| BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS |
In 1893 Hatzic would have been a far cry from the civilized centers of London and Europe. The 1899 Wrigley's Directory lists Fripp living in Hatzic, occupation "farmer." The rigours of homesteading were perhaps too much for him, and he moved with his wife to Vancouver. He worked in a Vancouver photo studio, and taught art at Crofton House private girl's school, in addition to having his own art studio.
Fripp showed his work in the first annual exhibition of the Vancouver Arts and Crafts Association in 1900. He was a member of the Vancouver Studio Club formed around the turn of the century. This group became the nucleus for the B.C. Society of Fine Arts (BCSFA) founded in 1908. Fripp jointly served as the BCSFA's first Vice-President with Bernard McEvoy.
Fripp exhibited with the Art Association of Montreal in 1915, 1916, 1917, and 1918.
Fripp exhibited in the 1920 Annual Exhibition of the B.C. Society of Fine Arts, held at the Vancouver School Board offices on Hamilton Street.
Fripp led sketching trips to the B.C. Interior, in 1921 and 1922 at least. In 1922 he led a trip with R.S. Sherman, Maud Sherman, Mabel Bain and others to Pemberton Meadows and Darcy, reported in the Western Women's Weekly in the July 29, 1922 issue under the title "Sketching Trip Enjoyed." In 1922 Fripp wrote a long article titled "The Case of Local Artists", which was published in the column "Artists and Their Doings" in the Western Woman's Weekly in the July 29th issue.
In 1929 Fripp exhibited four paintings in the Citizens' Loan Exhibition of Water Colors sponsored by the B.C. Art League at their "temporary gallery" in the Hudson's Bay Company store at 649 Seymour Street. Fripp also loaned a number of paintings by his father George A. Fripp to the exhibition.
Fripp was one of only three local artists to display work in The Founders Collection, the first exhibition held at the Vancouver Art Gallery when it opened in October 1931, although he was not alive to enjoy the honour.
Fripp was a fairly prolific painter, working mostly in watercolour but occasionally in oil. He specialized in landscapes, expressing the B.C. mountains and coast in atmospheric veils of mist and cloud. He was one of many artists who visited and painted Savary Island, and two of his paintings of the island ("Old Wharf, Savary Island", and "Savary Island") were included in the Special Exhibition of his work at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1931, the year he died.
He also exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy in 1928 and in 1930. His work is in the collection of the National Gallery, Ottawa, Government House, Ontario, and Government House, B.C.
He exhibited in the Seattle Art Museum's annual Northwest Artists exhibition in 1930.
Fripp had a long and distinguished career in Vancouver - as an artist, as a teacher, and as an ardent and hard-working contributor to numerous arts groups, including the B.C. Art League, the Vancouver Sketch Club, the Studio Club, the Island Arts & Crafts Society, the Palette and Chisel Club, and the Art, Historical, and Scientific Association of Vancouver. A memorial bronze bust of Fripp was commissioned by the Citizens of Vancouver, sculpted by Charles Marega, and is now in the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Fripp variously signed his work Thomas W. Fripp; Tom W. Fripp; Tom Fripp; T.W. Fripp; and T.W.F.
Also, per card file at Vancouver Art Gallery Library:
B.C. Society of Fine Arts:
1926, May 1929, November 1929; 1936; 1960; 1967
Island Arts and Crafts Society: 1912 - 1930
Vancouver Exhibition: 1925; 1930 (representing both BCSFA
and Vancouver Sketch Club).
