PDF - Odon Wagner Gallery

ODON WAGNER GALLERY
FINE PAINTINGS
196 Davenport Road, Toronto, ON M5R 1J2, Canada
T 416.962.0438 800.551.2465 F 416.962.1581 E [email protected] W www.odonwagnergallery.com
FINE PAINTINGS
196 Davenport Road, Toronto, ON M5R 1J2, Canada
T 416.962.0438 800.551.2465 F 416.962.1581 E [email protected] W www.odonwagnergallery.com
Member of the Art Dealers Association of Canada
Member of the Canadian Antique Dealers Association
01
FREDERIC SOULACROIX (FRENCH, 1858-1933)
The French Maid
signed “F.Soulacroix, Florence” (lower right)
oil on canvas
22 x 13 in. (55.8 x 33 cm.)
Painted in 19xx
PROVENANCE: (when available)
(first provenance)
(second proveance)
(...to most recent provenance)
MUSEUMS:
javv
NOTES:
FINE PAINTINGS
CONTENTS
ARTIST
TITLE
SIZE
Vrijage (Courtship)
11 x 9.5 in. (28 x 24 cm.)
Blommers, Bernard Johannes11
Mother and Children
19 x 15 in. (48.2 x 38 cm.)
Coburn, Frederick Simpson
Logging in the Laurentians
13.75 x 17.25 in. (35 x 44 cm.)
Choultse, Ivan Federovich16
Automne
18.5 x 15 in. (47 x 38 cm.)
Choultse, Ivan Federovich15
Soir Calme Mediteranee
19.75 x 24 in. (50.2 x 61 cm.)
Dawson, Montague
20
Yachts Racing on the Solent
20 x 30 in (50.8 x 76.3 cm.)
De Belay, Pierre
29
Deux Hommes Devant le Port
25 x 20 in. (63.5 x 50.8 cm.)
De Breanski, Alfred Fontville14
Langdale Pikes
24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.5 cm.)
De Hoog, Bernard12
The Happy Mother
20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm.)
Edzard, Dietz
21
In the Café 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm.)
Elsley, Arthur John
3
‘Twixt Love and Duty
34 x 25.75 in. (86.3 x 65.3 cm.)
Gallon, Robert
4
On the River Avon
20 x 30 in. (50.8 x 76.3 cm.)
Henner, Jean Jacques19
Portrait of a Lady
14 x 11 in. (35.5 x 28 cm.)
Herring Jr., John Frederick
8
Horses in the Farmyard
23 x 33 in. (58.5 x 83.8 cm.)
James, David
6
Manawaur Rocks, Scilly
18 x 30 in. (45.7 x 76.3 cm.)
Akkeringa, Johannes Evert
CAT. NR.
22
24
ARTIST
CAT. NR..
TITLE
SIZE
Koester, Alexander Max13
Seventeen Ducks on a Pond
24.75 x 36 in. (63 x 91.5 cm.)
Lhermitte, Leon Augustin
27
Harvest
16 x 19 in. (40.7 x 48.2 cm.)
Luce, Maximilien
28
Fermes à Moulineux
11 x 15 in. (28 x 38 cm.)
Monfallet, Adolphe François
7
An Interesting Chapter
12.5 x 9.5 in. (31.8 x 24.2 cm.)
Moras, Walter
2
Wintry Path in the Spree Forest
32 x 40 in. (81 x 101.6 cm.)
Neuhuys, Albert10
Learning to Sew
12.5 x 9.5 in. (31.8 x 24.2 cm.)
Russell, John Wentworth
25
Luxembourg Gardens, Paris
13 x 16 in. (33 x 40.7 cm.)
Russell, John Wentworth
26
Luxembourg Gardens, Paris
10.5 x 13.5 in. (26.8 x 34.2 cm.)
Seago, Edward
30
Flooded Road at Beccles, Suffolk
11 x 16 in. (28 x 40.7 cm.)
Savitsky, Konstantin
5
Hunter in the Forest
38 x 60 in. (96.5 x 152.5 cm.)
Scherrewitz, Johan17
Tending to the Fields
16 x 24 in. (41 x 61 cm.)
Scherrewitz, Johan18
The Broken Plough
16 x 24 in. (41 x 61 cm.)
Soulacroix, Frederic1
The French Maid
22 x 13 in. (55.8 x 33 cm.)
Van Mastenbroek, Johan Hendrik
23
Canal in Amsterdam
5 x 6 in. (12.6 x 15.2 cm.)
Van Severdonck, François
9
Pair of Landscapes with Fowl and Sheep
7 x 9.5 in. (17.8 x 24.2 cm.)
01
FREDERIC SOULACROIX (FRENCH, 1858-1933)
The French Maid
signed “F.Soulacroix, Florence” (lower right)
oil on canvas
22 x 13 in. (55.8 x 33 cm.)
Painted in 19xx
PROVENANCE: (when available)
(first provenance)
(second proveance)
(...to most recent provenance)
MUSEUMS:
javv
photo: Ashley & Crippen Photographers
NOTES:
S
This exhibition also features exceptional artworks
from the Morrow family collection. As a foundermember of the Art Museum of Toronto in 1900,
George Andrew Morrow O.B.E. and his wife Phoebe
were keen art collectors, and they took great delight
in fine paintings. In 1961 the collection was handed
down to their son George Graham Morrow, O.B.E,
president of the Art Gallery of Ontario from 1965 to
1966. He and his wife Doris had close ties to the gallery
as life long members. A suite of nine paintings carrying
the provenance ‘Collection of George A. Morrow’ is
offered in this exhibition, seven of which you will find
reproduced in this catalogue.
ince 1969, the Odon Wagner Gallery has featured
historic, modern and contemporary artwork,
superbly representing the periods and schools of the past
three centuries. In 2005, we opened the doors of Odon
Wagner Contemporary at 172 Davenport Road. That
gallery will deal exclusively with living artists while at
our traditional gallery we continue to stage exhibitions
of the finest traditional paintings. To curate such an
exhibition is no easy task; in today’s strong art market,
fine paintings find a home in a new collection almost
immediately. Nevertheless, we have been able to procure
this collection of fine museum-quality paintings. I
believe that the bringing together of such high caliber
works, is an integral role for a fine art gallery.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my
daughter Angela Wagner for her continued dedication to
the design and production of all of our gallery exhibition
catalogues. It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge
the rise of a second generation in the gallery, which
includes Angela and my sons, Nicholas and Rafael.
I would also like to express my appreciation to our
gallery conservators, Nelli Urbanska-Pizyo and Cynthia
Fosberg, as well as my assistant Elissa McGillivray. On
behalf of all the Odon Wagner Gallery staff, I sincerely
hope you enjoy this collection of fine paintings.
One of the jewels of this collection is ’Twixt Love
and Duty by Arthur J. Elsley, one of the most sought
after artists of the late Victorian and Edwardian period.
This painting was lost since its publication on the cover
of Ward Lock & Co.’s Wonder Book in 1922, and its
emergence was met with great excitement by myself and
many others, including the author of the definitive text
on Elsley, Terry Parker. Such an acquisition epitomizes
the most rewarding aspect of dealing with fine art.
Odon Wagner
1
FREDERIC SOULACROIX (FRENCH, 1858-1933)
The French Maid
signed “F. Soulacroix, Florence” (lower right)
oil on canvas
22 x 13 in. (55.8 x 33 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
Frederick W. Thom Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada
MUSEUMS:
Museum of Fine Arts, Philadelphia
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 68
2
WALTER MORAS (GERMAN, 1856-1925)
Wintry Path in the Spree Forest
signed “W. Moras” (lower left)
oil on canvas
32 x 40 in. (81 x 101.6 cm.)
