History Corner ~ August 2020

 

History Corner by John Lover

The Island Arts Club on its formation in 1909 faithfully reflected the upper crust of Victoria society, and it was subsequently led by a succession of presidents prominent in the social and professional life of Victoria. The scene changed somewhat in 1936 when this role was filled by one C.F. Barker, about whom we knew very little until we had the good fortune to be contacted by Nanaimo resident Brian Excell. As a small boy living in Richardson Street, Brian recalled a next door neighbour whom he described as “a reserved and distinguished white-haired gentleman of short medium height.” This was Charles (Charlie) Frederick Barker, born in London, England in 1873, and who at the age of 13 immigrated with his family to Vancouver. Brian had actually produced a very creditable short biography of Barker, and was seeking further information to fill in some gaps on his subject. By chance we had just received another query from someone asking about some Barker paintings in his possession, which we were happy to refer to Brian. Thanks to Brian, we now know that Charlie was an avid cyclist. In the 1890s he was on the executive of the Vancouver Cycling Club and peddled to victory in three provincial championships on the Canadian made “Red Bird” cycle.  He had no trouble getting employment in a bewildering succession of positions – purchasing clerk, salesman, timekeeper – sometimes travelling abroad as far as Australia.   However, Barker’s true interests lay in art and painting, and in the late 1920s he took lessons from two artists well-known in western Canada, John Radford and John Clarke Innes. Around about 1930, the Barkers moved to Victoria and Charlie became manager of the Durable Mat Company where he showed talent as an inventor in designing new mats and being awarded a U.S. patent in 1935.  He still diligently pursued his art career and in 1931 joined the prestigious Island Arts and Crafts Society, becoming a regular exhibitor in the Society’s annual shows from 1931 to 1938, and again in 1941. He served one year as Society President in 1936-'37, and his work was shown along with Emily Carr and others at an exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1939.  In 1941 he was listed in the publication “Who’s Who in Northwest Art.” After 1946 Barker worked briefly as a clerk at the Yarrows shipbuilding site. During this time he enjoyed more time to paint and teach and these were his most productive years as an artist. Painting in the “realistic” tradition best suited his tastes, he had mastered composition and practiced a delicate, spare watercolour technique. His subject matter consisted largely of local seascapes and landscapes. Whilst watercolour was his preferred medium he was also proficient in oils. It seems that Barker had long yearned to be regarded as a professional painter, and, interestingly, after his death in Victoria in 1953, his death registration lists his occupation as “art teacher,” stating that he had been practicing this for the past ten years.

July 2020 ~ History Corner

History Corner by John Lover

John James Shallcross, Charter Member and first President of the Island Arts Club (IAC) in 1909, was a prominent businessman and influential figure in the community and able to offer impressive leadership to the new organization. Born in Liverpool, England in 1858, Shallcross arrived in British Columbia in 1893 and became a partner in a lucrative insurance and import business, Shallcross, Macaulay & Co. He served as President of the Victoria Board of Trade, and was an Oak Bay alderman and a Victoria City councillor, also accepting a war-time commission in the Victoria Fusiliers. After purchasing land in Oak Bay from the Pemberton estate, in 1908 he engaged his IAC colleague Samuel Maclure to build him a home, which he named Tor Lodge. Carefully restored in 2008, this magnificent residence still stands on its rocky site at 935 Foul Bay Road, capturing magnificent sea and mountain views, an example of the Arts and Crafts/Chalet architectural style to which Shallcross, like Maclure, was devoted. Although not an artist himself, Shallcross held trenchant views on the subject of art. In a 1917 lecture, entitled “Art after the War,” he predicted that Cubism and Futurism would disappear, a view strongly supported by his equally traditionalist friend Dr. Edward Hassell, but much to the resentment of the few “progressives” in the IAC such as Emily Carr. The Irish-born wife of Shallcross, Ethel Maude, also an IAC Charter Member, was a competent watercolourist whose works were featured in the IAC annual exhibitions from 1912 to 1917. Shallcross was succeeded as IAC President by Dr. Hassell in 1914 and died in 1921 while still an Oak Bay alderman. His wife survived him until 1948.Tor House interior as it appears today