Beautiful 4 Foot High John W.L. Forster 1885 Portrait Of Young Man

Beautiful John Wykoff Lowes Forster 1885 Portrait Of Young Man
Listed Artist
Sitter Unknown (possible name can be found)
Oil on Canvas
Canvas Size: H 49.5 x W 31.25
Frame Size: H 58 x W 40
Purchased George Subkoff Antiques, Westport in 2000
Original Cost 6,000. have receipt
Repaired and Cleaned by Yost Conservation, CT have receipt
Condition Very Good
Note: Photo of artist included in photo gallery
Loved + Cared for and now seeking new home!
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY:
John Wycliffe Lowes Forster ARCA, OSA (1850 – 1938)
An eminent Canadian portrait painter, writer and educator, John Wycliffe Lowes Forster was born in Norval, Ontario and lived in Toronto, Ontario from 1869 until his death (car accident). He is known for painting hundreds of commissioned portraits of leaders in politics, business, education, religion and the military. His diverse list of distinguished subjects includes Alexander Graham Bell, Queen Victoria, five Canadian Prime Ministers, the Emperor of Japan (Hirohito’s father), the wife of President Woodrow Wilson and several Confederate Generals. His works are in over two dozen important museum collections including the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa; and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. (1)
His mediums included oils, watercolors, and pencil. His primary subjects were portraits of which he is estimated to have done over 500. His subjects also include landscapes, historical figures, street scenes, genre and allegory. His styles could be described as Barbizon School*, Naturalism* and Realism*. The askART auction results have several good illustrations of his subjects and styles.
Forster’s art education includes an apprenticeship and later partnership with Toronto painter John Wesley Bridgman (1869 – 1878); the South Kensington Art School, London, England (c.1879) under Charles Stuart Millard; the Académie Julian (1879) under Gustave Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre and later (1880 – 1882) under William Adolph Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury; and also in Paris (c.1883) privately under Carolus-Duran [aka: Charles Emile Auguste Durand]. While in Paris he also painted with fellow student William Blair Bruce in the Barbizon region and with friend Edwin S. Calvert.
He returned to Toronto in 1883 and set up a studio. He also taught privately. The list of his former students includes Carl Henry Ahrens, Caroline Armington, Frank Armington, J.W. Beatty, Laura Muntz Lyall, Edmund Morris, Albert Curtis Williamson and Edith Stevenson Wright.(2)
Forster travelled frequently and widely. In addition to France and England, while studying in Europe, he also visited Switzerland, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. Throughout his life, he travelled to the U.S.A. many times; the locations included New York City; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; and Richmond, Virginia.
According to Forster’s autobiography, after the Civil War, it was not necessary to visit the south to find former Confederate officers as clients, because they “were familiar in the streets of Toronto in those days. Many of them sat for their portraits; and the studio was frequently merry with banter and jest over the prices which had been set upon the heads of the genial sitters.” Even Jefferson Davis the former President of the Confederate States of America appeared as guest of honor at a Toronto social event.
Forster also travelled frequently to England and he visited Jerusalem (1904), Japan (1920) and India (1930).
He was a member of the Ontario Society of Artists* (1883) and an associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts* (1884 – 1906).
His work was included in the first exhibition of the Ontario Society of Artists* in 1872 and at least 16 times between then and 1925. He exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts* from 1883 to 1927; at the Art Association of Montreal in 1889, 1892, 1900 and 1909; and, at the Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto from 1902 to 1931.
His works were also shown at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exhibition in 1876 and at the Paris Salon in 1880. And, almost 100 years later, his works were featured in the landmark Canadian exhibition “The Image of Man in Canadian Painting: 1878 – 1978” which toured Canada in 1978 and 1979 showing at the University of Western Ontario, London; the Glenbow Museum, Calgary; the Vancouver Art Gallery, B.C.; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick.
According to the Canadian Heritage Information Network* and individual museum and institution sources, his works are in the permanent collections of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Kingston, Ontario), Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (Halifax), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau, Quebec), Canadian War Museum (Ottawa), City of Toronto Art Collection (Ontario), College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia), Glenbow Museum (Calgary, Alberta), Government of Ontario Art Collection (Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Toronto), House of Commons [Prime Ministers' Portrait Gallery and Speakers’ Portrait Gallery] (Ottawa), Joliette Art Museum (Quebec), Library and Archives Canada (Ottawa, Ontario), Lynchburg Museum System (Lynchburg, Virginia), McCord Museum of Canadian History (Montreal), McMaster Museum of Art (Hamilton, Ontario), Musée du Château Ramezay (Montreal), National Portrait Gallery – Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.), New Brunswick Museum (Saint John), Owens Art Gallery (Sackville, N.B.), Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Regimental Museum and Archives (Toronto), Riverbrink Art Museum (Queenston, Ontario), The Market Gallery (Toronto), University of Saskatchewan Art Collection (Saskatoon), University of Toronto Art Collection (Ontario), University of Winnipeg Art Collection (Manitoba), Virginia Historical Society (Richmond, Virginia), Virginia Military Institute (Lexington, Virginia), Winnipeg Art Gallery (Manitoba) and the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa).
The Ontario Society of Artists J.W.L. Forster Award was created in 1947 to honor him.

Notes: See Notes

Very Good

18%

Watercress Springs Estate Sales | (917) 686-8201 | Lisa@watercresssprings.com

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Private Residence

EASTON, CT 06824

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Sunday, 1/24, 10:00 am

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