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 68
’TWIXT LOVE AND DUTY
ARTHUR J. ELSLEY (1860-1952), signed and dated 1919
I was very delighted when Odon Wagner contacted me with his latest
acquisition. This painting has not been recorded since 1922, and until now
I have only seen it reproduced as the colour cover of The Wonder Book of
that year.
Arthur J. Elsley was one of the premier English canine artists of the late
19th and early 20th century, more than ably following in the tradition of
Queen Victoria’s favourites Edwin Landseer, and Charles Burton Barber.
His earliest surviving work is “Vic” a cairn terrier drawn in 1871 when he
was eleven years old. Following his training at the Royal Academy Schools
Elsley’s early commissions included a series of canine portraits for the
Benett-Stanford family of Preston Manor, near Brighton, Sussex. He had
perfected his canine portraiture by the time he the entered the studio of Fred
Morgan in 1889. Morgan (1847-1927) was a successful, and very popular
children’s artist, but had difficulty painting animals. Elsley contributed pets
and horses to Morgan’s paintings while Elsley, in turn, learnt the successful
formula of combining pets with children.
3
ARTHUR JOHN ELSLEY (BRITISH, 1860-1952)
‘Twixt Love and Duty
signed and dated “Arthur J. Elsley 1919” (lower left)
oil on canvas
34 x 25.75 in. (86.3 x 65.3 cm.)
Painted in 1919.
“Twixt Love and Duty” is a charming pastoral narrative, centred on the
proud mother and her playful puppies. She is seen face-in-profile, half
looking at her master and the sheep. Torn between two options. Should
she stay and protect her litter, or go to work ? They may be split emotions
but the maternal pull is the greater.
PROVENANCE:
Cooling Gallery, Toronto
MUSEUMS:
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, Bournemouth, UK
Hartlepool Museum, Hartlepool, UK
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK
Royal Pavillion Art Gallery and Museum, Brighton, UK
Preston Manor, Brighton, UK
LITERATURE:
Terry Parker Golden Hours. The Paintings of Arthur J. Elsley 1860-1952, Somerset, 1998, p.88 and 130.
I spent many an enjoyable hour interviewing the artist’s daughter Marjorie
Wheatley (nee Elsley). She told me that her father’s favourite dogs were
collies, and he owned at least two as pets, named “Scamp” and “Old Bruce.”
The collie in this painting was most likely “old scenter” a very well behaved
dog whose owner lived opposite Clarence Gate, Regents Park. Elsley would
say, “Go on you old silly” and he would follow without a lead. Once he
forgot to say that and the dog refused to cross the road.
NOTES:
On stretchers: Bearing the label “A. Vivian Mansell & Co., 2 Chapel St. & 22 Silk St. Original picture no 2615”. Bearing stamp
(2x) “A. Vivian Mansell & Co., 31 Finsbury”. Bearing the residual label of the Cooling Gallery, Toronto
Queen Alexander, wife of King Edward VII, also kept collies. Rough haired
collies were bred as working sheep dogs and are normally sable and white,
but this dog is a very distinctive tri-colour.
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 68
The shepherd and his dog were popular characters for the artist appearing
in “Here He Comes” 1901, with children waiting to ambush him snowballs
in hand; and “Rescued” 1911, where he is carrying a cold orphaned lamb to
the family fireside.
This painting was the sequel to “The New Shepherd” 1917, which shows
Marjorie and the shepherd’s wife bottle-feeding a lamb, with the collie
standing guard. “Twixt Love and Duty” was painted two years later, just
after the First World War, when the artist was in his late 50s.
Elsley was a keen amateur photographer and often used photographs as an
aide de memoir. Elsley’s studio was at his home 26 Queen’s Grove, St. John’s
Wood, North London. He photographed his wife Emm, at the side of his
garden studio, playing with a collie puppy. He originally incorporated this
playful puppy in “Try Again” 1906.
2
The model for the shepherd’s daughter is his only child Marjorie (born
August 24, 1903). She was fifteen years old by the time he painted this work
so he worked from memory, and earlier photographs.
For his own enjoyment Elsley painted landscapes, but only ever exhibited
one. The setting is unknown, but his favourite areas were in Hampshire,
Dorset, Hertfordshire, and later around Tunbridge Wells, Kent where he
retired.
Elsley was a very skilled artist and exhibited fifty-two works at the Royal
Academy and many more at other important exhibitions. He produced
fewer works later in his career, and rarely exhibited them as they had already
been sold. Changes in British tastes after the First World War meant there
was less demand for Elsley’s paintings. North Americans, being distant
from the battlefields, was less cynical about his sentimental paintings and
they continued to embrace Elsley’s art. He was particularly popular with
American calendar publishers. This painting shows no signs of the artist’s
deteriorating eyesight, which ultimately lead to blindness in old age.
4
ROBERT GALLON (BRITISH, 1845-1925)
On The River Avon
signed “R.Gallon” (lower left)
oil on canvas
20 x 30 in. (50.8 x 76.3 cm.)
The print publishers Alfred Vivian Mansell & Co. of 2 Chapel Street
and 22 Silk Street, East London bought a number of Elsley’s paintings
including “Safe Quarters” circa 1895, and this work, which they licensed for
reproduction, as the colour cover of Ward Lock & Co.’s Wonder Book – a
picture annual for boys and girls 1922 (17th year).
PROVENANCE:
The Private Collection of Thomas van Loan, New York
The late 20th century saw the resurgence of interest in Elsley’s work. Auction
houses witnessed an extraordinary rise in popularity of his oil paintings and
modern greetings card, calendar and print manufacturers are ever eager to
reproduce his works.
MUSEUMS:
Sunderland Museum and Art Gallery, Sunderland, UK
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 69
photo by A.J. Elsley
We are grateful to Mr. Terry Parker for providing the catalogue entry for this work.
Left: colour cover of The Wonder Book
Above: Elsley photographed his wife
Emm, at the side of his garden studio,
playing with a collie puppy.
14
15
5
KONSTANTIN SAVITSKY (RUSSIAN, 1844-1905)
Hunter in the Forest
signed and dated “K.Savitsky 1873 godj” (in Cyrillic)
oil on canvas
38 x 60 in. (96.5 x 152.5 cm.)
Painted in 1873.
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Ontario
MUSEUMS:
Tretyakov State Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Gosudarstvennyj State Historical Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 70
6
DAVID JAMES (BRITISH, fl. 1881-1898)
Manawaur Rocks, Scilly
signed and dated “D.James 90” (lower right)
oil on canvas
18 x 30 in. (45.7 x 76.3 cm.)
1890
MUSEUMS:
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK
NOTES:
Inscribed “Manawaur Rocks, Scilly” and signed and dated (on the reverse). The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago of five inhabited
islands and numerous other small rocky islets lying 45 km off Land’s End, the most southwesterly tip of Great Britain.
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 70
18
7
ADOLPHE FRANCOIS MONFALLET (FRENCH, 1816-1900)
An Interesting Chapter
signed “Monfallet” (lower left)
oil on panel
12.5 x 9.5 in. (31.8 x 24.2 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
Frederick W. Thom Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
MUSEUMS:
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, France
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rheims, France
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 71
20
21
8
JOHN FREDERICK HERRING JR. (BRITISH, 1815-1907)
Horses in the Farmyard
signed “JF Herring” (lower centre)
oil on canvas
23 x 33 in. (58.5 x 83.8 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Toronto
NOTES:
He exhibited at the Royal Academy, London from 1863 to 1873.
