"Mount Eisenhower, Banff, 1950" by Gordon Rayner, was recently donated to us by Paul Sabourin of Toronto. We are grateful to him, and to Masters Gallery Ltd.
The family of Eric Bergman has generously donated three of his block prints and three watercolour sketches of mountain scenes to the Whyte Museum. Bergman was a well-known Canadian printmaker, originally from Germany, who joined Brigden's of Winnipeg soon after arriving in Canada in 1914. There he perfected his craft and began to further develop his art, exploring various print methods and watercolour. The watercolour pictured was made on a commissioned trip to the Bow Valley by Bergman and Walter Phillips.
The well-known Western artist Charlie Beil moved to Banff in the early 1930s, built a foundry, and began casting clay into bronze. Originally from Germany, he based his art on his own experiences working with South American gauchos in Argentina, driving oxen and mule teams while building highways in southern Arizona, and toiling as a cowboy and ranch hand in Montana. For twenty years, the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede board commissioned Charlie Beil bronze sculptures to be used as trophies. The Whyte Museum's collection includes sculptures and other Beil artworks.
Beil bought the saddle in 1958 from Ray Holes Saddle Company. Established in Grangeville, Idaho in the 1930s, Ray Holes is the oldest and one of the most renowned custom Western saddle shops in the US. Ray Holes is legendary for the "using saddle." A "using" saddle (according to those who "use" saddles, and don't just look at them), includes any saddle that is used as a tool to get the cowboy's work finished before the sun goes down. By the 1950s, when Beil bought this saddle, the shop was known worldwide for its riding saddles and pack saddles, with orders coming in from Canada, California, the East Coast, Europe, and Asia. In 1974, Holes and his wife, Lillian, retired from the saddle shop and their eldest son Gerald and his wife, Ellamae, who had been managing the shop, continued the tradition of making the famous Ray Holes saddles. Gerald and Ellamae worked in the shop until 1998, when John Calhoun purchased the saddle end of the store to continue the tradition of fine craftsmanship of the Ray Holes Saddle Company.
In celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Last Spike in Canada's transcontinental rail line, Canadian Pacific Railway presented the first of its archives legacy gifts to the Whyte Museum on July 2, 2010.
"As we celebrate this milestone, we believe the time is right to share its legacy with all Canadians and the communities where Canadian Pacific employees live and work," said CP President and CEO Fred Green. "To honour our connected history, we are donating unique items from our extensive collection of vintage memorabilia to a number of community museums and historical societies that play a vital role in sharing Canada's diverse history and culture with Canadians."
Legacy program gifts include a selection of crockery, engraved silverware, and flatware dating from the 1890s.
Two recently acquired works are watercolour paintings of mountain flowers by Annora Brown. She gained extensive knowledge of Alberta’s flowers by travelling throughout the province, taking long hikes to study different flowers in full bloom. Her knowledge and talent led the Glenbow Foundation to commission Brown to paint 200 pictures of Alberta wildflowers. It took her three years to complete this assignment, because so many admirers would buy pieces along the way. In the end, she completed 500 pieces. Annora Brown taught at the Banff School of Fine Arts, now The Banff Centre, from 1945 to 1950.
Harry Wohlfarth also taught at the Banff School of Fine Arts from 1954 through 1967. In 1970 the Tiburian Academy of Rome (the former Royal Italian Academy) presented its Great Gold Medal to Wohlfarth during an invitational one-man exhibition at the Academy. He was only the 5th person to receive the gold medal in the art field in the 150 year history of the Academy. Wohlfarth was also a gifted mountaineer and adventurer. The painting, entitled The Climbers, is an image from an expedition to the Mount Everest area in which Wohlfarth participated.
Bern Smith lived in Banff from 1987 until his death earlier this year. In his freelance commercial art career, Bern illustrated more than 900 Harlequin romance book covers. But Bern is best known for his fine art, and particularly for his beautiful mountain landscapes. The Whyte Museum has been very fortunate to acquire from his estate six exquisite plein air watercolour sketches depicting scenes in the Canadian Rockies.
