Ross Mendes

Born 1927 Allan Ross Mendes in Toronto, Canada. Died 2001.

1951 first exhibition at the Toronto Art Gallery; lived for two years in Montreal before returning to Toronto in 1954; left Canada for Spain in 1957; married Phyllis Bagley in Palma de Majorca, Ibiza, 1957, where he lived and painted before moving to London in 1958 where daughter Tanit Ann was born; in 1963 he emigrated with his family to South Africa, first settling in Cape Town, then moving in 1965 to Johannesburg.

Mendes, his wife and their four children returned via Ibiza to Toronto, Canada in 1967; Mendes continued to work as an art director, started to teach at Toronto’s York University and the Cambrian College. From 1972 Mendes instructed at the Ontario College of Art and Design for 23 years.

He was an art critic for The Cape Times, Cape Town, the Canadian Forum and ArtsCanada.

In his younger days, Mendes created comic books, designed sets and later worked in advertising. He designed the record cover “Themes from Great Motion Pictures” for Solitaire Records, Toronto in the 1950s. Mendes’ first job was with Wookie, Bush and Winter. Both Jack Bush and William Winter were top illustrators and painters. Bush became part of the famous post-war group Painters Eleven. Winter was a regular illustrator at Maclean’s magazine before he became a full time painter. There Mendes learned commercial art.

https://www.art-archives-southafrica.ch/MENDES.htm#:~:text=From%201972%20Ross%20Mendes%20instructed,and%20later%20worked%20in%20advertising.

https://canadianaci.ca/Encyclopedia/mendes-ross-allen/