Exhibition: Charles John Collings, through May 31st, 2013
We are pleased to present a major collection of oils, watercolours and sketches by Charles John Collings (Canadian 1848-1931). The exhibition is shown in conjunction with, and in support of, Hope at Dawn: Watercolours by Emily Carr and Charles John Collings, currently on exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
33 original works by Collings are showcased at the Uno Langmann Gallery, including major works Niagara, Above the Falls, Near Revelstoke BC, and Tunnel in the Mountains. Gallery owner and collector Uno Langmann has collected Collings’ work for over 40 years, many of which are being exhibited for the first time. We will be presenting a free public talk on the collection at the Uno Langmann Gallery on Saturday April 27th at Noon, in unison with the Vancouver Gallery Hop. Showing alongside this exhibition is a selection of fine antiques and objet d’art.
Born in Chudleigh, Devon in 1848, Collings was an established artist in England, who exhibited at the British Royal Academy for the first time in 1893, and continued to exhibit for many years. He also began teaching in 1897 and held several one-man shows. Collings moved to Canada at the age of sixty-two with his family, settling on the remote Seymour Arm of Shuswap Lake. He used a technique of mixing colours directly on to water soaked paper, and worked “en plein air” but finished his pieces in his studio. The English dealer Luscombe Carroll was the main outlet for Collings works and put together four shows, the first in 1912 titled “The Canadian Rockies”. This exhibition was critically acclaimed and Collings went on to exhibit internationally. Although his work was popular in both Eastern Canada and England, in Western Canada Collings was relatively unknown and was labelled “The Recluse of the Rockies”.
The Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition Hope at Dawn: Watercolours by Emily Carr and Charles John Collings is on exhibition through May 26th, 2013, and includes 36 Collings works being donated by the Langmann family. The exhibition compares the works of Charles John Collings to works by Emily Carr. Carr considered her watercolours as studies for her oil paintings and the works are more representational, while Collings worked almost primarily with watercolours and his works are notable for their imaginative and dreamy interpretation of the British Columbia landscape. Accompanying the exhibition is Hope at Dawn, a book published by the Vancouver Art Gallery.
For more information please visit vancouverartgallery.ca