Renowned Canadian Landscape Painter Frank Shirley Panabaker (1904-1992), “Houseboat Bay” Oil Painting on Board, Circa 1934
Art, Newly AcquiredBorn and raised in Hespler Ontario (now part of Cambridge), is where Frank Shirley Panabaker (1904-1992) and his wife spent most of their adult lives. Panabaker’s father recognized his son’s talent early on and encouraged him in the summer of 1920 to take a course in sketching with the noted painter of seascapes Farquhar McGillivray Knowles (1859-1932) . Viewing original paintings for the first time, by his first mentor Knowles, Frank recounted later in an autobiography that he “had no idea anyone could produce anything so beautiful”. He went on to study at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto under two members of the Group of Seven (A. Lismer & J.E.H. MacDonald) and at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City under Arshile Gorky (1904-1948). Gorky was one of the principal figures in the beginning of the Abstract Expressionist movement.
Much of Panabaker’s rich and colourful “impressionistic- influenced” work, focused on his native Ontario primarily traversing the wooded, country roads of Southern Ontario, where the Panabakers made their way through the scenic regions of Haliburton, Muskoka, and Algonquin Park. His “paripatetic” painting excursions (with family in tow) took him not only to many Canadian provinces but also to the British Isles, as well as visits to New England, the Caribbean (Nassau), and the island of Bermuda.
The series of paintings executed in and around Georgian Bay, many believe capture the essence of Panabaker’s personal artistic vision and serve as a hallmark of his oeuvre. This “pleinair” landscape painting “Houseboat Bay” circa 1934, offers a recurring theme of “fixed, twisted” pine trees buffeted by rock and wind. Painted “outdoors” we see Panabaker’s amazing use of colour in “jewel toned brushstrokes” and sensitivity in capturing every mood of the rugged landscape even under the most severe conditions. Like the historical Group of Seven’s Tom Thompson, Panabaker also developed a deep personal, artistic attachment to Georgian Bay, an archaelological and magical windswept Canadian Shield region (records reveal the presence of native peoples dating back 11,000 years).
A major breakthrough occurred in 1934, during a solo exhibition which the couple had organized at the old Birks Building in Hamilton (an architectural landmark that Oscar Wilde once called “the most beautiful building in North America”). The mother of the sitting President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, purchased a painting which was documented the next day in the Globe & Mail, resulting in a boom of sales. Panabaker’s seascape painting of the Bay of Fundy, a fond childhood summer vacation place of the U.S. President, hung in the Whitehouse for many years.
Panabaker was one of the major figures in twentieth century Canadian landscape painting, earning a considerable international reputation over a career spanning seven decades. His affiliations with many art associations to name a few are: Royal Canadian Academy (RCA), the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, the Library and Archives Canada (Ottawa), the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Ontario (the final three listed venues serve as major provincial repositories for Canadian and international art).
Signed by the artist lower front corner, the original wood frame is marked on the reverse in pencil “Houseboat Bay” & “# 34″. Also labelled ” Merritt Malloney’s Gallery, Fine Art Dealers, 66 Grenville Ave, Toronto”. This gallery was in business since 1930 up to 1952. The gallery was located where Women’s College hospital now occupies.
Truly an amazing opportunity for one of Panabaker’s most sought after subjects.
Dimensions: Image: height 13.5″ x width 10.25″ Frame: height 18.5″ x width 15.5″ x depth 2.0″
€1,727.01
1 in stock