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 71
22
23
9
FRANÇOIS VAN SEVERDONCK (BELGIAN, 1809-1889)
Landscapes with Fowl and Sheep (Pair)
signed and dated “F. Van Severdonck 1871” (lower left)
oil on panel
7 x 9.5 in. (17.8 x 24.2 cm.)
Painted in 1871.
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Oregon
MUSEUMS:
National Art Museum, Bucharest, Romania
Musée Paul Valery, Sète, France
Musée des Beaux Arts, Rouen, France
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 71
24
25
10
ALBERT NEUHUYS (DUTCH, 1844-1914)
Learning to Sew
signed “Alb. Neuhuys” (lower left)
oil on canvas
12.5 x 9.5 in. (31.8 x 24.2 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
George A. Morrow O.B.E. and Phoebe C. Morrow, Toronto
George Graham Morrow O.B.E. and Doris C. Morrow, Toronto
Thence by descent.
MUSEUMS:
Singer Museum, Laren
Amsterdam, Edinburgh, The Hague, Montreal, Munich, Nice, Rotterdam and Worcester
NOTES:
Albert Neuhuys followed in the school of Josef Israels in his choice of subject matter and Jacob Maris in his colouring. He was
a painter of great feeling, able to represent the calm workaday life of the people of Laren and Brabant in a natural and unforced
manner. Learning to Sew is a wonderful example of a quiet moment between mother and child, where the warm afternoon light
illuminates the mother’s patient expression and gilds a profil perdu, a downy neck and head of yellow hair on the child. Neuhuys
delicately contrasts the white collar and blue fabric against the rich reds and browns of the interior.
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 72
26
27
11
BERNARD JOHANNES BLOMMERS (DUTCH, 1845-1914)
Mother and Children
signed “Blommers” (lower left)
oil on canvas
19 x 15 in. (48.2 x 38 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
George A. Morrow O.B.E. and Phoebe C. Morrow, Toronto
George Graham Morrow O.B.E. and Doris C. Morrow, Toronto
Thence by descent.
MUSEUMS:
Amsterdam, Glasgow, Groningue, The Hague, Montreal, Munich, Rotterdam
NOTES:
Exhibited at Carneghie Institute, Pittsburgh, U.S.A
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 72
Label at back of Mother and Children
Portrait of Andrew Carnegie
painted by B.J. Blommers in 1913
28
29
12
BERNARD DE HOOG (DUTCH, 1867-1943)
The Happy Mother
signed “Bernard de Hoog” (lower left)
oil on canvas
20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm.)
MUSEUMS:
Blackburn Museum, UK
The Netherlands
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 72
30
31
13
ALEXANDER MAX KOESTER (GERMAN, 1864-1932)
Seventeen Ducks on a Pond
signed “A.Koester” (lower left)
oil on canvas
24.75 x 36 in. (63 x 91.5 cm.)
Painted circa 1906.
Bearing label:
“AA120, 63 x 92 (cm) - Ententeich, Gamp CEE/- Diessen” (on the stretcher bar), AA120 - seemingly the artists inventory number
is also marked on reverse in black ink. Original frame manufactured by C. Blecken, Munich.
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Germany
MUSEUMS:
Breslau, Bucharest, Chemnitz, Dessau, Graz, Mulhouse, Munich, Seattle
NOTES:
Koester achieved critical acclaim and public praise for his paintings of ducks in the 19th century, and this painting is no exception
in quality or artistic excellence. Seventeen Ducks on a Pond incorporates an earthy palette of browns and greens, which contrasts
with the white plumage and orange beaks and harmonizes with the brown plumage of the ducks in the forefront. This gift for
colouring serves to heighten the tonal effect of the painting. Koester shows his keen interest in the play of light on the surface of
the water, the feathers and the pebbles and stones, which pick up light in swatches of colour, adding accents and details that move
the eye across the painting.
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 73
32
14
ALFRED FONTVILLE DE BREANSKI (BRITISH, 1877-1957)
Langdale Pikes
signed “A.F. de Breanski” (lower right)
oil on canvas
24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.5 cm.)
NOTES:
Titled “Langdale Pikes” and signed again (on the reverse)
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 74
34
35
15
IVAN FEDEROVICH CHOULTSE (RUSSIAN, 1877-1932)
Soir Calme Mediterranée
signed “Iw.F.Choultse” (lower right)
oil on canvas
19.75 x 24 in. (50.2 x 61 cm.)
Painted circa 1926.
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Minnesota
NOTES:
Inscribed by the artist “Soir calme Mediterranee” (on the stretcher bar)
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 74
36
37
16
IVAN FEDEROVICH CHOULTSE (RUSSIAN, 1877-1932)
Automne
signed “Iw.F.Choultse” (lower right)
oil on canvas
18.5 x 15 in. (47 x 38 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Minnesota
NOTES:
Inscribed by the artist “Automne” (on the stretcher bar)
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 74
38
39
17
JOHAN SCHERREWITZ (DUTCH, 1868-1951)
Tending to the Fields
18
JOHAN SCHERREWITZ (DUTCH, 1868-1951)
The Broken Plough
signed “J Scherrewitz” (lower left)
oil on canvas
16 x 24 in. (41 x 61 cm.)
signed “J Scherrewitz” (lower left)
oil on canvas
16 x 24 in. (41 x 61 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Quebec
PROVENANCE:
Dominion Gallery, Montreal, nr. 27 (by 1929)
Private Collection, Ontario
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 74
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 74
40
41
19
JEAN-JACQUES HENNER (FRENCH, 1829-1905)
Portrait of a Lady
oil on canvas
14 x 11 in. (35.5 x 28 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Ontario
MUSEUMS:
Museum of Fine Art, Montreal
The Louvre, Paris
Musée du Petit Palais, Paris
Musée Jean-Jacques Henner, Paris
NOTES:
This painting is not signed.
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 75
42
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20
MONTAGUE DAWSON (BRITISH, 1895-1973)
Yachts Racing on the Solent
signed “Montague Dawson” (lower left)
oil on canvas
20 x 30 in (50.8 x 76.3 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Michigan
MUSEUMS:
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK
Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth, UK
Vancouver Maritime Museum, British Columbia
The Mariner’s Museum, Salem, Massachusetts
Muskegon Museum of Art, Michigan
NOTES:
Montague Dawson is widely considered the best-known sea painter of the 20th Century, and one of the most skilled craftsmen in
the direct line of English marine artists. He is noted for his unerringly beautiful ships, the weight and surging power of his waves
and the scudding grace of his skies. In a painting by Dawson, the elements and the ships are one, united in a harmony of motion
and colour, which immediately rings true.
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 76
44
21
DIETZ EDZARD (GERMAN, 1893-1963)
In the Café
signed “D.Edzard” (lower right)
oil on canvas
20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm.)
T
U
O
D
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 76
L
O
F
46
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22
JOHANNES EVERT AKKERINGA (DUTCH, 1861-1942)
Vrijage (Courtship)
signed “J. Akkeringa” (lower left)
oil on panel
11 x 9.5 in. (28 x 24 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
E.J. Van Wisselingh & Co., Amsterdam, nr. 3173
George A. Morrow O.B.E. and Phoebe C. Morrow, Toronto
George Graham Morrow O.B.E. and Doris C. Morrow, Toronto
Thence by descent.
NOTES:
Akkeringa belongs to the late generation of the Hague School. Contrary to the original members, like Josef Israels, the Maris
brothers, Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Albert Neuhuys (see catalogue number 10), he depicted a cheerier mood in his paintings,
sun filled and summery and not unlike the works of the French Intimistes in their subject matter. Vrijage (Courtship) is instantly
recognizable and very characteristic of the artist. Executed in quick yet deliberate brush strokes, it depicts a pair in a tender moment,
infused with the bright sunlight of a summer’s afternoon.
