John G. Diefenbaker, University Chancellor, making presentation of an honourary Doctor of Laws degree to Ernest Lindner at spring convocation held at Centennial Auditorium.

Bio/Historical Note: Ernst Friedrich (Ernest) Lindner was born in 1897 in Vienna, Austria and was a lieutenant in the Joint Austrian Air Force and a bank clerk before coming to Canada with his family in 1926. After settling in Saskatoon he worked as a freelance commercial artist and illustrator and became active in the local arts community. He started a weekly arts discussion group called “Saturday Nights,” was president of the Saskatoon Art Association, participated in Emma Lake Artists' Workshops, and was one of the first members of the Saskatchewan Arts Board. He also took night classes in art at Saskatoon Technical Collegiate and studied under Gus Kenderdine. Lindner later became the head of the Art Department at the Technical College (1936). Lindner is best known for his watercolour paintings that depict the lush trees and mosses near his summer home at Emma Lake. Lindner also painted figures and interiors and in oil and tempera paint, and produced wood carvings and copper relief works. Lindner received an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Saskatchewan (1972), was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts (1977) and the Order of Canada (1979), and was awarded the Saskatchewan Arts Board’s Lifetime Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1988. His paintings were exhibited across Canada and in Europe. Lindner died in Saskatoon in 1988 at age 91. In 2007 the Saskatchewan government designated his studio at Emma Lake as a provincial heritage property. Lindner's work is represented in collections including the Academy of Applied Art (Vienna), Grand Central Galleries (New York City), the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Ernest Lindner School in Erindale and Ernest Lindner Park in College Park, both in Saskatoon, are named in his honour.