British columbia society of artists fine arts

One of the first chartered art associations in western Canada and the first in the province of B.C., the British Columbia Society of Fine Arts was incorporated in 1909 and folded in 1967. Its primary activity was holding annual exhibitions and traveling exhibitions. Emily Carr and Thomas Fripp were among the society???s 20 founding members; Fripp its first President. Through the years the membership of the British Columbia Society of Artists, as it became known in 1949, included many of the province???s greatest artists including Alistair Bell, Bertram Binning, Molly Bobak, John Koerner, J.W.G. MacDonald, Toni Onley, Charles H. Scott, Herbert Siebner, Jack Shadbolt, Gordon A. Smith, and William Weston. Sources: Archives Canada; Vancouver Art Gallery; ???Art and Architecture in Canada??? (1991), by Loren R. Lerner and Mary F. Williamson; and "The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction" (2001), by Anthony R. Westbridge and Diana L. Bodnar. Prepared and contributed by M.D. Silverbrooke.