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 77
Label at back of Vrijage
48
49
23
JOHAN HENDRIK VAN MASTENBROEK (DUTCH, 1875-1945)
Canal in Amsterdam
signed “JH van Mastenbroek” (lower right)
watercolour on paper
5 x 6 in. (12.6 x 15.2 cm.)
MUSEUMS:
Museum of Fine Art, Montreal
Amsterdam, Haarlem, Liverpool
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 77
50
51
24
FREDERICK SIMPSON COBURN (CANADIAN, 1871-1960)
Logging in the Laurentians
signed and dated “F.S.Coburn 31” (lower left)
oil on canvas
13.75 x 17.25 in. (35 x 44 cm.)
Painted in 1931.
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Toronto
MUSEUMS:
National Gallery of Brisbane, Australia
The Tate Gallery, London
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 77
52
53
25
JOHN WENTWORTH RUSSELL (CANADIAN, 1879-1959)
Luxembourg Gardens, Paris
signed and dated “John Russell 09, Paris” (lower right)
oil on panel
13 x 16 in. (33 x 40.7 cm.)
Painted 1909
PROVENANCE:
George A. Morrow O.B.E. and Phoebe C. Morrow, Toronto
George Graham Morrow O.B.E. and Doris C. Morrow, Toronto
Thence by descent.
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 75
J.W. Russell, after sketching in the Luxembourg Gardens, Paris, 1910
Newton MacTavish Fonds. Collection of the Edward P. Taylor Research Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario
54
26
JOHN WENTWORTH RUSSELL (CANADIAN, 1879-1959)
Luxembourg Gardens, Paris
signed and dated “John Russell 09” (lower right)
oil on panel
10.5 x 13.5 in. (26.8 x 34.2 cm.)
Painted 1909
PROVENANCE:
George A. Morrow O.B.E. and Phoebe C. Morrow, Toronto
George Graham Morrow O.B.E. and Doris C. Morrow, Toronto
Thence by descent.
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 75
J.W. Russell, in his studio, 1910
Newton MacTavish Fonds. Collection of the Edward P. Taylor Research Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario
56
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27
LEON AUGUSTIN LHERMITTE (FRENCH, 1844-1925)
Harvest
signed “Lhermitte” (lower left)
pastel on paper laid down on canvas
16 x 19 in. (40.7 x 48.2 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
George A. Morrow O.B.E. and Phoebe C. Morrow, Toronto
George Graham Morrow O.B.E. and Doris C. Morrow, Toronto
Thence by descent.
MUSEUMS:
Albany, Amiens, Boston, Brussels, Buffalo, Carcassonne, Chateau Thierry,
Chicago, Florence, Gand, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Paris, Reims,
Saint-Louis, Saint-Quintin and Washington
NOTES:
Exhibited at the Art Gallery of Toronto (Loan Exhibition), Jan. 1920, nr. 74.
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 78
Label at back of Harvest
58
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28
MAXIMILIEN LUCE (FRENCH, 1858-1941)
Fermes à Moulineux
signed “Luce” (lower left)
oil on canvas laid down on board
11 x 15 in. (28 x 38 cm.)
Painted circa 1905-1910
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, UK
MUSEUMS:
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Fine Art Museums of San Francisco
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
National Gallery of Canada
Cleveland Museum of Art
NOTES:
This painting will be included in the forthcoming
supplement to the Luce Catalogue raisonné being
prepared by Denise Bazetoux. The painting is
accompanied by a photo certificate from Mme. Bazetoux.
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 79
photo certificate of Fermes à Moulineux
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61
29
PIERRE DE BELAY (FRENCH, 1890-1947)
Deux Hommes Devant le Port
signed “de Belay” (lower right)
oil on canvas
25 x 20 in. (63.5 x 50.8 cm.)
MUSEUMS:
Musée de Beaux-Arts, Quimper, France
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 79
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30
EDWARD SEAGO (BRITISH, 1910-1974)
Flooded Road at Beccles, Suffolk
signed “Edward Seago” (lower left)
oil on panel
11 x 16 in. (28 x 40.7 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
George A. Morrow O.B.E. and Phoebe C. Morrow, Toronto
George Graham Morrow O.B.E. and Doris C. Morrow, Toronto
Thence by descent.
MUSEUMS:
Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, U.S.A
The Royal Collection, London, UK
National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
NOTES:
Eccles is a market town situated in Suffolk at the border with Norfolk, in East Anglia.
The spirit which haunts us most in Norfolk is the East Wind from the sea. A kindly spirit, in its way, but a boisterous one which makes
a hardy playfellow. It comes in straight over the coast, and wastes no time in spreading itself over the wide marshes and calling on each
inhabitant. A good healthy wind-bit fresh to those unused to it, but there are few who have not felt the benefit from its gusty blow.
In the marshland districts of Norfolk the wind brings another danger the - danger of flood. After a constant high wind from a
certain quarter there is a succession of high tides which, with the wind behind them, push their great burden of water up the swollen
rivers, until they eventually overflow their banks and spill over the marsh beyond. No doubt it will continue to happen whenever it is
ordained to be by the co-operation of moon, wind, and tide.
excerpts from A Canvas to Cover by Edward Seago, Collins, St. James’s Place, London, 1947, p. 89
BIOGRAPHY:
See page 80
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65
BIOGRAPHIES
A selection of these biographies are reproduced from the
BENEZIT Dictionary of Artists, with permission from Editions Gründ, 2006
01
Frederic Soulacroix
(French, 1858-1933)
Frederic Soulacroix was the son of the well-known painter and sculptor Charles J. Soulacroix. He lived in Rome until the
spring of 1863, later in Boulogne-sur-mer (where his father was painting the frescos of the local cathedral), then in Paris,
and finally Florence, Italy. At 15, in 1873, Frederic entered the Academia di Belle Arti of Florence and in October of 1876,
he was admitted to the Scuola di Pittura.
An artist who enjoyed an enormous success, his paintings were mainly for private customers coming from the US, England,
Germany, South America and Canada. An exceptional observer, Soulacroix paid great attention to minute detail in his
work. As The French Maid exemplifies, the artist has captured the finest elements of texture, luster and reflection and
rendered them with meticulous technique. The sheen of the silk damask wall covering, the silk of the maids dress, the
polished finish of the wood floor, and the life-like rendering of the feather duster, all take the viewer back to the richness
of the Empire era.
02
Walter Moras
(German, 1856-1925)
Walter Moras was born in Cottbus in the Spree Forest, later moving to Berlin where he studied with landscape and marine
painter Hermann Eschke (1823-1900). He was predominantly a landscape and seascape painter actively exhibiting in
Berlin between 1876 and 1910.
Situated in Brandenburg around 100 km from Berlin, the Spree Forest is a unique landscape consisting of countless
waterways that criss-cross the glacial valley now partially covered by forest and by meadows. The mystic and contemplative
quality of this natural setting was the inspiration for many 19th Century authors and painters, who found beauty and
solace among the trees and pathways of the forest. Moras, along with fellow German artists Adolf Burger (1833-1876),
Curt Agthe (1862-1943) and Georg Estler (1850-1954), made up a group of painters who favored this spot, which is well
known as the “Venice of Brandenburg”.
03
Arthur John Elsley
(British, 1861-1952)
Arthur John Elsley was born in London on November 20, 1861, the son of John and Emily Elsley. His father dabbled in
art and even exhibited a work at the British Institution in 1845.
