Capturing The Essence of Muskoka in Print and Art

The Narrows Lighthouse, Lake Muskoka

Southwood Church Cemetery 

The Barge in early spring, Gull Lake Park

Southwood Church in The Autumn (All Photos by Fred Schulz)

CAPTURING THE ESSENCE OF THE MUSKOKA LANDSCAPE IN PRINT AND ART

GEORGE HARLOW WHITE WAS ONE OF THE EARLIEST ARTISTS TO STUDY THE DISTRICT

     IT'S KNOWN THAT EXPLORERS AND SURVEYORS WERE THE FIRST TO MAKE SKETCHES OF THE NEW LAND. IN MUSKOKA, SOME VERY EARLY ILLUSTRATIONS WERE MADE BY MISSIONARIES, ATTENDING THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF THE INHABITANTS; PEOPLES OF THE FIRST NATIONS, AND THE FIRST EUROPEAN HOMESTEADERS. A SMALL COLLECTION OF DRAWINGS WERE COMPLETED BY ONE OF THE ANGLICAN MISSIONARIES, WHO VISITED THE SMALL SETTLEMENTS OF EAST MUSKOKA, INCLUDING SETTLEMENTS AT COOPER'S FALLS, LEWISHAM, BARKWAY, UFFINGTON AND FRASERBURG, DOING ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FIRST CHURCH BUILDINGS, AS WELL AS DEPICTIONS OF THE SMALL, IMPOVERISHED CABINS OF THE POORLY EQUIPPED, UNDER NOURISHED INHABITANTS. AS MORE SETTLERS ARRIVED, OF COURSE MORE ARTISTS, WRITERS, POETS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS BEGAN SHOWING UP, AND BEFORE THE END OF THE 1800's, MUSKOKA WAS WELL REPRESENTED IN BOTH PRINT AND VISUALS; AND BEING PROMOTED AS A TRAVEL DESTINATION AROUND THE WORLD.

     IN YESTERDAY'S BLOG, I WROTE ABOUT MORE RECENT PHOTOGRAPHY, AND ITS PLACE IN REGIONAL HISTORY. I RAN FIVE PHOTOGRAPHS, SENT TO ME BY MUSKOKA PHOTOGRAPHER, FRED SCHULZ, OF GRAVENHURST, OF THE FINAL TRIP OF THE NORTHLANDER TRAIN TO GRAVENHURST, IN THE FALL OF 2012, AND TWO OUTSTANDING IMAGES OF "THE CANADIAN," RUNNING THE SILVER RAILS, IN THE BACKGROUND OF A SCENIC MUSKOKA MARSH. FOR DECADES, FRED HAS BEEN CAPTURING INTERESTING IMAGES LIKE THIS, WITHOUT REALLY THINKING TOO MUCH ABOUT THE HISTORICAL VALUE OF HIS BODY OF WORK. WORKING ON AN UPCOMING PHOTO-BLOG PROJECT, COMING UP TOMORROW, ON MY "MUSKOKA AS WALDEN" SITE, I THOUGHT BACK ABOUT ALL THE FOLKS WHO HAVE ALSO TAKEN THEIR TURN, AT CAPTURING WHAT THEY FOUND EXCEPTIONAL ABOUT THIS PART OF THE PROVINCE. IT'S AN INTERESTING STUDY TO EXAMINE THIS ASSORTMENT OF SKETCHES, FINE ART, PHOTOGRAPHS, SCULPTURES AND THE WRITEN DESCRIPTIONS OF MUSKOKA DATING BACK TO THE 1860's, AS EXPERIENCED BY THOSE FIRST HALE AND HARDY ADVENTURERS……TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE FREE LANDS AND HOMESTEAD ACT, TO OBTAIN ACREAGE IN A LAND OF FORESTS, ROCK AND WATER. ONE NAME THAT KEPT POPPING UP, WAS THAT OF GEORGE HARLOW WHITE, A BRITISH ARTIST, WHO, IN THE 1870'S, MADE A LOT OF SKETCHES IN AND AROUND MUSKOKA, SPECIFICALLY GRAVENHURST. HIS WORK WAS IMPORTANT ENOUGH THAT IT BECAME A COVETED PART OF THE "J. ROSS ROBERTSON," COLLECTION, ONE OF THE BEST KNOWN ART COLLECTIONS PRESERVED IN CANADA.