| DATE | EXHIBITION | LOCATION |
| 1931 Dec. 15 - 1932 Jan. 5 | Special Memorial Exhibition | VAG |
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
| DATE | EXHIBITION | ARTWORK |
| 1900 Sept. 25-27 | VACA First Annual Exhibition | Cheam Peak |
| Mt. Baker, Sunset | ||
| Southwold, Lincolnshire | ||
| English Scene | ||
| Hatzic Lake | ||
| The Net Mender | ||
| Sunset on the Thames | ||
| Hatzic Prairie | ||
| Autumn Sunset, Hatzic | ||
| 1909 April 20 - 28 | BCSFA First Annual Exhibition | The Quiet Hour |
| Storm in the Hills | ||
| Pitt Lake | ||
| Sunrise Over Sumas Mountain | ||
| Golden Lakes | ||
| Autumn Morn (Hatzic Lake) | ||
| Portrait | ||
| 1909 June 19 - July 17 | Studio Club Exhibition of Pictures | A Grey Morning |
| When the Sun is Low | ||
| A Cloudy Day | ||
| Low Water, Silver Creek | ||
| 1909 November | BCSFA Second Exhibition | Passing Clouds |
| Autumn Glow, Stave Lake, B.C. | ||
| Cloudy Day | ||
| View from Bridal Veil Falls, Pitt Lake | ||
| Jocelyn Fripp | ||
| 1910 May | BCSFA Third Exhibition | Sunset After a Storm |
| Beginning of Bush Fire | ||
| March | ||
| Clearing After Rain | ||
| When the Wind Blows in From the Sea | ||
| Arbutus, Albert Head, B.C. | ||
| Towards Evening, Oak Bay | ||
| 1911 November | BCSFA Fall Exhibition | (No. 7) |
| (No. 35) | ||
| ("noble studies") | ||
| 1912 Nov. 25 - 30 | BCSFA Annual Exhibition | Moraine Lake - Laggan |
| Lake Louise - a grey day | ||
| Mt. Sir Donald | ||
| Mt. Temple from "Saddle Back" | ||
| Asulkan Glacier from Mt. Abbott | ||
| Lake Agnes | ||
| Snow Flurry, Mt. Aberdeen | ||
| Souvenir of Venice | ||
| Stave Lake | ||
| Carved Panel | ||
| 1913 June 2 | Wanderbund Club Group Exhibition | ? |
| 1915 April | BCSFA Works by Members | Consolation Valley |
| Lake McArthur, Canadian Rockies | ||
| Mt. Aberdeen, Laggan | ||
| Mt. Babel, Valley of the Ten Peaks | ||
| View from Hatzic, B.C. | ||
| Mt. Temple from Sentinel Pass | ||
| Willows, Hatzic | ||
| 1916 September | BCSFA Annual Exhibition | ("five small pictures of a high class") |
| 1917 Sept. 14 - 22 | BCSFA Eleventh Exhibition | Along the Coast |
| A Sunny Day | ||
| Willows | ||
| The Asulkan Glacier, B.C | ||
| Fir Trees | ||
| Sentinel Pass, Canadian Rockies | ||
| Mt. Sir Donald Glacier B.C. | ||
| 1920 September 18 - 25 | BCSFA Annual Exhibition | Lake Agnes, Canadian Rockies |
| The Old Barn | ||
| Autumn | ||
| The Old Bridge, Hatzic Island | ||
| Decorative Landscape | ||
| Eiffel Mountain, Paradise Valley | ||
| The Lions From North Vancouver | ||
| The Day's Awakening | ||
| View of Mount Sir Donald | ||
| 1921 Sept. 19 - 24 | BCSFA 13th Annual | Autumn Floods |
| The Stave | ||
| Alta Lake, P.G.E. Railway | ||
| Wamalkin, B.C. | ||
| Sunset, Pitt River | ||
| Misty Morn | ||
| A Sunlit Shore | ||
| Dwarf Pines, Alta Lake | ||
| 1922 Sept. 16 - 23 | BCSFA 14th Annual | Autumn Mist, Cheakamus, B.C |
| Souvenir D'Arcy | ||
| Summit, Gates Lake, Birken, P.G.E. | ||
| Moraine Lake, Laggan | ||
| Green Lake, P.G.E. | ||
| Alta Lake, P.G.E. | ||
| Along the P.G.E. near Rethel, B.C. | ||
| D'Arcy Evening | ||
| Sunset Glow, Anderson Lake, P.G.E. | ||
| 1923 May 12 - 19 | BCSFA 15th Annual | Peep of Mount Whistler, Alta Lake B.C. |
| Garibaldi Lake | ||
| The Black Tusk, Garibaldi, B.C. | ||
| Mt. Sir Donald, Glacier, B.C. | ||
| A Grey Day, D'Arcy | ||
| Towards Evening, Anderson Lake | ||
| Anderson Lake, B.C. | ||
| Mt. Bident, Consolation Valley, Alta. | ||
| Early Morning, Cheakamus, B.C. | ||