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Arthur’s earliest known work was a portrait sketch of a little dog, entitled Vic (1871). At the age of 14 he entered the
South Kensington School of Art. In 1876 at the young age of sixteen, Elsley became a probationer at the Royal Academy
School and only two years later exhibited his first painting of a pony. His father died that same year and Arthur, the eldest
son, took over as head of the family.
Although he was born in London, and lived there for most of his life, Elsley preferred the countryside. Even in the days
when cycling was a rarity, he thought nothing of pedaling fifty miles out of the city in search of suitable material.
In the middle of the 19th Century there grew an ap­preciation in England for paintings depict­ing everyday family life.
The new affluent middle class was par­ticularly interested in scenes of adorab­le little children and their pets in playful
settings. Arthur John Elsley, was one of the most well known and sensi­tive of these artists. His portraits of sweet,
sometimes mis­chievous children and pets were treasured and highly sought after.
By 1887 Arthur was sharing a studio with portrait painter George Manton and it was through Manton that Arthur met
Fred Morgan. In 1889 Elsley shared Morgan’s studio in St. John’s Wood. This was significant for Morgan, who gained
much needed help from Elsley with the rendering of animals.
In 1891 Elsley won a sliver medal at the Crystal Palace Exhibition and in 1893 he married his second cousin Emily
Fusedale. Their wedding took place on November 11th at St. Thomas’s Parish Church and they rented a home in St. John’s
Wood.
Arthur and Emma had one child, Marjorie, who was born on August 24, 1903. The birth of his daughter saw the
beginning of a highly successful period of children and animal paintings – many featuring Marjorie. Many of these
paintings were reproduced as prints and sold so well that the copper plates actually wore out and had to be re-made. It
is said that people would literally line up to see and purchase his original works.
Elsley was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy; showing many works from 1878 - 1917 including: A Stitch in
Time (1887); I’se Biggest!(1892); Wait a Minute! (1894) and Good Night! (1915). Elsley also exhibited his works at many
of the other major exhibition halls throughout Great Britain, including: Royal Society of Artists, Birmingham; Glasgow
Institute of Fine Arts; Walker Art Gallery; Manchester City Art Gallery; Royal Society of British Artists; and the Royal
Institute of Oil Painters.
04
Robert Gallon
(British, 1845-1925)
Robert Gallon was a painter who lived in London, England. He spent much time travelling the English countryside seeking
picturesque views for his paintings. His style varied from loose and painterly to fine, delicate and realistic renderings in a
manner akin to his English contemporaries, Benjamin Williams Leader (1831-1923) and George Cole (1810-1883).
He was highly regarded by the British public, evidenced by regular exhibitions at the Royal Academy and at the Suffolk
Street Gallery as early as 1870.
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05
Konstantin Savitsky
(Russian, 1844-1905)
Konstantin Savitsky was born in the city of Taganrog in Russia, a city situated on the shores of the Azov Sea. Savitsky’s
family lived in the building of the Taganrog High School for Boys, where his father worked as a doctor. He showed an
early interest for painting and drawing and favoured these subjects at school.
When Konstantin was in the fifth grade his life changed unexpectedly with the sudden death of both of his parents. His
uncle took Konstantin to present-day Latvia where he became his guardian. In 1862 Savitsky graduated from a local
boarding-school and left for St. Petersburg, where he entered The Imperial Academy of Arts.
At the academy he had personal contacts with some of Russia’s most notable artists: Ilya Repin, Ivan Shishkin, Viktor
Vasnetsov, Mark Antokolski, Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov, Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin – all of whom would have an
influence on the development of the young artist. Savitsky became one of the best students of the Imperial Academy of
Arts. His paintings were awarded with silver medals and Cain and Abel painted in 1871, received the top prize.
After graduation from the Imperial Academy of Arts and two years abroad, Savitsky became co-partner of Peredvizhniki,
a group of Russian realist artists who in protest to academic restrictions formed an artists’ cooperative that later evolved
into the Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions. He was also a co-painter with Shishkin of the famous oil painting Morning in
the Pine Forest. On the original Peredvizhniki exhibition the painting was attributed to both painters, Ivan Shishkin and
Konstantin Savitsky. It was assumed that Savitsky had painted the bears and Shishkin the forest but later scholars found
that preparational drawing of the pine forest were made by both Savitsky and Shishkin. Ultimately, Savitsky withdrew his
signature from the painting and it is currently exponated as a sole Shishkin work.
The artist dedicated more than 20 years to teaching the arts in the academy schools of Moscow, Saint Petersburg and
Penza. In 1897, Konstantin Savitsky himself became a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts.
06
David James
(British, active circa 1881-1898)
David James was a realist painter of coastal views and seascapes, who flourished at the end of the 19th century. He was
particularly skilled at painting waves, his keen eye allowed him to capture the beauty, grace and magnificence of the sea.
He exhibited extensively between 1881 and 1898, including exhibitions at the Royal Academy in London.
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07
Adolphe François Monfallet
(French, 1816-1900)
Adolphe François Monfallet was a pupil of Michael Drolling (1786-1851), Francois Edouard Picto (1786-1868) and
Adolphe Yvon (1817-1893). He was both a painter and a dancer, performing with the corps de ballet at the Opera
Garnier in Paris. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1850 to 1882, and subsequently with the Société des Artistes
Francais, of which he was a member.
08
John Frederick Herring Jr.
(British, 1815-1907)
John Frederick Herring junior was the eldest of J.F. Herring senior’s three sons. While he acted as assistant to his father,
also an accomplished artist, Herring junior was keen to make his own way as an artist. He achieved success throughout a
long and productive life spent entirely in the Newmarket area, painting predominantly sporting and animal pictures.
Both his style and subject matter were much influenced by his father, and their both having the same initials has in the
past led to some confusion in attribution. Many of J.F. Herring junior’s best works have frequently been attributed to his
father. At the start of his career he signed his work J. Fred Herring or J.F. Herring junior, but once working on his own
he reverted to J.F. Herring. Although the tonality of his work is far removed from that of his father, as early as 1836 the
early Herring was adding senior to his signature. This presumably was to stop his son’s work being passed off as his own,
though there is no evidence that this was ever the case.
Herring junior exhibited at the Society of British Artists at Suffolk and at the Royal Academy.
09
François van Severdonck
(Belgian, 1809-1889)
François van Severdonck was a Flemish painter of landscapes, genre-scenes and portraits, but he was particularly known
for his depiction of animals. The illustrating of farm animals had a long tradition particularly in Dutch and Flemish
painting, but it was not until the nineteenth century that it achieved notable, widespread popularity.
Severdonck’s style in the painting of livestock was of the school of realistic objectivity. As one art critic wrote of this type
of realism: “Ah! Beautiful realism! Pleasing and attractive truth! How good is the countryside here, alive, animated, full of noise
and movement, without loosing its calmness, grandeur, and happiness!”
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10
Albert Neuhuys
(Dutch, 1844-1914)
Albert Neuhuys took up the tradition of the finest Dutch Masters, and was taught by Gysbertus Craeyvanger (1810-1895)
in Utrecht. He participated in world exhibitions, including the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, where he received a
silver medal. His work was also shown in the Munich exhibition, where he was awarded a medal in 1889, in Vienna where
he won a medal in 1894 and in London.
Neuhuys’ favourite subjects were history and portraiture. From 1870, following the examples of Jozef Israels (1827-1911)
and Jacob Maris (1838-1899), he found his true passion for painting in the representation of peaceful Dutch interiors.
