BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Henry Athelstan Stone

August 5 1861 - June 27 1943

B.C. Art League
Terminal City Club
Vancouver Board of Trade
Vancouver Art Gallery (Founder, President 1931 - ?)


Henry Athelstan Stone was born in London, England, came to Canada in 1882, and to Vancouver in either 1902 or 1903. He was a businessman interested in the arts, President of Gault Brothers, and made the most notable contribution to the arts in Vancouver of any early Patron, when he donated $50,000.00 towards the establishment of a civic art collection. This was a very large amount of money in those days. He also challenged the citizens of Vancouver to match his donation, and a number of other supporters of the arts did so, providing a total of $100,000.00 towards the purchase of art for the proposed new art gallery.

Stone was appointed to the Finance Committee of the B.C. Art League at its formation in 1920.


1927 memberships

Stone became the first President of the Vancouver Art Gallery when it was founded in 1931, and travelled to Europe that year with Charles H. Scott to purchase the paintings that would form the nucleus of the gallery's collection. Refer to the Founders Collection for more information on this trip.

When the art gallery began its long series of annual B.C. Artists exhibitions, Stone presented the Beatrice Stone award in 1933 in honour of his wife Beatrice Hetty Stone who had died on August 16 1933 at the age of 69. The award was given annually to "the exhibitor whose picture, in colours, is judged as being of the highest standard of art exhibited." Stone also exhibited in the B.C. Artists shows in 1933 and 1940.

Stone regularly exhibited his travel sketches in solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery. The 1939 solo exhibition consisted of paintings of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, as noted in the Art Gallery Bulletin Vol. 6, No. 8.

He died at Caulfeild in 1943 at the age of 81.


SOLO EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION LOCATION
1933 October 5 - 19 Holiday Sketches Vancouver Art Gallery
1938 May 3 - 17 Travel Sketches Vancouver Art Gallery
1939 April 4 - 23 Travel Sketches Vancouver Art Gallery
1940 May 7 - 19 Travel Sketches (watercolours) Vancouver Art Gallery
1941 Dec. 2 - 14 Watercolours Vancouver Art Gallery

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1920 Dec. 4 - ? Sketch Club    Annual Exhibition (landscape & still life)
1921 Nov. 5 Sketch Club    Monthly Exhibition (landscape in oil)
(four landscapes in watercolour)
1933 Sept. 22 - Oct. 15 VAG   B.C. Artists 2nd Annual Lych Gate, Caulfield
Lych Gate, Caulfield
1935 Sept. 20 - Oct. 15 VAG   B.C. Artists 4th Annual White Oak, Carmel
Squall, Carmel
Point Lobos, Carmel
1940 Sept. 20 - Oct. 13 VAG   B.C. Artists 9th Annual From Cypress Point, Carmel
1946 July 2 - 28 VAG   Jubilee Exhibition Cypress Trees - Carmel-By-The-Sea

References

Greater Vancouver Social and Club Register (1927)

WHO'S WHO IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 1937-38-39
      A Record of British Columbia Men and Women of Today
      S. Maurice Carter Editor & Publisher
      Copyright 1939, printed by The Robson Printers, Vancouver B.C.
      208 pages, hardcover; name index (8 pages), biographies (196 pages), obits. (4 pages)
      Includes reference to Stone

ARTISTS IN CANADA 1982 - UNION LIST OF ARTISTS' FILES (refer to AIC82)

VANCOUVER: ART & ARTISTS 1931 - 1983; various authors
      1983, ISBN 0-920095-00-3, Vancouver Art Gallery
      Published in conjunction with relocation of VAG to Court House building
      List of works; artists' biographies; credits; no index
      References to Stone pages 22 - 23; photo page 23.

B.C. VITAL STATISTICS ON-LINE death (refer to BCVS)

Clippings

"The committees which will be recommended to the League were named as follows: Finance: Mr. H.A. Stone ..."
      From "B.C. Art League Committees Are Active"
      Western Woman's Weekly, October 9 1920

"Mr. Stone and Mr. Maloney, both returned soldiers, show nice landscape and still life."
      From "Annual Exhibit by Sketch Club"
      Vancouver Province, December 6 1920

"The exhibitors were: ... Mr. T.A. Stone, (sic) landscape in oils and four landscapes in water colors; ... "
      From "Many View Sketch Club Exhibit and Much Work Shown"
      Vancouver Sun, November 7 1921

"H.A. Stone Shows Work At Gallery"
      Vancouver Sun, May 10 1924

"Coincident with the first anniversary celebration of Vancouver's Civic Art Gallery, West Georgia Street, was the formal opening Wednesday night of the first British Columbia Artists' Exhibition. The ceremony was performed by H.A. Stone, Chairman of the Founder's Committee."
      From "B.C. Artists Reveal Talent at Show"
      unknown newspaper, October 1932

""As art in the province develops there is every hope this exhibition will be looked forward to by all of us," said Mr. Stone, "and that artists in particular will regard it as an opportunity to bring their work before the public for exhibition and sale.""
      From "B.C. Artists Reveal Talent at Show"
      unknown newspaper, October 1932

"Stone's Sketches to be Displayed"
      Vancouver Province, September 20 1933

"Stone Sketches Now On View" by T.H.W.
      News Herald, May 6 1938

"H.A. Stone, who has already done so much for the cause of art in B.C., has come forward with a suggestion that a building extension fund be inaugurated with a view to carrying out the enterprise when conditions allow. ... "
      From "Talented Husband and Wife Have Display at Art Gallery" by Mildred Valley Thornton
      Vancouver Sun, February 11 1942


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