1907

Ronald York Wilson born in Toronto, December 6, to William James and Maryanne Maude York.

1914-1924

Attends Kent and Regal Road Public Schools, Oakwood Collegiate, Central Technical School Toronto.

1924-1928

Works as Commercial artist at Brigden's Ltd. and Sampson Matthews, Toronto.

1928-1930

Employed by Meinzinger Studios and Reid-Smith Studio, Detroit.

1930-1933

Forms partnership in Flinn-Wilson Studio, Front Street, Toronto.

1931

First Public Exhibition, with Royal Canadian Academy in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

1933

Marries Lela May Miller of Aurora, Ontario.

1933-1939

Works as a freelance artist in Toronto.

1939

Exhibits at New York World Fair.

1940

Executes first mural, commissioned by Roy Thomson for Timmins Press Headquarters.

1942

Elected member of Ontario Society of Artists.

1945

Elected Vice President of Ontario Society of Artists. Receives J.W.L. Forster award for Head Table.

1946

Elected President of Ontario Society of Artists.
Paints with Exercise Muskox in the Arctic.

1947

Visits Whitehorse, Northwest Territories, on a painting trip sponsored by Imperial Oil Ltd.

1948

Elevated Full Academician at Royal Canadian Academy.

1949

Commissioned for Malton Airport Mural, completes cartoon, project discontinued due to budgetary restrictions.

1950

Spends six months in Mexico, participates in Excelsior Exhibition.
CBC news documentary "The Art of York Wilson" made in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

1951

Receives a second J.W.L. Forster award for Toluca Market, executed in duco.

1952

Participates in Carnegie International Exhibition.
Paints in Canary Islands, Spain, Morocco, London and Mexico.

1953

Wins McGill Mural Competition.

1955 

Completes Salvation Army Prayer Room Mural. Introduces vinyl-acetate as painting medium.

1956

Receives Green Blankstein & Russell Award in Winnipeg Show for the painting New Growth.

1957-1958

Completes Imperial Oil Mural, subject of  documentary film by Budge Crawley.
Paints in France, Spain, Portugal, Canary Islands, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Italy; Venice, Rome, Sicily.
Paints small mural in Tenerife.

1957, '61,'63

Participates in Canadian Biennial Exhibitions, National Gallery, Ottawa.

1959

Receives award from Baxter Art Foundation.
O'Keefe Mural commission, wins case against compulsory unionization of artists.
Paints in West Indies.

1960-1964

Elected to Canadian Group of Painters.
Travels for four years in Spain, Morocco, Italy, Vienna, Turkey, Greece and Holland.

1962

Participates in L'Art du Canada exhibition in Bordeaux, France.

1963

Exhibits in Sao Paulo with School of Paris. Michael Foytenyi of the CBC completes half hour film on Wilson's Toronto and Paris Studios.

1964

Participates in Salon International Confrontation exhibition in Dijon, France.
Receives honourable mentions from both the Royal Canadian Academy and the Montreal Museum of Fine Art.

1964-1969

Works in New York studio.
Solo exhibition at the Rose Fried gallery New York.
Returns to Mexico for six months.

1965

Mural commissions for Thunder Bay General Hospital and Bell Canada, Toronto.

1965-1966

Travels to the Far East for one year.

1967

Awarded Centennial Medal of Canada.
Elected President Canadian Group of Painters.
Illustrates Face at the Bottom of the World, poems by Hagiwara Sakutaro, translated by Graeme Wilson.

1968

Mural for Ontario Government, McDonald Block, Queen's Park.

1969 

Returns to Mexico, exhibits at Salon International in Palacio Bellas Artes, Mexico.
Completes cartoon for Gander Airport Mural.

1970

Solo Exhibit at Bellas Artes in San Miguel de Allende.
Completes mural for Central Hospital, Toronto.
Completes mural for Carleton University, Ottawa.

1971

Subject of CBC film in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

1973

Simpson-Sears Tapestry woven at Studio du Mrais, Paris.
Appears in documentary film "Murals Across Canada".
Returns to Mexico for six months.

1974

Retrospectives in Sarnia and Stratford, Ontario.

1975

Paints Combermere with Al Collier.
Retrospective tours to Oshawa and London, Ontario.
Returns to Mexico for six months.

1977

Works in lithography.

1979

Retrospective at Art Gallery of Windsor.

1981

Travels to Cape Breton, Calgary, Banff, Vancouver, Victoria, Ottawa.
Completes self-portrait for "Autoritratti del '900 per gli Uffizi", an exhibition held at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

1982

Travels to Mexico, Spain, Canary Islands, Tenerife.

1983

Receives Ontario Society of Artists Lifetime Achievement Award.
Retrospective at Moore Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario.

1984

Dies on February 10 1984, Toronto General Hospital.