He was particularly attracted to the charm of young children and the grace of motherhood. Neuhuys was skilled at
capturing the various effects of light on his subjects, depicting, for instance, sunlight shining through the narrow window
of a fisherman’s house so that fair-haired children appeared haloed. He successfully infused his figures with an intensity of
expression, subtly conveying the mood and feeling of his scenes, with fine drawing and delicate colouring.
11
Bernard Johannes Blommers
(Dutch, 1845-1914)
Bernard Blommers was a painter of landscapes and delicate genre compositions. Born to a talented lithographer, Bernard
decided to follow in his father’s footsteps. He studied with Christoffel Bisschop (1828-1904) at the Academy of Fine Arts
in The Hague and made the acquaintance of Willem Maris (1844-1910) and Theo Mesker (1853-1894), who encouraged
him to abandon engraving in favour of painting. Despite his father’s reservations, he listened to their advice. His first
paintings were accomplished enough to convince his father that he had talent and promise as a painter. He exhibited
for the first time in 1869, where his canvas was displayed alongside those of Jozef Israels. Israels immediately recognized
Blommers’ potential and took him under his wing.
Blommers went on to exhibit in Amsterdam, The Hague, Paris and Antwerp, earning many awards and distinctions in the
process. As an artist, he never sought or concerned himself with official recognition. In his study of 19th Century Dutch
painting, Max Rooses describes Blommers as being largely indifferent to awards and distinctions, preferring to live the
quiet life of a family man who happened to be blessed with a considerable artistic talent.
12
Bernard de Hoog
(Dutch, 1867-1943)
Bernard de Hoog was a genre painter born in the city of Amsterdam. He concentrated on interior domestic scenes:
motherhood, and children playing games. De Hoog studied under John Frederik Hulk (1855-1913) and Jan van Essen
(1854-1936) at the Quellinus School in Amsterdam. He occupies a distinguished place among the masters of Dutch
Modernism and is considered a major contributor of the Post-Hague School.
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Post-Hague School artists such as de Hoog, and Blommers followed in the traditions of The Hague School whose
members worked in Holland from around 1860 to 1900. Like the French Barbizon School, these artists turned away from
academic themes based on history or mythology. Instead they made realistic depictions of their immediate surroundings
including rural landscapes, peasant life, beach scenes and occasionally, urban streets. They were sensitive to the effects of
light and atmosphere, recalling the great tradition of 17th Century Dutch landscape painting.
13
Alexander Max Koester
(German, 1864-1932)
Alexander Koester was one of the most important Impressionist animal painters from the Munich School. Originally
pressured by his family to become a pharmacist, Koester abandoned his studies and entered the Staatliche Kunsthalle in
Karlsruhe. There, he trained under some of the most established painters in Germany such as Carl Hoff (1835-1890),
Claus Meyer (1856-1919), Heinrich Johann von Zügel (1850-1941) and Leopold von Kalckreuth (1855-1928). Koester’s
main residence was in Munich but he spent most of his time painting in Klausen in the Tirol. His early pictures were of
genre scenes of Tyrolian folk life and landscapes, eventually specializing in painting ducks in their natural habitats, which
would establish his reputation.
Koester first attracted attention in 1899 when he exhibited one of his duck paintings at an exhibition in Berlin. Like the
Impressionists, Koester was intrigued by the fleeting play of light on the feathers, water and leaves. Like an Impressionist
picture, his images represent a glimpse as might be caught by the passer­by. The rhythmical qualities of his duck paintings,
in which the birds move in gracious formation, give these pictures a musical quality, which is perhaps no coincidence,
given that Koester was an accomplished violinist and collector of violins. The present work, in which the ducks move
serenely through the water, might be compared in musical terms to the calm of an adagio.
Despite these stylistic parallels with the works of the French Impressionists and the German avant‑garde, artists who
clearly exerted an influence on him, Koester’s pictures also reveal a deep‑felt love and respect for the birds he spent so
much time capturing on canvas. Whereas his contemporaries in France, for example, might have reduced the birds to no
more than dabs of paint, Koester, true to his academic‑training, always gave them an endearing character and presence
of their own.
Koester remained faithful to his subject matter throughout what were turbulent years in the development of German art.
In the 1920s, when Expressionism was making headlines, and the Blauer Reiter and Brücke movements had been relegated
to the annals of art history, Koester continued to paint in his uniquely impressionistic and highly popular style.
An anonymous reviewer wrote of his work: “The pleasure derived from these amusing web‑footed birds can be explained
by admiring the loose plumage, the orange beaks, the reflections in the water, the sunshine the bluish reflexes in the air‑a
wealth of technical challenges” *
Koester was awarded medals in Berlin, Munich, St. Louis, London, Paris and Venice. His paintings were so highly prized
that they were collected by many of the crowned heads of Europe.
* quoted in Ruth Stein and Hans Koester, 1988, p. 47.
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14
Alfred Fontville de Breanski
(British, 1877-1945)
The son and pupil of the well-known Victorian landscape artist Alfred de Breanski Sr. (1852-1928), Alfred Fontville, like his
father, painted the mountainous landscapes of Scotland and Wales concentrating on the effects of sunlight on the Highland
scenery at different times of the day.
Though his paintings are similar in palette and subject matter to those of his father, his landscapes are executed in a slightly
less formal style. Due to the confusion between his painting and that of his father’s, Alfred would often sign his works A.F.
de Breanski, A.F. de Breanski, Jr., or A. Fontville. It is also believed that he painted a number of still life paintings under the
name Gustave Courtier.
Alfred Fontville De Breanski exhibited several works during his lifetime at the Royal Academy and at the Royal Society
of British Artists.
15
Ivan Federovich Choultse
(Russian, 1877-1932)
Ivan Fedorovich Choultse was a landscape painter born in Petrograd. He studied painting with Constantin Krighitsky
(1858-1911) and became the court painter to Czar Nicholas II. After the Russian Revolution, he immigrated to Paris and
in 1923 began exhibiting at the Salon des Artistes Français. Although Choultse continued to paint Russian scenes whilst
in Paris, he also undertook several trips to Switzerland’s Engadine. He was fascinated with the mountainous landscape of
the area surrounding St. Moritz, especially during winter.
Critics wrote that no other artist was as adept at transferring the texture of settled snow to canvas as Choultse was. In his
1979 biography Memoirs of an Art Dealer, Toronto art dealer G. Blair Laing wrote:
He painted spectacular snow scenes in which the light seems to come from behind the canvas and glow. The critics scorned these
pictures as photographic and called them non-art – but today this style of painting is called “magic-realism” and is much admired
by critics and museum people. When I was at university I saw a small exhibition of his work at Eaton’s and marveled at the
technical competence of the artist. My professor of aesthetics warned me the pictures were bogus and would be forgotten in a few
years…today they are more expensive than ever!
17
Johan Scherrewitz
(Dutch, 1868-1951)
Johan Scherrewitz was a painter born in Amsterdam to a stockbroker father and a French mother who was related to artist
Antoine Renou (1731-1806). His family had high hopes that he too would become a stockbroker, but they relented to
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Johan’s requests that he be allowed to take drawing and painting lessons on Sunday mornings with a drawing teacher.
Later Scherrewitz would become a student at the studio of Georg J. Poggenbeek (1853-1903).
During his many outings to the eastern and southern regions of Holland, including Achterhoek, Overijssel, Brabant, Heeze
and Leende, Scherrewitz made hundreds of drawing studies. Scherrewitz also traveled to Germany and France but he preferred
painting the Dutch landscape, particularly the forest and the dunes along the North Sea, the moors with sheep, and the
meadows with cows and horses. He looked for the joys of nature and depicted them with an elegant gesture and great precision.
