BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

The Founder's Collection

First exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery, October 5 - ?, 1931

The doors of the Vancouver Art Gallery officially opened October 5th, 1931. On display inside were 114 works of art, primarily British with a few works by three local artists. This group of artwork was the Founder's Collection, a nucleus of paintings purchased earlier in 1931 by Henry Stone (Founding President of the Gallery) and Charles H. Scott, (Director of the Vancouver School of Art). The two crossed Canada and toured England and Europe before returning home with the artwork, which also included a number of reproductions for study purposes.

The three local artists included in the exhibition were Charles John Collings, Thomas W. Fripp, and Charles Marega.

There were two exhibition catalogues for the show - a plain version with only a floor plan of the gallery as an illustration, and a larger Souvenir Catalogue that included a photographic portrait of Henry Stone by John Vanderpant, a photograph of the front entrance of the gallery (flanked by two statues by Charles Marega), and illustrations of some of the artwork in the exhibition.

Both catalogues have an identical list of works, an article titled Notes on English Watercolours, and the same introduction to the exhibition titled The Founder's Collection. The Souvenir Catalogue additionally has a Foreword, an article titled The Building, and a full list of Charter Members of the Gallery.

Neither catalogue gave the length of the exhibition, but the plain catalogue noted that "For a few weeks, or until further notice, the Gallery will be open, free..."

Due to the very small number of artworks by local artists in the exhibition, this catalogue has not been transcribed in full. Please refer to the three individual artist pages listed.

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