Stanley Charles Sellen (b. 1926), the child of British immigrants, grew up in the Pape and Danforth area of Toronto’s East End. After graduating from Danforth Tech high school, (where he produced these political cartoons) he enlisted in the army, training in Ontario and British Columbia, but was spared service with the allies’ victory in the Pacific. He later went to the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1949. Stan joined the CBC in 1953, the early days of Canadian television, as a set designer–and later art director–for such classic CBC shows starring Wayne & Shuster, Juliette, and Ann Murray.
Stan’s painting spans sixty years–from the late 1940s to the 2000s. His earlier work is in oils, later transitioning to water colours and ink. In the tradition of The Group of Seven, much of his painting was executed while on canoe trips in northern Ontario: in Algonquin , Killarney, and Temagami parks and the French River. Many of his watercolours depict the countryside of Vaughan township (he lived outside of Maple, Ontario from 1960 to 1975). Many of these sites no longer exist, having been replaced by the expansion of suburban Toronto.
Stan at 92, in his Toronto home. (Photo credit: Jimmy Limit)
