Frederick Horsman Varley (January 2, 1881 – September 8, 1969) was a member of the Canadian

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is official ...

Career

Early life

Varley was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, in 1881, the son of Lucy (Barstow) and Samuel James Smith Varley the 7th. He studied art in

and attended the

Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels (french: Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts - École supérieure des Arts de la Ville de Bruxelles (ARBA-ESA), nl, Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Brussel), is an art school established in Br ...

in Antwerp (1900-1902),

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, while he worked on the docks. He immigrated to Canada in 1912 on the advice of another Sheffield native (and future

member),

Arthur Lismer Arthur Lismer, LL. D. (27 June 1885 – 23 March 1969) was an English-Canadian painter, member of the Group of Seven and educator. He is known primarily as a landscape painter and for his paintings of ships in dazzle camouflage. Early life ...

, and found work at the Grip Ltd. design firm in Toronto, Ontario.Canada Post stamp
/ref>

War artist

Beginning in January 1918, he served in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

with C.W. Simpson, J.W. Beatty and Maurice Cullen.Davis, Ann. (1992). Varley came to the attention of

Lord Beaverbrook William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), generally known as Lord Beaverbrook, was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics o ...

, who arranged for him to be commissioned as an official war artist. He accompanied Canadian troops in the ''Hundred Days'' offensive from Amiens, France to Mons, Belgium. His paintings of combat are based on his experiences at the front. Although he had been enthusiastic to travel to France as a war artist, he became deeply disturbed by what he saw, saying: Varley's ''Some Day the People Will Return'', shown at

Burlington House Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in Mayfair, London. It was originally a private Neo-Palladian mansion owned by the Earls of Burlington and was expanded in the mid-19th century after being purchased by the British government. Tod ...

in London and at the Canadian War Memorials Exhibition, is a large canvas depicting a war-ravaged cemetery, suggesting that even the dead cannot escape the destruction. In Varley's painting ''For What?'' (1918), a single gravedigger takes a rest from his labours, a cart full of bodies beside him. It is one of the few official Canadian First World War paintings that does not hide the reality of battlefield death in images of ruins, blasted trees, and battle detritus.

Group of Seven

In 1920, he was a founding member of the

. He was the only original member of the Group of Seven to specialize in portraiture, but he also painted

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

s. Varley's major contribution to art is his work with the Group of Seven and his portraits.

Later life and death

After living in Ontario for a number of years, Varley moved to Vancouver, BC in 1926 where he became Head of the Department of Drawing and Painting at the School of Decorative and Applied Arts in Vancouver at the invitation of

Charles Hepburn Scott Charles Hepburn Scott (29 November 1886 – 1964) was a Scottish-born Canadian artist. Early life Scott was born in Loudoun, Ayr, to Robert Hepburn and Jean (née Carmichael) Scott. Career Scott was a student at Glasgow School of Art ...

. He remained in this position from 1926 until 1933. He left British Columbia in 1936 due to his experiences with depression, and two years later joined fellow artist Terry M. Shortt, the Royal Ontario Museum ornithologist, on a trip to the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada ( Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm ( Greenland), Finland, Iceland ...

in 1938. In 1954, along with a handful of artists including

Eric Aldwinckle Eric Aldwinckle (22 January 1909 – 13 January 1980) was a Canadian Official war artist, designer and one of the most prominent illustrators of the 20th century. He was also a teacher at the Ontario College of Art, 1936–42; Principal ...

, he visited the Soviet Union on the first cultural exchange of the Cold War. He died in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

in 1969 and was buried alongside other members of the Original Seven at the

McMichael Canadian Art Collection The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (MCAC) is an art museum in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located on a property in Kleinburg, an unincorporated village in Vaughan. The property includes the museum's main building, a sculpture gar ...

grounds in

Kleinburg Kleinburg is an unincorporated village in the city of Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, an art gallery with a focus on the Group of Seven, and the Kortright Centre for Conservation. In 2001, the villa ...

, Ontario.

Recognition

Varley was an associate member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor Genera ...

In Unionville, the Varley Art Gallery of Markham is named after him, as is ''Fred Varley'' Drive, a two-lane residential street. Varley lived nearby at the Salem-Eckhardt House from 1952 to 1969. On 6 May 1994 Canada Post issued 'Vera (detail), F.H. Varley, 1931' in the Masterpieces of Canadian art series. The stamp was designed by Pierre-Yves Pelletier based on an oil painting ''Vera'', (1931) by Frederick Horsman Varley in the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

, Ottawa, Ontario. The 88¢ stamps are perforated 14 x 14.5 mm and were printed by Leigh-Mardon Pty Limited. His place in the

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...

of Canada is verified by the government's decision to reproduce his self-portrait as
17-cent postage stamp
On 22 May 1981 Canada Post issued 'Frederick H. Varley, Self Portrait' designed by Pierre Fontaine. The stamps are based on an oil painting ''Self Portrait'', (circa 1945) by Frederick Horsman Varley in the Hart House Permanent Collection, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. The 17¢ stamps are perforated 12.5 mm and were printed by Ashton-Potter Limited. Varley has been designated as an Historic Person in the Directory of Federal Heritage Designations.

Selected works

File:Frederick Varley - German Prisoners.jpg, German prisoners on the Western Front. File:Frederick Varley - Gas Chamber at Seaford.jpg, Gas chamber at Seaford File:Frederick Varley - The Young Man's Element, the Air.jpg, The Young Man's Element, the Air

Notes

Bibliography

* * * Brandon, Laura. (2008)
''Art and War.''
New York: I.B. Tauris.
OCLC 225345535
*Brandon, Laura. (2021).
War Art in Canada: A Critical History
'' Toronto: Art Canada Institute, 2021. ISBN 978-1-4871-0271-5. * Davis, Ann (1992). ''The logic of ecstasy: Canadian mystical painting, 1920–1940''. Toronto:

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university cale ...

. ;
OCLC 26256269
* Reid, Dennis R. (1988). ''A Concise History of Canadian Painting.'' Toronto: Oxford University Press. ;
OCLC 18378555
*

External links

*

CBC Digital Archives - The Group of Seven: Painters in the Wilderness

Watch the NFB documentary ''Varley''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varley, Frederick 1881 births 1969 deaths 19th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters 19th-century English painters 20th-century Canadian painters 20th-century English painters Artists from Sheffield Canadian portrait painters Canadian war artists English male painters Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) World War I artists 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists 19th-century Canadian male artists 20th-century Canadian male artists British emigrants to Canada