as he knew it, and as he and his family and friends knew it growing up and it couldn't, it can't get lost. It's important that you understand where you came from to appreciate where we are right now.”

Don’t miss Seamus O’Regan in conversation with Alexa Greist, Curator & R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints and Drawings, on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. in Baillie Court. Tickets are on sale now. Visit ago.ca/events/seamus-oregan-and-alexa-greist-impact-david-blackwoods-art for more details.

The exhibition David Blackwood: Myth & Legend is on view now on Level 1 in Margaret Eaton Gallery (gallery 137), Marvin Gelber Gallery (gallery 136), and Betty Ann & Fraser Elliott Gallery (gallery 135). The exhibition is curated by Alexa Greist, Curator & R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints and Drawings at the AGO.