Lindner, Ernest

Born in 1897, in Vienna, Austria, Ernest Lindner was a lieutenant in the Joint Austrian Air-force from 1915 to 1918. He later worked as a bank clerk and in his family's walking stick firm.

Upon immigrating to Canada in 1926, Lindner attended night classes at the University of Saskatchewan under Augustus Kenderdine. In 1931 Lindner started teaching night classes at the Saskatoon Technical Collegiate. He eventually became a full-time instructor there, and later took on the role as Head of the Art Department; he taught at the Collegiate until 1962.

Ernest Lindner was extremely active in the local, provincial and national arts communities. In Saskatoon, he originated "Saturday Nights"—a weekly discussion group held in the private homes of local members of the arts community. He was a member and President of the Saskatoon Art Association, one of the first members on the Saskatchewan Arts Board, and a member of the "Prospectors", the first professional society of artists in Saskatchewan. It was through the influence of Lindner and Kenderdine that the University of Saskatchewan started the renowned annual Emma Lake Artists' Workshops in 1955.

The subject that concerned Lindner most was the cycle of life, and his preferred subjects were the plant life around his summer home at Emma Lake. Lindner's later images are often composites of human and natural forms, overlapping and blending into each other. Upon retirement, Lindner worked as a full time artist until his death in 1988.

Nearing the end of his distinguished career, Lindner was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1977, and made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1979. Lindner was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law Degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1972 and a Life Time Award for Excellence in the Arts from the Saskatchewan Arts Board in 1988. His works are found in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Glenbow Museum, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.