"11th Annual Exhibition of Fine Arts"
From "Studio Talk", The Studio - February 15, 1918
"An Illustrated Magazine of Fine & Applied Arts", London England
Vancouver, B.C.
The Eleventh
Annual Exhibition of Fine Arts which took place
recently in Vancouver showed that in that Ultima Thule of Canadian Enterprise some
attention is being paid to artistic development. About two hundred guests were at the
private view, and during the succeeding days that the exhibition was open there was
an encouraging attendance of the public. About a hundred works by members and
contributors were shown, including two statuettes by
C. Marega, a local sculptor
of much ability; and these were supplemented by a small loan exhibition in which were
paintings by David Cox, William M. Muller, J.S. Cotman, J.S. Prout, Prof. Novelo of
Verona, Bartolozzi, and other famous painters. There are a few collectors in
Vancouver City, though it is but thirty years old, its existence dating from the
building of the Canadian Pacific Railway across the continent, which reached
Vancouver in 1886.
The B.C. Society
of Fine Arts is incorporated by the
British Columbia Government, but has not yet received from that Government any
financial assistance. Among its members may be mentioned
Tom. W. Fripp, son of a
late distinguished member of the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours, and
whose paintings of the Canadian Rockies are probably as good as anything that Canada
has produced in water-colour;
John Kyle, a former South Kensington student, who is
now employed by the British Columbia Government as Director of Technical Training;
W.P. Weston, also a South Kensington student and now
instructor in art in the Vancouver Normal School for teachers; and
Margaret Longden, formerly a member of
the Society of Miniaturists, London. Among members who have had the advantage of
European training in the continental schools are
Margaret S. Wake,
John Kyle,
Edith H. Killam,
C. Marega (Rome, Florence, and Paris),
J.W. Keagey, and
H.J. DeForest.
Australian artistic training is represented by
Stanley Tytler and
Norman H. Hawkins.
Beginning as a small group of artists, the Society has
overcome the initial difficulties which almost invariably beset enterprises of
this kind and is now recognized by the western public as a representative body in
artistic matters. Its exhibitions have shown a gradual improvement in the character
of the works exhibited, and so it has good reason to look forward to the future
with confidence. B.M.
Editor's Note: illustrations in the article include "November", W.P. Weston;
"A Mountain Road, Wales", B. McEvoy; "The Sentinel Pass, Canadian Rockie Mountains",
T.W. Fripp; "A Comrade's Last Tribute", C. Marega.
HOME