      YOU MIGHT HAVE READ THE NAME "GEORGE HARLOW WHITE," IN A PREVIOUS BLOG, FROM EARLIER THIS WINTER SEASON, OR AS THE REVERED ILLUSTRATOR IN THE WELL KNOWN MUSKOKA BOOK, "THE NIGHT THE MICE DANCED THE QUADRILLE," BY THOMAS OSBORNE. A REFERENCE TO THE ILLUSTRATOR, PUBLISHED IN THE BOOK, READS AS FOLLOWS: "MOST OF THE LARGE BODY OF DRAWINGS AND WATERCOLORS GEORGE HARLOW WHITE CREATED, DURING HIS SIX YEARS IN CANADA (1871-77)) DEPICT LIFE AT THE TIME AND PLACE OF OSBORNE'S STORY; THE REGION OF ONTARIO'S SIMCOE COUNTY AND, FURTHER NORTH, THE OSBORNES' HUNTSVILLE (SOME SEVENTY DRAWINGS). REGRETFULLY, HARLOW'S DRAWING OF TEENAGE TOM OSBORNE, RECOUNTED IN TOM'S STORY, HAS NOT BEEN FOUND. WHITE RECEIVED THE ACADEMIC TRAINING IN DRAWING AND PAINTING TYPICAL OF PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND. BY THE TIME HE SAILED FOR CANADA IN 1871, HE HAD ALREADY HAD A CAREER OF SOME THIRTY YEARS OF PAINTING AND DRAWING THE LANDSCAPE OF THE VARIOUS BRITISH ISLES. HAVING MADE HIS DELIGHTFUL AND INVALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO CANADA'S HISTORICAL RECORD, WHITE RETURNED TO ENGLAND AND CONTINUED TO PAINT AND EXHIBIT. HIS CANADIAN WORKS ARE FOUND IN NUMEROUS COLLECTIONS, CHIEFLY IN ONTARIO." "THE NIGHT THE MICE DANCED THE QUADRILLE," WAS PUBLISHED IN 1995 BY STODDART IN CONJUNCTION WITH BOSTON MILLS PRESS.

"WHAT ART HAS DONE FOR CANADIAN HISTORY" J. ROSS ROBERTSON

     I would doubt many readers of this column, would fully appreciate the name J. Ross Robertson, and why he helped preserve a significant array of sketches and paintings from the hand of George Harlow White, who amongst his Muskoka paintings, were many depicting the landscape in and around the hamlet of Gravenhurst in the 1870's. In 1917, when the book, "What Art Has Done For Canadian History," was published, it did create an awareness of the heritage imbedded in all the depictions that had been made, representative of those early years in the fledgling country; as settlements were quickly turned into villages, towns and cities. We had a record of those years, in the form of art, and J. Ross Robertson illuminated the necessity to build them into a national collection….as he believed it was critical to our identity in the future.

     "In a young country, where the struggle for existence seems to be only too soon followed by the struggle for the mighty dollar, we are but little concerned with history," wrote George H. Locke, Chief Librarian of the Historical Collection in the Public Reference Library, in Toronto. "History is supposed to be the work of the teachers, the professors in the universities, the antiquarians and archivists. And yet, how are we to understand ourselves and our position as a nation unless there are preserved the evidences of our growth and of the struggles of our fathers to the end, that a strong nation might be established? And these evidences of struggle and growth, so eagerly sought after and so carefully preserved, by the older nations of the world, are not revealed in books but in reproductions of scenes of the times. These prints tell a story, by the side of which the printed word is cold and dead; and to see the faces of the men who accomplished great things for our country, and to see the pictures of the houses in which they lived and worked, and of the villages and towns as they were in those times, gives us a thrill of 'ancestor worship,' which a discovery in Debrett could never produce," wrote George Locke, in the text of the book, introducing the Robertson collection.

