Frederick varley family
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Biography of Frederick H. VARLEY
Frederick H. Varley, self-portrait, 1919
BIOGRAPHY
Frederick Varley, like his colleague Arthur Lismer, was a native of Sheffield, England and studied there and in Antwerp, before immigrating to Canada in 1912. Through Lismer, he found work at the commercial art companies of Grip Limited and, later, Rous and Mann, where he met Tom Thomson and the artist who would subsequently from the Group of Seven. While he was excited by his first sketching trip to Algonquin Park with Thomson, Lismer and A.Y. Jackson, Varley did not at that time embrace landscape painting with the zeal of the others. In fact, he was more fixed on establishing his career as a portraitist, and following his experience as a war artist, he returned to Toronto and secured commissions from members of the Toronto art establishment. Only during Varley’s 10-year sojourn in Vancouver, where he moved in 1926 to accept a teaching position at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts, did the magnificent scale of the mountains, beaches and vast skies inspi
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The Art History Archive - Canadian Art
The Group of Seven
Franklin Carmichael
Lawren S. Harris
Alexander Young Jackson
Frank H. Johnston
Arthur Lismer
J.E.H. MacDonald
Frederick H. Varley
Canadian Landscape Artist
Biography by Brandi Leigh - 2008.
Born January 2nd 1881 - Died Sept 8th 1969.
Frederick Horsman Varley was born in Sheffield, England in 1881 where he lived until 1912 when he moved to Canada. During the first 31 years of his life he studied art in both Sheffield (Sheffield School of Art) and Belgium (Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts). It was here that Varley was married (1908) and fathered two children. When long time friend Arthur Lismer arrived in England for his own wedding, he encouraged Varley to move to Canada. He and his family packed up and moved to Ontario, and it wasn�t long before he began to work at Grip Ltd.
During this time he met Tom Thomson � and influential and unofficial member of the group of seven. Together they began to paint many landscapes of Northern Ontario. In 1919, a
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As Varley and Lismer were schoolmates, the early history of their lives is very similar. Like Lismer, Varley was born in Sheffield, studied at the Sheffield School of Art and later, the Antwerp Academy, in Antwerp, Belgium. At Antwerp, Varley had a reputation of being a heavy drinker and leading a rather bohemian life. From Antwerp, he returned to London, where he almost starved trying to support himself as an illustrator. Four years later, on his return to Yorkshire, he married and fathered two children. In 1912, Lismer once again met up with Varley - who this time was depressed and struggling to support his family. Lismer persuaded him to come to Canada, where he found work at Grip.
In Toronto, Varley soon became friendly with the other artists at Grip. He was often a difficult person to get along with because of his temperamental moods and rather unconventional ways. He did however find a close friend in Tom Thomson, who was like him in spirit. They went on weekend excursions, but rarely sketched together, as Varley preferred people to trees for subject matter.
At first, V
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