| 1924 May 3 - 17 | BCSFA 16th Annual | A Gray Day, Hatzic, B.C. |
| Lulu Island | ||
| A Quiet Evening, P.G.E. Railway | ||
| Mount Alpha, from Chee Kye | ||
| D'Arcy Glacier, Sunset | ||
| Shores of Pitt Lake | ||
| Yellow Pine, P.G.E. | ||
| Peep of the Lions | ||
| The Glacier | ||
| 1924 Aug. 9 - 16 | Vancouver Exhibition Annual Exhibition | Mount Whistler, Alta Lake, B.C. |
| Yellow Pines, P.G.E. Ry. | ||
| Edge of the Lake | ||
| 1925 May 9 - 16 | BCSFA 17th Annual | Mt. Babel |
| Garibaldi Lake: A Gray Day | ||
| View of Mt. Stephen, Can. Rockies | ||
| Near the Summit of Mt. Omega, Early Morning | ||
| The Upper Squamish, B.C | ||
| Along Anderson Lake, B.C. | ||
| Harrison Lake, B.C. | ||
| Mt. Deltaform (Valley of the Ten Peaks) | ||
| Aloutte (sic) Lake, B.C. | ||
| "Autumn", Fraser Valley | ||
| 1926 May 8 - 15 | BCSFA 18th Annual | Mt. Fay, Morning Mists |
| Across the Lagoon, Comox, B.C. | ||
| Still Waters, Alta Lake | ||
| Part of Glacier | ||
| The Sentinels | ||
| Sunrise Through Smoke | ||
| 1927 June 10 - 25 | BCSFA 19th Annual | Near Hatzic |
| Alouette Lake | ||
| Valley of Devolation | ||
| View on Pitt Lake | ||
| Part of the Hermit Range | ||
| 1929 May 18 - June 8 | BCSFA 21st Annual | An Old Orchard, Hope B.C. |
| Rock, Snow and a Grey Sky | ||
| Mt. Cheops, Glacier B.C. | ||
| Vanishing Vancouver | ||
| The Snows of March | ||
| Towards Evening, Jervis Inlet | ||
| The Tantalus | ||
| Autumn on the Coast (B.C.) | ||
| Guardians of Vancouver | ||
| Eiffel Mt., Paradise Valley | ||
| 1929 October | BCAL Citizens' Loan of W/C | Sunset on the Hermit Range |
| Alta Lake | ||
| Mt. LeFroi & Glacier | ||
| Mount Blanchard | ||
| 1929 Nov. 16 - 30 | BCSFA Winter Exhibition | Johnstone's Straits |
| Klemtu, B.C. from S.S. Cardena | ||
| Gill Island, B.C. | ||
| Seymour Canyon, B.C. | ||
| The Rain Storm from S.S. Cardena | ||
| Skeena River, B.C. | ||
| Chatham Sound, B.C., from the S.S. Cardena | ||
| 1930 May 31 - June 14 | BCSFA Spring Exhibition | Lulu Island |
| Pitt Lake (tree study) | ||
| Rock Study, Mt. Aberdeen | ||
| Tranquility | ||
| Snow Traceries, Mt. Temple | ||
| Along the Coast, B.C. | ||
| Mountains and Lakes, B.C. | ||
| Up Kutze Inlet | ||
| Pitt Lake, B.C. | ||
| Yellow Pine, Anderson Lake | ||
| Forest and Stream | ||
| The Black Tusk, Garibaldi Park | ||
| Sechelt | ||
| 1930 Aug. 6 - 16 | VanExh Oil Paintings & Water-colours | Gill Island, B.C. |
| Chatham Sound, B.C. | ||
| Storm Clouds, Jervis Inlet | ||
| Mountain and Lake, B.C. | ||
| Cheops, Glacier, B.C. | ||
| Mountain and Lake, B.C. | ||
| 1930 Aug. 22 - Sept. 6 | CNE Water Colours | Klem-tu, B.C. |
| Graphic Art | Forest and Stream (charcoal) | |
| POSTHUMOUS | ||
| 1931 October 5 - ? | VAG The Founder's Collection | Pitt Lake, B.C. |
| Near the Summit - "Omega," Tantalus Range | ||
| 1932 May - July | VAG All Canadian Exhibition | Mt. Blanchard, Pitt Lake |
| Mt. Tupper | ||
| 1936 June 26 - July 12 | BCSFA 26th Annual | Mt. Tupper |
| Glacier, Anderson Lake | ||
| 1946 July 2 - 28 | VAG Jubilee Exhibition | Passing Shadows, Jervis Inlet |
| After the Storm, Stave Lake | ||
| 1950 April 25 - May 14 | BCSA 40th Annual | Glacier on D'Arcy Range |
SOUVENIR CATALOGUE OF EXHIBITIONS OPENING THE NEW VANCOUVER ART GALLERY (refer to VAG51)
100 YEARS OF B.C. ART (refer to VAG58)
CONTEMPORARIES OF EMILY CARR IN BRITISH COLUMBIA (refer to SFU74)
Mr. Thos. W. Fripp
Museum and Art Notes February 1927, Vol. II, No. 1
Published by the Art, Historical, and Scientific Association
of Vancouver.
