Artist Frederick Arthur Verner
Title Ojibway Wigwams, North West Angle, Lake of the Woods
Media watercolour on paper
Dated
1881
Size 11.5 x 24.5 in. / 29.2 x 62.2 cm.
Frame Size 23.5 x 36.5 x 2.25 in.
Notes
signed and dated lower right; bears title on gallery labels verso; framed with special glass; [1.5 inch] tear in paper lower right
Reference
National Gallery of Canada, Verner Exhibition, cat. No. 39, label verso; it is generally considered that the artist’s first trip west was in 1873 when he travelled to Manitoba and specifically to the Lake of the Woods where the Lieutenant Governor was signing a treaty at the North West Angle of the Lake of the Woods; the sketch for this painting is now in the National Gallery of Canada collection in Ottawa [titled Lake of the Woods, accession #7939]; Verner exhibited an oil painting with this title at the OSA exhibition of 1874 [catalogue #13])
Provenance
The Framing Gallery, Toronto, Alex Fraser Galleries, Vancouver and Masters Gallery, Calgary, labels verso; from the Estate of Dr. Joan Snyder, a prominent Calgary philanthropist; proceeds from this work will help fulfill Joan's wishes to support the University of Calgary. To read more about Dr. Joan Snyder, visit the University of Calgary's Memoriam
Biographical Information
Frederick Arthur Verner ~ [1836-1928] Canadian OSA, RCA
Born in 1836, Frederick A. Verner traveled to England in 1856 to study art at the South Kensington School of Art. While in England he served for the British army. Upon his return to Canada in 1862 he opened a studio in Toronto. During his time spent in Canada he painted many fine portrais of native people as well as native scenes and landscapes. Although Paul Kane was much older, they became close friends in the artist's later uears and it is thought by some that Verner replace Kane as Canada's most accoplished artist at the time. Verner was well exhibited throughout his life; showing with the RCA from its founding in 1880 until 1927, and with the OSA until 1911. He also exhibited with the Art Association of Montreal from 1872 to 1922. Verner even exhibited his scenes of Canada with Buffalo Bill's show in London. See The Last Buffalo, by J.Murray, Pagurian Press, 1984 as well as N.G.C. Vol.III, by R.Hubbard, pg. 324; A.G.O., by the A.G.O., pg.494; biography in Early Painters and Engravers in Canada, by J. Russell Harper, pg.316, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1970; Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction, by A.Westbridge, Vol.4, pg.83, Westbridge Pub., 2003; exhibition lists in R.C.A.A., pg.412 and M.M.F.A., by E.McMann, pg.386; Westbridge,Vol.4, pg.83