Artist Frederick Arthur Verner
Title Portrait of a Native
Media oil on wood board
Dated
1883
Size 13.75 x 10.25 in. / 34.9 x 26 cm.
Frame Size 24.5 x 21 x 1.75 in.
Notes
signed lower right; bears title and date on gallery label verso; framed
Reference
lot includes The Last Buffalo: The Work of Frederick Arthur Verner, Painter of the Northwest by Joan Murray, published by Pagurian Press, 1984; 'In November 1883, the artist exhibited with Lucius O’Brien at the Burlington Gallery in London ... and his painting of Sitting Bull the ‘most feared name in all buffalo country’ was the hit of the show.' on page 91 in The Last Buffalo)
Provenance
ex-collection Bob Anderson, Ontario; Masters Gallery, Calgary, label 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