The Late T.W. Fripp by Greenjacket
Museum and Art Notes June 1931, Vol. VI No. 2; pages 60-61 (includes photograph)
Published by the Art, Historical and Scientific Association of Vancouver
WHO'S WHO IN NORTHWEST ART (refer to WWNA41)
BRITISH COLUMBIA - A CENTENNIAL ANTHOLOGY (refer to BCCA58)
THE FINE ARTS IN VANCOUVER, 1886 - 1930 (refer to THOM)
EARLY PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS IN CANADA (refer to H70)
CREATIVE CANADA - Volumes One & Two (refer to CC71)
Includes half a column of information on Fripp.
THE MOUNTAINS AND THE SKY by Lorne E. Render
1974, Glenbow-Alberta Institute; published by McClelland and Stewart West
ISBN 0-7712-1001-2; 224 pages, illustrated throughout in colour and b&w
Includes biographical information on Fripp and one of his paintings illustrated
ISLAND ARTS AND CRAFTS SOCIETY - LIST OF EXHIBITORS
ROYAL CANADIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS - EXHIBITIONS & MEMBERS 1880 - 1979 (refer to RCA81)
ARTISTS IN CANADA 1982 - UNION LIST OF ARTISTS' FILES (refer to AIC82)
PHILLIPS IN PRINT - The Selected Writings of Walter J.
Phillips on Canadian Nature and Art
Selected and Edited by Maria Tippett and Douglas Cole
1982, The Manitoba Record Society Publications, no ISBN, 160 pages
Includes short article on Fripp by Phillips, originally published 1926 and 1931.
MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS - SPRING EXHIBITIONS 1880 - 1970
(refer to MM88)
Exhibited 9 paintings from 1915 to 1918.
A CENTURY OF SCULPTURE (refer to SSBC98)
Not listed in MACDONALD'S DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN ARTISTS VOL. 1 A - F
BEYOND THE CANVAS - Artists, Stories and the Sea (refer to VMM00)
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF ARTISTS IN CANADA
(refer to BIAC03)
17 references listed for Fripp.
CITY & PROVINCIAL DIRECTORIES 1899-1923 (refer to DIR)
"Mr. Tom Fripp's "Venetians Threading Beads" is a new departure for him (Ed.:
in oil) . . . In water colors, Mr. Ferris showed but
four small drawings, while in this class the only other exhibitor was Mr.
Tom Fripp whose large drawing "Chill October" is the most important work
that artist has shown here. His sketches "Venice" and "Burrard's Inlet," are full
of light and atmosphere. In black and white, the same artist was the sole
contributor, principally portrait studies in chalk or pencil."
From "British Columbia Letters, No. VII"
The Canadian Architect and Builder 1901
" ... T.W. Fripp ... and several other artists have clearly proved that round
Vancouver is a real "artist's country"."
From "Vancouver Studio Club Spring Exhibition"
by Felix Penne
B.C. Saturday Sunset, July 3 1909
"At this moment I am not aware of the arrangements made for art lectures or "gossips"
during the exhibition. I hope there will be several. The lecture on watercolors by
Mr. Fripp was both interesting and instructive and such lectures tend to make art
something more than a means of "home adornment" - a real factor in the building up of
a good fabric of society."
From "The Studio Club Autumn Exhibition" by
Felix Penne
B.C. Saturday Sunset, October 30 1909
". . . and T.W. Fripp . . . are artists who contribute admirable exhibits."
From "Vancouver Studio Club" by Felix Penne
B.C. Saturday Sunset, November 6 1909
"Among its members ... is Thos. W. Fripp, a son of the eminent water
colorist of the same name ... "
From "Art in British Columbia" by
Bernard McEvoy
Opportunities Magazine, 1910
"Of Mr. T.W. Fripp's noble studies of mountain, sea and sunset,
Nos. 7 and 35 will be the favorites, the latter shows a freedom in the treatment of
the upper air effects which has sometimes been lacking in this great artist's
well-known studies of nature at rest."
From "Some Pictures by B.C. Artists" by
A.N. St. John Mildmay
News Advertiser, November 21 1911
"This year's exhibitors were ... T.W. Fripp ... "
From "Fine Arts Society Makes Fine Exhibit"
Vancouver Daily World, November 23 1911
"The pictures showed up strongly against the buff-toned walls and the
miniatures and photos were arranged on flower-decked tables. The
principal exhibitors were ... Mr. Fripp ...
