Frederick Varley, A Canadian Painter and Member of the Group of Seven

• Report rights infringement
• published: 12 Jun 2013
• views: 688

Frederick Varley, A Canadian Painter and Member of the Group of Seven Authentic Hand Painted Canvas Art (Famous Masterpieces) Free Shipping and Free Returns.... http://www.FamousArtistsofHistory.com/FamousArtistPaintingsOnYourWall.php Frederick Horsman Varley, also known as Fred Varley (January 2, 1881 -- September 8, 1969), was a member of the Canadian Group of Seven artists. Varley was born in Sheffield, England. in 1881. He studied art in Sheffield. He attended Académie royale des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. He worked on the docks. He immigrated to Canada in 1912 on the advice of another Sheffield native (and future Group of Seven member), Arthur Lismer, and found work at the Grip Ltd. design firm in Toronto, Ontario. Beginning in January 1918, he served in the First World War with C.W. Simpson, J.W. Beatty and Maurice Cullen. Varley came to the attention of Lord Beaverbrook, 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: "We'd be healthier to forget [the war], and that we never can. We are forever tainted with its abortiveness and its cruel drama." Varley's Some Day the People Will Return, shown at the Burlington House in London and at the Canadian War Memorials Exhibition, is a large canvas depicting a war-ravaged cemetery, suggestive that even the dead cannot escape the destruction Frederick Varley's Painting For What? portrays a cart filled with bodies collected from the battlefield. It starkly portrays the horror of war and questions its purpose. In a letter dating from mid-May 1919 to his wife, Maud, this eminent Canadian artist summed up his feelings about the war. "I'm mighty thankful I've left France - I never want to see it again. This last trip over has put the tin hat on it. To see the land half cultivated & people coming back to where their homes were is too much for my make up. You'll never know dear anything of what it means. I'm going to paint a picture of it, but heavens, it can't say a thousandth part of a story. We'd be healthier to forget, & that we never can. We are forever tainted with its abortiveness & its cruel drama - and for the life of me I don't know how that can help progression. It is foul and smelly - and heartbreaking. Sometimes I could weep my eyes out when I get despondent... To be normal, to be as those silly cows & sheep that do naught but graze & die, well, it's forgetfulness." In Markham, Ontario, the Varley Art Gallery is named after him, as is Fred Varley Drive, a two-lane residential street in Unionville. Varley lived nearby at the Salem-Eckhardt House.