19
Jean Jacques Henner
(French, 1829- 1905)
At the age of 12, Jean Jacques Henner was introduced by his father to the artist Charles Gutzwiller (French, 19th Century).
Gutzwiller recognized the young Henner’s talent, and became Henner’s first teacher. Having worked with Gutzwiller,
Henner joined Gabriel Guérin’s studio in Paris, where he studied alongside several well-known Alsa­tian and German
painters including Jundt, Schultenberger and Haffner. Henner spent his spare time reading transla­tions of Homer,
Virgil, Horace, Ovid and Lucretius. Thanks to a subsidy from the Upper Rhine departmental council he was able
to move to Par­is in 1847. He joined the École des Beaux-Arts on April 7th that same year, entering the studios of
Droning and Picot. Mis­fortune took him back to Alsace in 1855; his dying mother wanted him near her, and
he painted her on her deathbed in 1857. During this two-year period, Henner painted numer­ous portraits of
Alsatians.
Henner returned to Paris and in 1858 was awarded the Prix de Rome for Adam and Eve Discovering Abel’s Body.
From Rome he sent his painting entitled Susanna Bathing to the Musée de Luxembourg in Paris. The work contains
stylistic qual­ities reminiscent of the great artists of the Renais­sance, such as Correggio and the Venetians, yet also
reflects its own sharply defined personality. His small landscapes, which bring to mind the early works of Corot, date
from this period.
Henner made his debut at the 1863 Paris Salon with Young Bather Asleep and two portraits, and received a thirdclass medal. He continued to take part in the Paris exhibitions, as­serting further his vigourous personality. He was
awarded further medals in 1865 and 1866 and a first-class medal in 1878 at the Exposition Universelle. He also
received a special class medal in 1889, a medal of honour in 1898 and the grand prize in 1900 at the Exposition
Universelle. He was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1873, officer in 1878, commander in 1898 and
grand officer in 1903, as well as being made a member of the Institut de France in 1889.
Laden with honours and highly regarded by his fellow artists, Henner was able to make a considerable fortune
through his art. He painted precise portraits and religious compositions. His success was assured with his cream
skinned, auburn-haired nudes, nebulous against brown backgrounds and sometimes placed in rural or allegorical
compositions. Upon his death, Henner bequeathed a part of his studio to the Musée de la Ville de Paris.
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20
Montague Dawson
(British, 1895-1973)
Montague Dawson was the grandson of the landscape painter Henry Dawson (1811-1878). Much of his childhood was
spent on Southampton Water where he was able to indulge his interest in the study of ships.
He studied under the celebrated seascape artist Charles Napier Hemy (1841-1917) at the Royal Academy, whom he
met while serving in the Navy in Falmouth and who had considerable infleunce on his work. Dawson also worked for
a time in an art school in Bedford Row. Dawson joined the Navy during World War I and painted naval battles for a
local magazine. After the war he exhibited at the Royal Academy and with the Royal Society of Marine Artists. He was
appointed as an official war artist during World War II.
Dawson is considered to be among Britain’s most important seascape painters of the 20th century. He displayed a
preference for the obvious elegance of sailing vessels, the clippers of former years and the reconstruction of old naval
battles, particularly between American vessels and their various enemies. He also painted cruise liners and modern
warships. Dawson specialized in portraits of boats with patrons including presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon
B. Johnson, as well as the British Royal Family.
The work of Montague Dawson is represented in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich and the Royal Navel
Museum, Portsmouth.
21
Dietz Edzard
(German, 1893-1963)
Dietz Edzard was a pupil of Max Beckmann (1884-1950), a leading member of the German Expressionist movement and
later, the New Objectivity movement (Neue Sachlichkeit). Following Beckmann’s example, Edzard turned his back on the
experimental art of his contemporaries, opposing all weighting of art with program and theorem. Deliberately, he avoided
the representation of human conflict and inner discord.
Edzard specialised in painting the female figure, painting several portraits of young Parisian women, and elegant Parisian
ladies, actresses and dancers. He also painted numerous still-lifes, often with flowers.
In his book on the artist, author Gerd Muehsam wrote:
“Edzard captured in his canvases the charm of the Parisian atmosphere. With the light, vibrant touch of his brush, he produced
sparkling, and delicate paintings of beautiful women, dancers and flowers. His brilliant delineations of circus life and the
theatre, his spirited portrayals of Parisian café scenes have made him a favorite of art circles in this country and abroad.”
In 1938, Edzard married Suzanne Eisendieck (1908-1998), a talented artist who also painted in an impressionistic style
and shared his interest of subject matter.
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22
Johannes Evert Akkeringa
(Dutch, 1861-1942)
A student at the academies of fine art in The Hague and Rotterdam, Johannes Evert Hendrik Akkeringa may have been a
pupil of Willemus Zwart (1862-1931), despite them being roughly the same age. He settled in Scheveningen and painted
its beaches, harbour, sun-drenched gardens, flowers, surrounding countryside and farmyard animals, and met with great
success.
He featured in several international exhibitions, including the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, the Munich Exhibition
of 1901 and again in 1909, and the 1910 Brussels Exhibition.
23
Johan Hendrik van Mastenbroek
(Dutch, 1875-1945)
Johan van Mastenbroek was born in Rotterdam to painter Johannes van Mastenbroek (1827-1909). The younger
Mastenbroek remained in the city of his birth until 1911 when he relocated to The Hague. He was essentially a selftaught artist, who worked in both oil and watercolour and often depicted rivers and waterways such as the Maas and the
Thames, cityscapes, and port scenes.
As a young man, he was drawn to the work of painters of The Hague School and influenced by the aesthetics espoused by
Jean Baptiste Camille Corot (1796-1895) and the French Impressionists as a whole. He is noted for his paintings of the
port of Rotterdam, typically preceded by many preliminary sketches, which, among other things, provide a useful record
of how the port developed over time.
Mastenbroek won numerous awards for his work, including a first prize medal from the Rotterdam Art Academy in 1897
and a gold medal in Munich in 1901. Over the course of his career, he was also awarded a special gold medal from Queen
Wilhelmina of Holland. A first retrospective devoted to Mastenbroek and his work was held in 2004 at the Kunsthal
Rotterdam.
24
Frederick Simpson Coburn
(Canadian, 1871-1960)
Frederick Simpson Coburn, one of the greatest artists to come out of the Eastern Townships, was born in Melbourne
(Richmond) in 1871. After attending Saint Francis College, Coburn studied fine arts, first at the Arts and Crafts School
in Montreal, and later at art schools in New York, Berlin, Paris, London, and finally Antwerp, where he married and
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worked as an artist for twenty years.
Coburn’s early success came as an illustrator for literary works, including stories by Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan
Poe. He later began to receive recognition as a painter. Upon his return to Canada in 1913, Coburn set up a studio in
Melbourne, where he worked for forty years. Made a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1920, Coburn
was deeply inspired by the rural landscapes of his beloved Eastern Townships. He is most well known for his oil paintings
of horses and winter scenes.
25
John Wentworth Russell
(Canadian, 1879-1959)
John Wentworth Russell was born in Binbrook, Ontario. He showed a tremendous aptitude for drawing at a young age.
After completing his studies at the Hamilton School of Art, he went to New York to study at the Art Student’s League.
He worked in New York for six years, distinguishing himself at the League as the youngest student to give drawing
demonstrations.
Preferring cosmopolitan city life to the Canadian wilderness, Russell moved from New York to Paris in 1904 where he
began to paint and study independently. In 1906, he exhibited for the first time at the Paris Salon. The two paintings he
displayed, Portrait and L’enfant au Coq were very well received.
