• born in Ujpest, Hungary
• immigrated to Toronto, Ontario in 1958
• studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, Hungary; School of Art, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba (1968-72)

click on thumbnails at left to view larger images

Caroline Dukes first studied art in Budapest, Hungary, under a communist regime that she remembers allowed only for social realist images. Initially her art practice was a rebellion against her former indoctrination in Hungary. In the early 1970s following her nudes series, existential philosophy and literature became the influence of her work. Her Interior series suggested alienation, and the effect of science and technology on society and on the individual. The work titled Utopia depicting human cloning was described by Dale Amundson in 1983 in terms of the isolation of the figures: "Suspended in time and locked into unreal space, their timelessness and unreality render them impotent, incapable of any action on their own behalf and without the ability to engender emotion of a human kind in those who would try to enter the shallow stage upon which they play their parts." Her work went through several transformations through the years. In the Landscape series spirituality enter the work emphasizing light and atmosphere. Hills and trees were hazily identifiable through a mesh of violent strokes of colour. The following works focussed primarily on architecture, retaining the marks of her previous landscape series. The series At the Focus of Forces (1989) revolves specifically around scenes of Jerusalem, defying the apparent solidity of the architecture with brushstrokes of acrylic and dense use of charcoal. Dukes commented on her interest in Jerusalem in 1990, saying "there layers of civilizations have evolved, and the supernatural energy or force of the land has fundamentally affected the people over centuries. The eerie quality of ancient stones, structures and ruins is intensified by the contrast between light and shade and by the confusion and intensity of colours and cultures. Despite its turbulent history, the place emanates an aura of spirituality and peace. I am interested in how all of these physical elements interact with its diversified society and ideologies." In 1996 Dukes created the intensely personal Remember . . . Relate . . . Retell, a multi-media work that includes works on paper, photographs, text, ready-made objects, video, audio, and constructions. The work is a journey through her own memory and the recovery of memory using hypnosis sessions. She weaves a story of her own childhood and connections to her father, whose early death and then recent death of her mother triggered the making of the work. At the same time the exploration of death when she was young provokes a work called And They Made Us March, a reference to an event connected with her mother during the Holocaust. The following series was titled Cities (1998) in some ways a return to her earlier preoccupation with architecture, this time in three different historically and politically significant cities of Europe and the Middle East: Budapest, Munich and Jerusalem. Claudine Majzels has described this series as "a testament to her stamina, survival, and endurance, evidenced by the scale of these works and their powerful gestures. She bears witness to the tragic annihilation and dislocation of the centuries and asks the mournful question, 'What have we built?'" (1998).

At the Focus of Forces
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba

Breaking the Line: When is a Drawing not a Drawing
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

The Light Within: Manitoba Women in Art
Legislative Building, Manitoba

Royal College of Art Prairie Region Exhibition
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Grand Jury IV
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Art from Desire
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Grand Jury III
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Melnychenko Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Autobiography: Words and Images from Life
North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, North Dakota

Contemporary Manitoba Art from the Collection
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Through the Eyes of a Child
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Melnychenko Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

First Night
Melnychenko Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Building Series
Vasarely Museum, Budapest, Hungary

Melnychenko Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Introductions: The Artists Who Live among Us
North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, North Dakota

Melnychenko Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

All Over the Map: Women and Places
Plains Museum, Morehead, Minnesota

Earth Watch II
Oakham House, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario

Melnychenko Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Third Open Print Exhibition
Manitoba Printmaking Association, Manitoba

Feminist Art Practice in Manitoba
Evelyn Aimis Gallery, Toronto, Ontario (toured to Definitely Superior Art, Thunderbay, Ontario; AKA Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Visual Arts Manitoba, Dauphin, Manitoba; RCA Gallery, St. John's, Newfoundland)

Melnychenko Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Mini Print International-Cadaque
Taller Galeria Fort, Barcelona, Spain

Contemporary Art in Manitoba
MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario

Moose-by-Mail
Prairie Gallery, Grand Prairie, Alberta

Juried Member's Show
ACE Art, Winnipeg, Manitoba

X-RAYS,Transparent Surfaces in Contemporary Art
Main/Access Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Thomas Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Thomas Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Print Commission
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

From Here: Ten Years of Contemporary Art from the Collection
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Contemporary Art in Manitoba
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

Thomas Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Madison Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

Living Nature '85
National Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa, Ontario

Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

Gathering
Congress Centre, Ottawa, Ontario

Artistes manitobaines
Alliance française du Manitoba

Recent Acquisitions
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

The Colour Connection: Caroline Dukes, Alex Cameron, David Barnett, Gordon Rayner, Howard Simkins
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Collectors Cabinet: Celebration of a Collection
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Wallack Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario

Gallery 1667, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Contemporary Graphics
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Festival - Print Edition
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Contemporary Sculpture
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Manitoba Olympic Exhibition
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Images of Women
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Graphex III
Art Gallery of Brant, Brantford, Ontario

Winnipeg Artists II
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

SCAN
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia

Women Artists
Winnipeg Art Gallery Rental Exhibition, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Society of Canadian Artists Exhibition
Shaw-Rimmington Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia

Patronat Premi International Dibuix Jean Miro
Barcelona, Spain

Gallery 1.1.1., School of Art, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Baerwaldt, Wayne, Grace Eiko Thomson, Lisa Gabrielle Mark, et al. Caroline Dukes: Remember . . . Relate . . . Retell. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Plug-In Gallery, 1996.

Baker, Marilyn. "Manitoba women artists at the Winnipeg Art Gallery." Art Magazine (May/June/July 1982): 48-49.

Belshaw, Linda. Graphex 3: 3rd Annual Juried Exhibition of Canadian Graphics. Brantford, Ontario: Art Gallery of Brantford, 1975.

The Canada Council Art Bank Catalogue, 1972-1987. Ottawa, Ontario: The Canada Council, 1987.

Dabu, Caroline. "Images of Women: Contemporary Art from the Collection." Arterra (February 1990): 14.

Dillow, Nancy. The Colour Connection: Caroline Dukes, Alex Cameron, David Barnett, Gordon Rayner, Howard Simkins. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1983.

---. Feature article in Winnipeg Art Gallery Magazine (March 1983): 5.

Ginn, Elizabeth, and Muffet McKay. Moose-by-Mail: Mail Art Exhibition. Grande Prairie, Alberta: Prairie Gallery, 1989.

Greenfield, Val, Ed Bartram, Derek Michael Besant, et al. Graphex VI: 6th Annual Juried and Invitational Exhibition of Canadian Prints and Drawings. Brantford, Ontario: Art Gallery of Brantford, 1978.

Hughes, Kenneth James. Caroline Dukes, Monograph. Manitoba: Manitoba Cultural Studies Group, St. John's College, University of Manitoba, 1983.

Kovalik, Tibor. SCA (Society of Canadian Artists). Toronto, Ontario: Society of Canadian Artists, 1974.

Laczka. "Girlfriends in Obuda." REFORM: Independent Democratic Newsmagazine, Budapest no. 29, (21 July 1993): 29.

Lang, Andrea. "Caroline Dukes - Mastering transition." Artswest (March 1982): cover, 20-23.

Legge, Elizabeth. "OCCURRENCES: Four Manitoba painters." Winnipeg Art Gallery Magazine (November 1981): 5.

---, Aliana Yung Au, Jill Brooks, et al. Occurrences: Four Manitoba Painters: Aliana Yung Au, Jill Brooks, Caroline Dukes, Celia Rabinovitch. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1981.

Lenosky, Daniel S. Mosaic XL/I, Literature and Ideas (Fall 1977): cover and 11 reproductions.

Lovatt, Tom. "The trellis of memory: Recent drawings by Caroline Dukes." Border Crossings 10, no. 1 (Winter 1990/91): 34-35.

Maddil, Shirley. 1987: Contemporary Art in Manitoba. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1987.

---. Dukes: Caroline Dukes at the Focus of Forces. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1991.

Majzels, Claudine. Cities. Caroline Dukes. Winnipeg, Manitoba: University of Winnipeg, 1998.

McKibbon, Millie Richardson. Aspects of Manitoba Art. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1977.

"My father really wanted a son." Parallelogramme 18, no. 3 (1992/3): 56.

Phillips, Carol A. Changes: 11 Artists Working on the Prairies. Regina, Saskatchewan: Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery, 1975.

Tanchyk, Cynthia. "Feminist art practice in Manitoba." Arterra (May 1989): 6.

Tomlin, Fergus. "Headscapes: Recent paintings by Caroline Dukes." Arts Magazine (May/June 1976): 33.

Wade, James. Feminist Art from Manitoba. St. John's, Newfoundland: RCA Gallery, 1989.

Who's Who in American Art. New York: Jacques Cattell Press, 1986.