From (Wanderbund Club Exhibition)
Vancouver Sun, June 3 1913
"The exquisite finish and refined character of Mr. Tom Fripp's watercolors are known
beyond the limits of Vancouver. He is one of the few artists in the
present exhibition who seem to have arrived at a definite style and whose pictures, to
use a phrase common with art dealers, are "signed all over". He has five small pictures
of a high class in the present exhibition."
From "With The B.C. Artists" by "A Visitor"
Vancouver Province, September 27 1916
"The work of a painter of mountains in another medium is seen in the masterly
water-colors of Mr. Tom Fripp, who carries out and
improves upon the traditions of the Royal Watercolor Society of England,
of which his father was a distinguished member. There is a delicacy and
refinement in Mr. Fripp's method, combined with a poetic sense of the
grandeur of his subjects, which make his work very attractive, and the
examples which he shows in the present exhibition can not fail to arrest
the beholder by their marvellous execution and finish."
From "Local Work is on View" by Bernard McEvoy
Vancouver Province, October 2 1919
"For some time the meetings and exhibitions of the club were held at the
studio of Miss Wake, but about two years ago an independent
studio was secured at the present quarters, 342 Pender street west.
This location has become known for its art associations, the building having also
contained the studios of such well known artists as Mr. Thos. W. Fripp,
Miss Margaret Wake,
Miss Isabel Weir, and
Mr. Norman Hawkins."
From "Sketch Club Is Well Organized" by I.B.
Vancouver Province, July 17 1920
"The work arranged was varied and interested. Mr. Tom Fripp showed some of his
beautiful landscapes, including "Lake Louise", "The Lions", from North Vancouver,
"A Grey Day On The Coast", and "Old Hatzic Bridge", also a very finely executed
landscape in charcoal."
From "Vancouver Sketch Club"
Western Woman's Weekly, October 9 1920
"... one is rather glad to see some of the earlier
apostles of art in our midst still sticking to their good old style. This is
especially noticeable in the magnificent mountain pictures by
Thos. W. Fripp, who has five in the present show,
all of them of a covetable nature, but even here there is a touch of modernism
in this artist's "Mount Lefroy Glacier," No. 59."
From "B.C. Society of Fine Arts" by Bernard McEvoy
Vancouver Province, April 28 1928
"In the two pictures, "After the Storm" and "Passing Shadows,"
Mr. Tom Fripp has shown his singular facility
in depicting the soft beauty or the rugged grandeur of our rivers,
lakes and mountains. In delicate mists and vapours he draws a veil over
the landscape's more rugged features. Yet, not alone of mountains, but
of woodland streams can Mr. Fripp's brush write poetry, and we hope
the Museum may be able to acquire an example of these also."
From "The City Art Gallery" by G.H. Lardner
Museum and Art Notes, Vol. IV, No. 1. March 1929
"Tom Fripp at his best, with seven of his water colors
at astonishingly low prices which in London would fetch double the money, should
receive the notice of collectors. His "Near the Head of Pitt Lake, B.C." has the
note of grandeur he has attained in his interpretation of our mountains, and
so has the other big one."
From "B.C. Society of Fine Arts" by Diogenes
Vancouver Province, November 13 1930
"Art Gallery Will Receive Memorial"
Vancouver Province, October 1931
"Fripp Bust to be Presented"
Vancouver Sun, October 1931
"Loan Exhibit to Open in Gallery"
Vancouver Star, November 30 1931
"Fripp's Pictures" by Diogenes
Vancouver Province, December 16 1931
"In the World of Art" by Doris Milligan
Vancouver Sun, December 19 1931
"Thomas W. Fripp may well be considered one of the most pioneer artists of British
Columbia. Born in London, in 1864, he migrated to the Western Province in 1893, where,
for a few years, he worked at the arduous task of clearing a bush farm. Before coming
to Canada he had studied art with his father, G.A. Fripp, R.W.S., and also in France
and Italy. An accident which injured his hand led him to give up farming and return
to his painting. For thiry years he was active as a water-colour painter, producing
many pictures of the mountains and Pacific Coast. He was a founder member and first
president of the British Columbia Society of Artists, organized
in 1917 (sic). His death, in 1931, removed an artist who deserves a place of importance
in the history of art in British Columbia."
From Canadian Landscape Painters, Albert H. Robson; page 188
The Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1932
"Fripp Pictures Placed On View"
News Herald, May 11 1940
"Artist Family's Pictures Shown"
Vancouver Sun, May 13 1940
"The original group of founders included the outstanding B.C.
painter of the time, Tom W. Fripp ... "
From "B.C. Society of Artists - A History"
by J.D. Parker
B.C. Society of Fine Arts 40th Annual
Exhibition Catalogue, 1950