Born in the year of Confederation, Dr. Robert Tait McKenzie left his mark on Canadian medical history not only as a pioneer in preventive and rehabilitative medicine but also as a highly skilled sculptor who celebrated the human form and human effort through his art. This life's work is honoured at his little-known summer home, the Mill of Kintail, near his birthplace in Almonte, Ont., where he and his wife, a poet and pianist, worked and entertained from 1930 until his death in 1938. Situated on a 167-acre site some 50 km west of Ottawa, the picturesque mill remains as McKenzie left it. His studio houses over 70 plaster originals as well as original bronzes of his sculptures, friezes and medallions. These works include The Joy of Effort, which was used as a model for Olympic medals in 1912. His rawly seductive Masks of Facial Expression (1931-32) record stages of physical exertion. Onslaught (1911) depicts a rugby scrimmage and is now the Ivy League football trophy. Dominating the studio is a plaster cast of the centrepiece of his impressive Scottish American War Memorial; the finished work is in Edinburgh. FIGURE 1
Despite the significance of these works, they are endangered by underfunding. Much-needed repairs to the mill have been delayed since 1996, when provincial funding was pulled. The Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority (www.mvc.on.ca), custodian of the property since it was opened to the public in 1972, is hoping to build a trust fund to maintain the site and increase national awareness of McKenzie's legacy. FIGURE 2
McKenzie's ideas are still recognized as innovative by sport and health organizations across North America. After graduating from the faculty of medicine at McGill, where he excelled in gymnastics more than in academics, he became its first-ever medical director of physical training in 1894. McKenzie held the revolutionary belief that exercise was an integral component of preventive medicine. He became director of Physical Education at the University of Pennsylvania in 1904 and went on to become the first professor of physiotherapy in the US, specializing in treating deformities with therapeutic exercise. Many of the exercise, massage and hydrotherapy treatments he developed are still used. During World War I, McKenzie devised new techniques in rehabilitation; this work became a source of inspiration in his creation of war memorials in four countries.
Between 1900 and 1940 McKenzie's art was shown in 72 exhibitions world wide. Today the main repositories of his work are the University of Pennsylvania's Lloyd P. Jones Gallery and the Mill of Kintail. If a picture is worth a thousand words, these sculptures speak volumes of a life dedicated to promoting physical activity through medicine and art. FIGURE 3