In 1909 he became a member of the Canadian Art Club. It was through his showing with the Club, that his painting
Mother and Son, was acquired by the National Gallery of Canada. He was commissioned to paint five portraits of Sir
Wilfred Laurier, one of which still hangs in the House of Commons. He exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy
from 1905 to 1919, showing works that would later be acquired by the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery.
Though Russell often traveled to Canada and the United States, he made Paris his permanent home.
27
Leon Augustin Lhermitte
(French, 1844-1925)
Leon Augustin Lhermitte was the son of a school teacher and settled in Paris in 1863, en­rolling in the École Impériale
de Dessin. His teacher was Lecocq de Boisboudran. Working in charcoal, oil and pastel, Lhermitte produced an
oeuvre of astounding virtuosity. He seldom deviated from the sun-dappled depiction of the French rural landscape and
its glorious heroes and heroines - the gleaners, laundresses and farm labourers – set in harmonious accord. His paintings
are indebted to the beauty of the Barbizon landscape painters, such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1895) and to
the subtle strength of the French realists, such as Jean Francois Millet (1814-1875) and Julien Dupré (1851-1910).
Lhermittte never descended into sentimentalism when rendering his rustic scenes, his depiction of the
activity always embodied dignity and grace in the wake of increasing industrialization.
As a young child, Lhermitte was frequently ill and so spent a great deal of time drawing portraits of his
parents and copying engravings that he found in popular French magazines. A neighbour took notice of
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his talent and submitted some works to the Minister of Fine Arts. This would earn Lhermitte a renewable
scholarship and enabled him to attend the École Impériale de Dessin in Paris.
During his second year at the École, Lhermitte exhibited his first work at the Salon, a charcoal drawing
executed in black and white, produced when he was only nineteen years old. Lhermitte would continue to
exhibit drawings for the remainder of his career.
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Maximilien Luce
(French, 1858-1941)
Maximilien Luce was a painter, lithographer and draftsman, born into a poor family in Paris. After initial training as a
wood carver at the École des Arts Décoratifs, he began to study engraving in 1872 and took evening courses to further
his knowledge. In 1876 he entered the shop of the engraver Eugène Froment (1844-1900), with whom he traveled to
London in 1877. After his return to Paris in 1879 Luce began his 4-year military service. During his service and later, up
to 1885, he studied at the Académie Suisse and the studio of Carolus-Duran (1837-1917) at the École des Beaux-Arts. In
his painting, he became influenced by Impressionism. In the 1880’s he met and established friendly contacts with many
Parisian painters, including Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Georges Seurat (1859-1891) and Paul Signac (1863-1935).
Together with them he was one of the founders of Neo-Impressionism (Pointillism).
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Pierre De Belay
(French, 1890-1947)
Attracted by drawing and painting from early childhood, Pierre de Belay spent a significant amount of time in Paris
among the painters and poets of Montmartre, which took the place of formal training. He met many famous personalities
of the day and painted portraits of many of them, including French poets Max Jacob (1876-1904) and Guillaume
Apollinaire (1880-1918).
Pierre de Belay’s work can be divided into two periods, which sometimes overlap. In his adolescent works, he used
transition and chiaroscuro in the Romantic tradition. Then a series of Breton landscapes shows him developing in the
direction of a more materialist construction. Next came circus scenes and those of Parisian life. It was only in 1923 that
he met with success, thanks in large part to his decoration of the dining room of the Hotel Ker Moor in Benodet, which
was followed, in 1925 and 1926, by his first solo exhibitions. After 1935, he produced a large number of works, paintings
and drawings devoted to judges and lawyers, which show an expressionist technique. At this stage, de Belay was similar to
Chaim Soutine in his caricatures of lawyers, dramatic court scenes and scenes of Parisian life. Around 1937, his manner
underwent a radical change, probably influenced by the engraving he had been doing since 1926, which led him to invent
a strange and original way of painting in oils with interlacing brushstrokes, which he called ‘teillisme’
After 1926, de Belay exhibited at the Salon d’Automne, Salon des Independants, and the Salon des Tuileries. He also
exhibited solo shows in Paris, Nantes, Chartres and Stockholm. In 2001, he was represented in an exhibition devoted to
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The Golden Age of Painting in Brittany at the Musée de Vannes, La Cohue.
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Edward Seago
(British, 1910-1974)
The son of a coal merchant, Edward Seago was born in Norwich, Norfolk on January 31st, 1910. At the age of seven, he
was struck down by a heart ailment, which often confined him to bed so that his schooling at Norwich Grammar School
and South Lodge Preparatory School in Lowestoft was frequently broken. As a result, he spent much time painting scenes
from his bedroom window. Though he was given little encouragement in his art from his parents, he received advice from
Alfred Munnings and some instruction from Bernard Priestman. At the age of fourteen, he won a special prize from the
Royal Drawing Society.
At the age of eighteen, Seago joined Bevin’s Travelling Show, and subsequently spent much time touring with circuses
in Britain and on the Continent. He recorded his experiences in a book entitled Circus Company (1933), and included
a number of its illustrations in his first London solo show at the Sporting Gallery. His second book, Sons of Sawdust
(1934) related to circus life in the west of Ireland. In 1936, some forty-two of his paintings were used to accompany
John Masefield’s poems in The Country Scene, and he later worked with Masefield on Tribute to the Ballet (1937) and
A Generation Risen (1942).
During the Second World War, Seago served with the Royal Engineers (1939-44) and spent much of his time in Italy
painting with Field-Marshal Lord Alexander. He published Peace in War (1943), High Endeavour (1944), With the
Allied Armies in Italy (1945), and his autobiography A Canvas to Cover (1947). An exhibition of his war paintings at
Colnaghi’s, in 1946, instigated a series of solo shows with that dealer. He enjoyed unprecedented success, with queues
forming outside the gallery long before the doors opened and every exhibition sold out within an hour of opening. In
addition, he submitted work regularly to exhibiting societies and was elected to the membership of the Royal Society of
British Artists (1946) and the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours (ARWS 1957, RWS 1959).
In 1953, Edward Seago was appointed one of the Official Artists of the Coronation, and three years later was invited
by the Duke of Edinburgh to join the Royal Yacht, Britannia, on a round-the-world tour. The results of that trip were
displayed at St James’s Palace in 1957. A keen traveler and sailor, he used to visit Paris by sailing across the Channel to Le
Havre and then up the Seine, painting as he went. He also spent much time in Morocco and Sardinia. Nevertheless, he
remained attached to East Anglia and lived at Ludham in Norfolk for many years.
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CREDITS
CURATORS
Odon Wagner
Nicholas Wagner
INTRODUCTION
Odon Wagner
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Angela Wagner
PHOTOGRAPHY
Elissa McGillivray
PRINTING
Caractera, Quebec
ARTHUR JOHN ELSLEY ESSAY
Terry Parker
The Canadian distributor of the BENEZIT Dictionary of Artists:
Prologue Inc.
1650 Boulevard Lionel Bertrand
Boisbriand, QC J7H 1N7, Canada
www.prologue.ca
Please visit our website to view these paintings on-line. The full colour catalogue is available in PDF format.
“Fine Paintings”
ISBN 0-9781635-3-2
National Library of Canada
Copyright: Odon Wagner Gallery
196 Davenport Road, Toronto, ON M5R 1J2, Canada
t 416.962.0438 800.551.2465 f 416.962.1581 e [email protected]
www.odonwagnergallery.com
Front cover: ‘Twixt Love and Duty, Arthur J. Elsley, oil on canvas, 34 x 25.75 in. (86.3 x 65.3 cm.) See Cat. No. 3
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