Frederick Varley and Vera Weatherbie

What follows is a greatly simplified, fascinating fragment of Canadian art world history.

It has to do with Frederick (Fred) Horsman Varley (1881-1969), a member of the Group of Seven who I wrote about here (Wikipedia entry here). Unlike most Group of Seven artists, he favored portraiture over landscape painting. And his character was erratic, being prone to stumbling from one personal relationship or financial crisis to another.

He spent 1926-36 in Vancouver, British Columbia teaching and painting. One of his students, Vera Olivia Weatherbie (1909 or 1910 - 1977), became both his lover and muse. There is not much about Weatherbie on the Internet, but here is one link. Varley painted Vera a number of times (see below), and one portrait is now considered iconic in Canadian art.

Weatherbie married photographer and art patron Harold Mortimer-Lamb (1872-1970) on 4 May 1942 when she was in her early 30s and he was about 70. It seems to have been a happy marriage. When she was in her mid-50s she developed dementia or insanity and was lobotomized late 1967 or in 1968. She died choking on a piece of steak on the occasion of her brother's visit from Seattle.

These details were gleaned from the book "Harold Mortimer-Lamb: the art lover" that is reviewed here.

Here are many of Varley's paintings of Vera plus a reference photo.

Gallery

Portrait of Vera by John Vanderpant

Vera - c. 1928

Vera

Dharana (probably Vera) - 1932

Vera

Vera - 1934

Vera

Vera - 1931
This is the Varley portrait of Vera Weatherbie that I and others call "iconic."

In the Beginning: J.M.W. Turner

Some readers might be tempted to think that when I mention that I'm not fond of paintings by Joseph Mallord William (J.M.W.) Turner (1775-1851), it means that I'm striving too hard to maintain my Art Contrarian credentials.

Not so. Ten or so years ago I was in the Tate Britain, where there are ten rooms containing his works. This gave me plenty of opportunity to see his paintings "up close and personal" as they used to say. And I didn't like most of the later, archetypical Turners that Modernist apologists gush over because of their near-abstract qualities. So there: I really, truly didn't like what I saw.  During later visits to the Tate, I never set foot in those Turner rooms again.

Background information about Turner can be found here.

Turner's painting were not always the wispy things he is famous for. He evolved, as most artists do. Below are examples of his paintings made when he was in his late 20s and early 30s. They indicate his focus on landscapes and marine subjects along with a growing interest on the effects of light and atmosphere.

Included is one painting where people are the focus, and I consider it inferior to the others, some of which I find fairly likable. Also included is a late painting (he was 65) that is somewhat at odds with the atmospheric seascapes he is most noted for.

Gallery

Dutch Boat in a Gale - 1801

Holy Family - 1803

Bonneville Savoy - 1803

Windsor Castle from the Thames - c.1805

The Shipwreck - 1805

Cliveden on the Thames - 1807

The Battle of Trafalgar, as Seen from the Mizzen Shrouds of the Victory - 1806-08

Venice from the Giudecca - 1840

Earl Mayan: Hard-Edge Illustrator

Earl Mayan (1916-2009) had a long life and a successful career in illustration and teaching. His Wikipedia entry is here and more biographical information here and here.

Even though he had success that included ten covers and a number of story illustrations in America's leading general-interest magazine of the day -- the Saturday Evening Post -- Mayan seems to be largely unknown today. Nothing unusual about that, actually. That's because there were more than a few illustrators who "hit the big-time" at the Post, but not consistently enough to develop a strong reputation in the readership and the public at large.

According to the second link above, Mayan painted portraits and landscapes, but I didn't notice any examples on the Internet. Too bad, because his style used for "slick" (paper quality) magazines was detailed and hard-edged -- not sketchy or painterly. So I am curious regarding his degree of versatility. His black & white story illustrations for "pulp" magazines in the 1930s are not painted and therefore aren't a basis for comparison.

Mayan's most elaborate illustrations are impressive in terms of the amount of work they required due to the large amount of detail depicted. He was a highly skilled illustration technician. I respect Mayan considerably, but due to quirks of personal taste, he doesn't rank with my favorites.

Gallery

Saturday Evening Post story illustration

Saturday Evening Post story illustration

Saturday Evening Post cover art (cropped at the top) - 23 April 1955

Saturday Evening Post cover - 20 April 1957
The subject is New York Yankees' legendary catcher Yogi Berra at work under a pop foul ball in Boston's Fenway Park.

Saturday Evening Post cover - 2 June 1956

Saturday Evening Post cover - 28 April 1956
For some reason (he might have been a fan), Mayan included a large number of English cars in this scene even though they were scarce on American streets in the 1950s.

In the Beginning: John La Gatta

John La Gatta (1894-1977) was a very successful illustrator whose career peaked in the 1930s. I devoted this post to his Golden Years work.

There was more to his career than that, of course. So this post deals with some of his illustrations made before the late 1920s when his fame was taking hold.

