| BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS |
On November 25, 1925, Ogden gave an illustrated lecture sponsored by the B.C. Art League titled Constantinople as I Knew It. The lecture was given at the King Edward High School Library.
Information from an exhibition application at the Vancouver Art Gallery stated that he was living in Vancouver, and had been living in B.C. since 1920. He exhibited in the 1924, 1925, and 1950 Annual Exhibitions of the B.C Society of Fine Arts, and was listed as a member of the Society in the 1925 to 1927 exhibition catalogues. He had work in the 1933 annual B.C. Artists exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery. His daughter Fannie Ogden also had a painting in that exhibition.
Ogden was one of the Vancouver artists vehemently opposed to work created by the Group of Seven, and wrote a letter to the Vancouver Province insisting that the paintings be burned, and denouncing the National Gallery for allowing people to be on the selection committee who had acquired the position by "political influence and and press manipulation". Refer to Charles C. Hill's The Group of Seven - Art for a Nation for further information on this eighty year old controversy. Somewhat ironically, this author likes the work of the Group of Seven, and for a while owned a nice little gouache painting by Ogden (painted in traditional fashion) that I also liked very much (before giving it to a good friend as a birthday present).
B.C. Vital Statistics on-line lists the death of John William Ogden in Vancouver on October 16, 1936 at the age of 77. This is probably the artist.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
| DATE | EXHIBITION | ARTWORK |
| 1924 May 3 - 17 | BCSFA 16th Annual Exhibition | Dawn on Lake Moraine |
| Hell's Gate, Fraser Canyon, B.C. | ||
| Capilano Canyon | ||
| The Lions, from Capilano Hotel | ||
| 1924 Aug. 9 - 16 | Vancouver Exhibition Annual Exhibition | Hell's Gate, Fraser River |
| Capilano Canyon | ||
| The Lions from Capilano Hotel | ||
| 1925 May 9 - 16 | BCSFA 17th Annual Exhibition | Lake Moraine |
| 1933 Sept. 22 - Oct. 15 | VAG B.C. Artists 2nd Annual | Evening on Howe Sound |
| 1950 April 25 - May 14 | BCSA 40th Annual Exhibition | Mountain Landscape |
ARTISTS IN CANADA 1982 - UNION LIST OF ARTISTS' FILES (refer to AIC82)
The GROUP OF SEVEN - Art For A Nation
1995, Charles C. Hill, National Gallery of Canada, ISBN 0-7710-6716-x
376 pages, illustrated thoughout in colour and black & white
Includes Endnotes, Notes to the Reader, List of works, Bibliography, Index
Quote from Ogden's letter page 215.
VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY - B.C. ARTISTS FILES (refer to VPL)
""Dawn on Lake Moraine" by G. Williams Ogden (sic: James)
suggests a well-loaded brush. The purple mountains are tipped with coral, and near the
base are glacial drifts of snow reflected in the water. The coral of the crests is
caught in the rippling water in the foreground with lovely effect."
From "Exhibition of the B.C. Society of Fine Art" by
Alice M. Winlow
British Columbia magazine, June 1924
"But with regard to modernism, when we see that it has influenced
Rev. J. Williams Ogden in his fine picture of
mountain scenery in a way that can not but be regarded as beneficial -
one is dumb in the presence of progress. In this picture, which is really a
good example of the painter's style, the eye is not teased by a too
meticulous definition of the nearer foreground."
From "B.C. Society of Fine Arts" by
Bernard McEvoy
Vancouver Province, April 28 1928
"The Society membership has been constantly strengthened in the succeeding years
by the addition of other members, which included in the early years ...
Rev. W. Ogden ... "
From "B.C. Society of Artists - A History"
by J.D. Parker
B.C. Society of Fine Arts 40th Annual
Exhibition Catalogue, 1950