    The book references the artist thusly: "George Harlow White, R.C.A. - Born in England in 1817; educated at the Charterhouse School, London. Came to Canada about 1870, remaining here for several years. In 1877 he returned to his native land, and in 1884 was elected member of the Royal Canadian Academy. His death occurred in 1888. White's landscapes are noted for their perspicuous and delicate touch, and are becoming very rare." Some of White's Gravenhurst depictions, included in this important collection, include works titled, "Gull Lake - August, 1875 - a sequestered spot. Original pencil drawing." "Pleasant Walk To Gravenhurst, September, 1873, Gravenhurst, in the Township of Morrison, is a pretty town on the rising ground between Gull and Muskoka Lakes, in the midst of some of the loveliest scenery of the district. Original pencil drawing."

     "Lake Muskoka, October 13th, 1875, A view from Gravenhurst, Ontario. Original pencil drawing." "Muskoka Narrows, October, 1872, Entrance to Gravenhurst Bay - The island on the left belongs to Colonel George T. Denison, of Toronto. Original pencil drawing." "Lake Muskoka Near the Narrows, August, 1875, Three miles from Gravenhurst. Original pencil drawing." "Chatting by the Way, A home on the high road from Washago to Gravenhurst, August 1875. Original pencil drawing." "Sparrow Lake, September, 1873, Depicting the outlet of the lake. Original pencil drawing." "Falls of the Muskoka River, Near Bracebridge, Ontario, October, 1872. These falls are now harnessed and furnish electric power and light for Bracebridge and Gravenhurst. Original pencil drawing." "Old Road Between Bracebridge and Gravenhurst, near South Falls, October 1872. Original pencil drawing." Note: There are many other sketches of Muskoka included in the Robertson collection.

     "The collection is impressive even to the man who thinks in dollars; it is interesting that those who find in it scenes and persons familiar to them, and recalling the early days of Canada. It is illuminating to the student of our history; but, above all, it is the national character of the collection that awakens the deepest emotions - that here is the history of a young nation, the background of men and events which have brought us to this critical period in the world's history, and have made us active participators in the solution of a great world problem and crisis," written near the end of the First World War, by the Chief Librarian, George Locke. "This is a National Gallery of Canada, where the pictures tell the stories and link together the men and events so that one can see the evolution of a nation. This is the visualization of history, and is an endowment for the boys and girls of today, who will have an historical background to enable them to set in proper perspective the national problems that will soon press for solution. This is the outcome of the hobby of a great man. Hobbies are incidental to real greatness, and when these hobbies are socialized and applied to the public good, they are the greatest legacy one can leave to mankind."

     I am a huge believer in the power of visual arts to influence, inspire and educate. It is the reason I have pursued collecting for personal interest in this area, and most definitely the impetus to commence this photographic heritage project, with regional photographer, Fred Schulz, who will, in time, capture similar images, in the modern circumstance, that artist George Harlow White copiously sketched on paper, one hundred and forty-one years ago. What Harlow-White sketched created in pioneer Muskoka, Mr. Schulz has and will accomplish with camera and film. Showing he's up to speed with modern technology, he will be capturing current events and scenes using the latest equipment. It will be history re-visited, history captured, and history made. The first release of this collaboration between Muskoka writer and photographer, will be published online tomorrow evening, on my refurbished "Muskoka as Walden" blogsite, which you can connect to, through this daily offering. Hope you can catch the opening act, of what I expect will be a year-long celebration of the good life and times here in the Ontario hinterland. If not, you can always archive back columns (blogs) when desired.

     Thanks for sharing some quality time with an old writer. Tomorrow, you can spend more time, with both an old writer and old photographer…..working off their bucket list, to leave a record of the happy and contenting times, they've spent living and working in God's Country. Happy Easter folks. Hope the weekend has been good for you and family. Suzanne has a huge bird in the oven, and the smell is making me crazy. She insists on me sticking to my "drop a hundred pounds" diet, yet tortures me with these seasonal temptations. I have already suggested, that I shall resign from this diet-thing, ninety pounds short of my goal, if she limits my portion, at the ceremonial Birch Hollow Easter supper, this evening. It just wouldn't be cricket to punish an overweight chap by denying him turkey, dressing and cranberries, on such a spiritual (also culinary) occasion as this. What's this I smell? Pumpkin pie? I shall be fortunate to make it to the dinner hour without succumbing to this raging hunger. When I tell her this, darn it all, she hands me an orange and tells me to pretend.

     See you again soon, I hope.