Artworks

“[Eric Riordon]’s love of the sea prompted him to join the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1940, at the outbreak of World War II, taking a seven month training course to become Lieutenant. He served as executive officer in Montreal before being posted to the east coast for sea duty where he was promoted to second-in-command of a naval corvette engaged in anti-submarine and convoy duty. At the end of the war, he held the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve.

He snatched moments from his duties during this period to paint a series of wartime naval scenes, which were later used in a publication about the Canadian Navy at war. Thirty four of his miniature naval scenes depicting a typical trans-Atlantic convoy manoeuvre during the Battle of the Atlantic were exhibited across Canada. Following his discharge from the Navy, Riordon built a house on a hilltop where he painted many more of his Laurentian scenes. He was elected A.R.C.A. in 1946 and exhibited with the Academy from 1937 until his death [1].”
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Footnote
1. Colin S. MacDonald, “A Dictionary of Canadian Artists”, Volume 7, “Rakos to Sadowski” (Canadian Paperbacks: Ottawa, 1996)