La Gatta loved to depict women. Many of his illustrations included men, but they almost always played a supporting role to gorgeous females. However, when he was getting started in illustration, men were usually his subject matter, and it took much effort on his part to persuade art directors that his interest and talent were focused elsewhere.

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Life magazine cover - 5 August 1915
La Gatta did do some illustrations featuring women from the start. This poster-style art was painted when he was about 21 years old.

Soap advertisement - 1917
A conventional illustration here, no sign of La Gatta's characteristic style yet.

Soap advertisement - c. 1918
Many artists, La Gatta included, had trouble correctly drawing British-type "tin hat" helmets that Empire and American forces used.

Varnish advertisement - c. 1918
Another Great War related advertisement. La Gatta is using his "masculine" style necessary for industrial clients such as Pratt & Lambert.

Streetcar scene - about 1920 or before

Ivory Soap advertisement - 1920
Again, pre-classical La Gatta style.

Fashion art - 1922
By 1922 he was able to focus more on female subjects. La Gatta did a good deal of fashion-related illustration during the 1920s and early 30s.

Illustration from 1924
This is close to La Gatta's style with line work supplemented with washes. The subject's feet aren't quite positioned correctly, being a bit far to the left of her head for proper balance; in real life, she might fall down.

Photoplay magazine illustration - January 1925
Ten years after the Life cover shown above, La Gatta is hitting his stride.

Swimsuit ad art for A.G. Spalding & Bros. - 1926
He usually worked with models, but I have to suppose he managed this illustration using photographs or a lot of good imagination.

Stirling Silversmiths advertisement - 1926
He is still in a transition zone in 1926: these women aren't quite as La Gatta -like as the girl in the bathing suit a couple of images above.

Ottomar Anton: Poster Artist for Travel ... and the SS

Ottomar Carl Joseph Anton (1895-1976) was a poster artist whose work was mostly in the clean, simplified, moderne style that was especially popular during the 1930s. His Wikipedia entry is here, but was only in German when this post was drafted. The translator on my computer did a fairly good English rendition, but a few details were given misleading meanings.

The bulk of Anton's production had to do with travel -- usually for steamship lines, but also for air travel by dirigible.

However, there was another side to Anton. He joined the National Socialist German Workers Party in 1933, about the time Hitler became Chancellor. Then in 1936 Anton joined the Schutzstaffel -- the SS -- and created many posters for that organization from then through World War 2. He was jailed after the war and released in March 1946. He was able to revive his career following that.

Below are examples of his work.

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Advertising special fares to London and Scotland.

Probably from autumn 1928, publicizing travel to the Mediterranean early the next year, getting away from winter in the north. The scene is on the African coast.

Again, the Mediterranean, but here are mentioned Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Mallorca, the Riviera and Egypt.

Under the image of a ship's captain the headline stresses cheap travel.

A poster with space at the bottom for placement of local contact information. In this case, two locations in or near downtown Vienna.

"To South America in 3 Days!" this proclaims. The Graf Zeppelin only takes one as far as Rio, so to reach Buenos Aires, you'd have to catch an airplane.

The claim here is crossing the ocean in two days.

A sailing week near Kiel, showplace of the 1936 Olympics sailing regatta.

Now to the SS. The caption says "Your Future," the German word for "your" being the familiar, not the formal, term.

The illustration here is used for multiple message variations. In this instance, it is in Dutch for a Flemish audience asserting that "like blooded" Germans, Flemings, Dutch, Danes and Norwegians can stride together in the Waffen-SS. A major appeal, which got some response, was to join the Germans in the fight against Communism.

Again using the familiar "you," an appeal to Frenchmen to join the SS military to fight Communism.

Now it's 1958, the war is over and Anton is back to travel poster work, this one featuring a Norwegian fjord.

George Washington Lambert, 1905-1910

George Washington Lambert (1873-1930), born in St. Petersburg, Russia, lived in Germany and England before migrating to Australia in 1887, went to Paris around 1900, to London the following year where he remained until returning to Australia in 1921, living there until his death from heart failure, age 57. He is generally regarded as Australian, as that was his citizenship.

His short Wikipedia entry is here. It mentions that he was the father of noted musician Constant Lambert (1905-51).

So far as I am concerned, the most distinctive period of Lambert's career was approximately 1905-1910, and the images below are from then. Lambert's style was strong, featuring solid, visible drawing. Faces are usually painted smoothly, but other parts of the same painting are often somewhat blocked in using disciplined, visible brush strokes.

Gallery

Equestrian Portrait of a Boy - 1905

Sybil Walker in a Red and Gold Dress - 1905

Lotty and a Lady - 1906

Portrait Group: The Mother - 1907

The Sonnet - 1907

Portrait Group - 1908

Miss Alison Preston and John Proctor on Mearbeck Moor - 1909

King Edward VII - 1910

Holiday in Essex - 1910