Fred S. Haines, P. R.C.A., P. O.S.A.
(1879-1960)
Frederick Stanley Haines was born in Meaford, Ontario in 1879. He
has left a legacy of etchings and paintings, that preserve the pastoral
landscapes from the first half of the 20th century - the source
of his inspiration. Through these paintings we experience the richness
of the landscape and his simple, direct interpretation of nature.
An advocate of the arts in Canada, Fred Haines was known not only
as an accomplished artist, he also dedicated himself through public
service. His positions included President of the Ontario Society
of Artists 1924-27; President of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
1939-42; Director of the Art Gallery of Toronto 1927-32; and Principal
of the Ontario College of Art 1932-51. For more info order about
the artist order booklet (hyper link to order page)
George Lonn (1909 - 1999)
George Paul Lonn was born in Rocanville, Saskatchewan. He grew up
in a time when rural life was still pioneering. He demonstrated
a gift for portraiture at an early age; paper was scarce but he
would draw portraits of his classmates and their horses on the blackboard
to entertain the children. His talent was recognized and he was
sent to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, in Montreal, following
graduation he stayed on as a teacher in sculpture and painting.
A noted portrait artist, he drew and painted many leading figures
of the 20th Century including. Prince Phillip, Sir Winston Churchill,
Vivien Leigh, Sir Laurence Olivier, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F.
Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Lester B. Pearson, John G. Diefenbaker,
A.Y. Jackson, Kenneth Forbes and scores of others who appeared in
a number of newspapers throughout Canada
and in the United States.
Fascinated by the native peoples of the North as well as other tribes
of the Americas, Mr. Lonn traveled to the Arctic on two occasions
in 1966 and 1968. Many of his sketches and paintings document their
vanishing lifestyle and traditions of aboriginal people.
Jerrine Wells - Kinton, O.C.A.
(1891-1971)
Born in Waterloo, Ontario in 1891, she attended the Ontario College
of Art. Studied under Robert Holmes and J.W. Beatty. Kinton did
stained glass windows for churches and knew the great stained glass
designer Peter Haworth R.C.A. She wrote for magazines and spoke
to various groups on specialized art subjects in her interest area.
In 1938, she exhibited paintings professionally at the Robert Simpson
Company Gallery. Kinton exhibited in the juried exhibitions in the
1950's at the National Gallery of Canada, The Art Gallery of Toronto
(now the A.G.O.) and in various exhibitions of the Royal Canadian
Academy, where she sold her works. Kinton lived in Toronto although
she painted in many countries all over the world and was mostly
know for her landscapes
and seascapes.
Joachim Gauthier, R.C.A., O.S.A., C.S.P.W.C.
(1897-1988)
Joachim Gauthier was born in North Bay, Ontario in 1897. He had
an early interest in art, and at the age of seven he received as
award of excellence for drawings in chalk on the blackboard. A railway
pass given to him to see his sister Alice in Tacoma, Washington
landed him an apprenticeship as a sign writer. He later began to
take life - drawing classes with noted sculptor Victor Alonzo Lewis.
Also while in Washington he was introduced to plein air (open air)
painting in the coastal regions of Washington.
Upon retuning to North Bay he met his future wife Leonie Quesnel
and moved to Hamilton, Ontario. A few years later they moved to
Toronto. In Toronto, Gauthier was able to establish a long career
spanning 37 years with Sampson - Matthews one of the largest design
firms of the day. Franklin Carmichael. At the time this firm employed
a most impressive stable including A. J. Casson, Herbert Palmer
and Fred S. Haines to name a few. The camaraderie many of the artists
shared at work extended to their free time as well when artists
such as Gauthier, Carmichael, Casson, etc. would make trips to the
hinterland equipped with watercolour and or oil painting supplies
where they would
attempt to capture what lay before them.
Gauthier was a charter member of the Canadian Society of Painter
in Watercolour. He was also commissioned by the McMichael Conservation
Collection at Kleinburg to do portraits of Tom Thomson, The Group
Of Seven and some of their contemporaries. For more information
on the artists order a booklet from (hyper link to order page)
Manly MacDonald, R.C.A., O.C.A., O.I.P.
(1889-1971)
Born at Point Anne, Ontario, he studied at the Ontario College of
Art under G.A. Reid. He also attended the Albright Art School in
Buffalo, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Traveled throughout
Europe on an R.C.A. scholarship. He was a painter for the Canadian
War Memorials. Known as "The Interpreter of Old Ontario"
he established a studio in Toronto, but returned to the Bay of Quinte
area often for his subjects. There is a booklet available about
Manly MacDonald's life and works. (hyperlink to booklet order page)
Margaret Thomson
(1884-1979)
Margaret, a kindergarten teacher and homemaker, took up painting
in the mid 1940's. In the 1950's she and Fraser began to join brother,
George on his painting trips in the spring and fall. Twice a year
they would make the trek to Georgian Bay and the Muskoka Region.
Her charming landscapes have been exhibited at Glenhyrst and Owen
Sound in the 1960's. Recently, John A Libby Fine Art produced a
booklet about her life and work available for sale. (hyperlink to
order page)
Stanley Morel Cosgrove, RCA, CGP
(1911-2002)
Born in Montreal-studied at Ecole des Beaux Arts and Art Association
of Montreal where he took figure painting under Edwin Holgate. In
1942 he went to Mexico and learned fresco painting. The media of
fresco is a painting executed on wet plaster with pigments suspended
in water so that the plaster absorbs the colors and the painting
becomes part of the wall when it dries. This education was to affect
his approach to painting in the future: the feeling of immediacy
in his landscapes, still life and figure paintings, the purity of
colour the texture and the transparent nature they take on a fresco
like quality. Upon his return to Canada his career would flourish.
