ABSTRACT
Artists of the Canadian Pacific Railroad: 1881
– 1900
Donald Allan Pringle
1983
This thesis is an examination of the extent and
ramifications of Canadian Pacific Railway’s promotion and patronage of Northwest
landscape painting, its causes, and William Cornelius Van Horne’s influence of
Canadian art and artists. This is accomplished by a detailed study of business
correspondence between Van Horne and the artists, by evaluation Van Horne’s direction
of the C.P.R.’s free pass program, his personal aesthetic preferences and his
commission instructions to painters. Canadian art acquisitions by the Company, its
directors and its associates are noted. The subject matter of the paintings produced under
company ‘sponsorship’ and its contribution to the development of a uniquely
Canadian (i.e. national) art statement is assessed. Critical reviews describing the
reception of these paintings are cited.
The paper is a study of the pictorial side of a C.P.R.
promotional campaign as it occurred in three phases; 1881-85, the C.P.R. sought a scheme
to draw world attention to the opening of Canada’s Northwest and prominent Dominion
artists sought a theme of ‘national’ significance; 1886-88, the C.P.R.’s
free pass program drew a flood of R.C.A. members and international artists westward
believing Rocky Mountain landscapes to be the long-sought ‘national’ theme;
1889-1900, the C.P.R. severely restricted its sponsorship of artists but continued to
commission specific topics for installation in C.P.R institutions. The first phase was
dominated by illustrators; the second, by Academicians extremely prolific in the
production of mostly watercolours; and the third, by predominately Paris-trained painters
executing large oil compositions.
Return to the Main Listing
of Theses or
use your browser's BACK button to return to the previous page
