about Ted Zuber

Edward F. (Ted) Zuberwas born in 1932 in Montreal. He first studied art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Montreal, attended Queens University (fine arts) and apprenticed to the religious painter Matthew Martirano.

At the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Ted enlisted and became a parachutist with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment. With the Battalion’s mission to Korea in 1952, he first saw action on 187 as “I” Rep to D coy. The unit’s next front line position, 355 or “Little Gibraltar” required an additional rifle company, and Zuber was transferred to this new “E” Coy as a Bren Gunner. The winter saw him back with H. Q. Company, this time as a sniper up on the “Hook” position. It was here that he suffered a grenade wound, after which he was evacuated to the Norwegian M.A.S.H. and the 25th Canadian Field Hospital.

Throughout his experience on the Korean Front, Zuber carried a sketch book to record the action around him. During which time he produced many drawings and maintained a detailed “Sketch diary”. These pictorial records of Canada’s Korean involvement are particularly valuable historically, because there was no official war artist assigned to Canada’s Korean experience. Thirteen paintings from Zuber’s “Korean War Memoirs ” are now in the collections of the Canadian War Museum.

When the Gulf War - Operation Friction began Ted was selected from among a field of over 30 artists, the Canadian Armed Forces Civilian Artists Program (CAFCAP) to travel to Qatar with the Canadian Forces to capture the images and experiences of Canadian Service Men and Women. Rikki Cameron, Curator of Art at the Canadian War Museum says of Ted “Mr. Zuber has an international reputation for his war art, particularly for his depictions of Canadian participation in the Korean War.”

Ted served in the Gulf War Theatre from 21 January to 3 March 1991 as Canada’s Official War Artist. Temporarily commissioned in the rank of Captain, he was contracted under the CAFCAP to record the life and activities of Canadian Forces personnel in Operation Friction. His contract with DND, sponsored under the CAFCAP called for 10 sketches to be produced, he brought back 120 of them and six small paintings that he completed after one month in the active duty area. The six field paintings were purchased outright and Zuber was commissioned to do four finished paintings, one each to depict the activities of the Army, Navy, Air Force and 1 Canadian Field Hospital. “That’s when work really began,” Zuber says. “How was I to tell the whole story in only four pictures? Doing 400 would almost have been easier”. Ms. Cameron has gone on to say “I think Mr. Zuber is like a number of Canadian artists, he is better known outside of Canada than he is here.”

Ted, like those artists who served in earlier CAFCAP assignments, acted much like a war correspondent, incorporating into his art the feeling of the events around him as photography alone cannot accomplish. His endurance of the heat and dangers of the war zone have left a commemorative historic record of the men and women of the Canadian Forces who served in the Gulf.

That doesn’t mean Zuber has a lot of time for reflection now. Being an overnight sensation has meant fielding a lot of queries for new business and attending media interviews, including a feature on CTV’s W5 … by Capt. Brett Boudreau. 

 

On December 17, 1991 Mr. Zuber was awarded the Kuwait and Gulf medal by Chief of the Defense Staff, General J.G de Chastelain. He was also awarded the Korean Medal on November 11, 1991 together with the other Canadians who served in Korea.

One of a kind display
Ted is the only Canadian service man or woman to have both the Korean War medal AND the Gulf War medal.

Since the completion of Ted’s service to his country the majority of his time is spent capturing the images and life near his studio outside of Seeley’s Bay, Ontario. Although he continues to occasionally excise the demons of his past the majority of his work today portrays gentler themes. Landscapes provide a special passion for Ted and in winter themes especially Ted finds quiet solitude. His winter landscapes are especially telling both as uniquely Canadian and as images that tell their own stories through the detail and emotion. From the almost surreal experience of Strangers Passing, which captures the sunset lit clouds over the lake behind his studio, to Seeley’s Bay that could be any small town in Canada with a gas station, grocery store and town hall each landscape tells its own special story. Wilderness, takes the viewer to a place deep within the forest where the spirit of the forest dwells, close examination presents an image where the viewer’s imagination is tested and every observer sees their own visions.