Exhibiting in both Montreal and Toronto, Cosgrove also obtained
many commissions of frescos for churches and public buildings also
a teaching position at Ecole des Beaux Arts made for a busy life.
Stanley Cosgrove was member of the Royal Canadian Academy, and the
Canadian Group of Painters. His work is in the Collections of The
National Gallery of Canada, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Vancouver
Art Gallery, Hart House and the University of Toronto.
B. Cogill Haworth, RCA, OSA, CGP, CSPWC
(1904-1988)
Born in Queenston, South Africa. She studied at the Royal College
of Art, London. Came to Toronto in 1923. Her exquisitely executed
watercolours brought to the attention of the public her creative
talent while participating in exhibitions of the Canadian Society
of Painters in Watercolour, of which she was president for a time.
She was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy, The Ontario Society
of Artists, a founding member of The Canadian Group of Painters
established in 1932. Bobs Haworth taught ceramics classes at the
Central Technical School. She and her husband Peter Haworth worked
together much of the time to produce a body of work that heralds
the spirit of Canada and its art history. Her talents were diverse
as her styles, from traditional Canadian Landscapes to abstractions
where she believed the process of design is made conscious. (hyperlink
to collectors ltd. edition series)
Peter Haworth, RCA, POSA, CGP, CSPWC
(1889-1986)
Born in Lancashire, England, he enlisted in the army during World
War One and served with the Royal Flying Corps where he won the
Distinguished Flying Cross. He left the army at the close of the
war and turned to study art, in 1922 he completed his studies at
the Royal College of Art, London. He and his wife Bobs Cogill Haworth
came to Toronto in 1923. Haworth was appointed Director of Art at
the Central Technical School 1929-55, as well as instructor in design,
University of Toronto.
During World War II, Peter and Bobs Haworth were commissioned by
the National Gallery to paint the armed force at home where their
sensitive interpretation won high acclaim. At an exhibition held
by the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1944, it was said that these works
captured the spirit and hearts of Canadians. Along with his talents
as a painter in the style of Canadian Impressionism and delving
in the abstract, he was also a designer of large stained glass windows
for churches across Canada. (hyperlink to ltd. edition collector
series)
Leonard Hutchinson,O.S.A., R.C.A.
(1896 - 1980)
Leonard Hutchinson was born in Manchester, England, where he studied
at the Colchester School of Art. Originally a painter in oil and
watercolour, he turned to the making of prints from woodblocks in
the late 1920's. He stands out today as a major exponent of a "people's
art" in Canada.
Leon Bellefleur, RCA, CGP
(1910 -2007 )
Leon Bellefleur was born in Montreal and studied at the Ecole des
beaux-arts there. In the early 1940s, he became acquainted with
artists associated with Paul-Emile Borduas and Alfred Pellan, whose
explorations of Surrealist theories promoted an approach to the
art inspired by dreams and the subconscious.
Bellefleur admired the work of Swiss artist Paul Klee, whose simplified
and whimsical compositions reflected his own enthusiasm for children's
art. In it, Bellefleur saw a freshness, spontaneity of expression,
and honesty in the work. Several of his paintings and prints are
in the National Gallery of Canada
George Thomson, O.S.A.
(1868-1965)
Born near Clairmont, Ontario, on February 10, 1868, George Thomson
was an elder brother of Tom Thomson, the famous artist who painted
out of Algonquin Park and inspired the formation of The Group of
Seven. George was fine painter in his own right. He spent his early
years in Leith, Ontario. He studied law at the University of Washington,
Seattle, 1901. For a time he ran a business school in Seattle. Thomson
took up painting in 1906, he studied at the Art Students League,
NY, and at Old Lyme, Connecticut. Thomson lived in New Haven from
c.1908-26. He submitted and sold paintings through the Royal Canadian
Academy from 1918-1950. In 1926 he returned to Canada, and went
to live in Owen Sound, Ontario and continued to paint mostly landscapes
in oil, until his death in 1965. for more information about the
artist order booklet (hyperlink to order page)
RALPH W. BURTON
(1905 - 1983)
Burton was born in Newington, Ontario. In 1919, he studied in Ottawa
and then went to Paris to study under the famous Professor Chaume.
Burton served with the R.C.A.F. during World War II from 1940 -
1947 and after the War he attended the Banff School of Fine Arts
were he met the one artist that most influenced his painting career
- A.Y. Jackson. While studying under Jackson, he went on many sketching
trips with him to The Rockies. By 1949 Burton was back in Ottawa
and once again painting with Jackson around Wakefield and Ripon,
Quebec. Burton's earlier work focused on pure landscape but after
1951, he wanted to record the human element of rural Ontario and
Quebec. Therefore, at this point during his career, his paintings
were more of a record about people and their lifestyles.
Burton lived in the Ottawa region but traveled extensively throughout
the entire country for his subject matter. He showed regularly at
the Wallack Gallery in Ottawa, exhibiting his Canadian scenes as
well as those of Alaska and the Yukon. He also enjoyed teaching
adult art classes between his sketching trips. Burton's paintings
are colourful and bright: depicting the ruggedness of the Canadian
landscape. His artworks hang in major galleries and museums across
the nation as well as in the Canadian Embassy in Washington. Watch
for the booklet on his life and works to be published fall 2007.
