Cornfield with Blackbirds

Robert Kost (1936-2003) was born in Lac du Bonnet, a small town idyllically situated along the Winnipeg River in rural Manitoba. He studied art in the 1950s at the Mechanical Drafting School in the city of Winnipeg. His career as a painter began in 1960, his early style embracing a loose impressionism. In the mid to late 1960s he rediscovered the landscape of his childhood. This precipitated a very dramatic change in his approach to painting. As he began capturing the landscape and life of the prairies, he exchanged impressionism for the highly realistic style he is so well-known for today. Sadly, as a symbol of recommitment to his art, he destroyed many of his early abstract works.

During a long career he exhibited in major centers across Canada. His work is found in many public collections including Imperial Oil, Toronto; Shell Resources, Calgary; Canada Council Art Bank; Noranda Mines, Toronto; Panarctic Oil Ltd, Ottawa, The Government of Manitoba; Dominion Securities, Toronto; The Government of Canada; N.V.E. Capital Corporation, Calgary; Cargil Grain, Winnipeg; and many private collections in Canada and the U.S.A.