The Gallery

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At the Penn Club: (no photo available)

"Derelict" by Emile Walters
About the artist: Born in 1893 in Manitoba of Icelandic background. Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy. Although he spent most of his life away from Manitoba, he kept in contact with his home province.
On loan to the Canadian High Commission, London: (no photos available)

"The Canadians" by Augustus John (British painter),
presented to the Club by William P. Clyde in 1940. The Canadians in this case are two World War I Soldiers.
About the artist: Studied at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1894 to 1898 and by age twenty had won the reputation as one of the most brilliant draughtsman in England. His best known paintings were "Smiling Woman" (c. 1898 Tate Gallery, London), and the portraits of James Joyce, G.B. Shaw and Dylan Thomas.

"Parliament Buildings, Ottawa" by Charles Fraser Comfort, O.S.A., R.C.A.
As seen from across the Ottawa River at Hull, Quebec, this painting was chosen for the collection as the scene representative of Canada. One of Canada's most accomplished painters of his time, he captures the beauty of the high river bank in the glory of its autumn colouring, with verdigris copper-roofed Parliament buildings in the background.
About the artist: Born in Edinburgh in 1900. Immigrated to Canada in 1912 (Winnipeg ). Lived in Toronto from 1924; died in Ottawa in 1994. Past President (1951-1952) of the Canadian Group of Painters and the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour (1950-1951). Official war artist with the Canadian Army from 1943-1946 with the rank of Major. Comfort painted a fresco for the Dominion Bank Building in Vancouver (1951).

"Haliburton Stream" by J.W.Beatty
About the artist: Born in 1869 in Toronto, died in 1941. The artist quit school at an early age and worked as a fireman. In his spare time he studied art, and later when travelling to Europe before WWI, studied at the Academe Julian in Paris. From 1906 to 1909 he travelled around Europe, particularly in the Low Countries. When he returned home he was painting rich, dark, moody pictures of Dutch peasant life. Around 1910 he was among the first of the Toronto artists to travel to northern Ontario to paint. During this period he befriended Tom Thompson , A.Y. Jackson and C.W. Jefferys and his style evolved to become much more colourful and indicative of the Group of Seven style. From 1912-41 he taught at the Ontario College of Art where he had a considerable influence on his students.

On loan to Canada House, London: (no photos available)

"Okanagan Valley" by Walter Joseph Phillips, R.C.A
(originally depicting British Columbia as part of the collection) Portrays the visit of a Royal Canadian mounted policeman to an Indian camp in this beautiful valley of the far west.
About the artist: Born in Barton-Upon-Humber, England in 1884; immigrated to Canada in 1913; lived in Winnipeg for 28 years; died in Victoria, British Columbia in 1963. Phillips established himself as an international authority in the medium of colour woodcut prints at 32 years old with the publication of a technical manual entitled The Techniques of the Colour Woodcut. His images of western Canada were widely collected. In 1943 he moved to Banff where he taught and painted in watercolour.

"Northwest Territories-Hudson Bay Post" by Thomas Harold Beament, R.C.A
(originally depicting the Territories as part of the collection)
About the artist: Born in Ottawa in 1898, died in Montreal in 1984. Beaument was a landscape, figure and marine painter and printmaker who applied a decorative, realistic style. He studied law, but also attended the Ontario College of Art in 1922 where he trained under J.W. Beatty. During WWII he served as an official war artist painting scenes at sea. In 1955 Beament designed a ten-cent stamp depicting an Inuit figure drawn from his travels to Baffin Island.