Frederick S. Coburn

Artist Bio: Frederick S. Coburn, RCA (1871 – 1960)

F.S. Coburn was born in the village of Upper Melbourne in the Eastern Townships in 1871. His artistic talent quickly became apparent and he was sent to Montreal for further training. His talent soon outgrew his teachers in Montreal, so he went down to the Carl Hecker School of Art in New York. At the age of 19, he went to Berlin to study at the Royal Academy. In Berlin, he learned draftsmanship and how to reproduce human anatomy with great precision. After Berlin, Coburn went to Paris where he was chosen to be one of the few pupils to work with Jean-Leon Gerome. While in Paris, he was exposed to Impressionism. To broaden his training yet further he went from Paris to London where he studied at the Slade School under Henry Tonks. At this period he became aware of the artists of the Hague School and he went to Holland where he studied with the Maris Brothers and with J.H. de Weissenbruch.

In 1896, at the age of 25, he returned to Montreal and started to integrate the advanced techniques he learned in Europe with his own personal vision. He met Maurice Cullen, who inspired Coburn to paint scenes of the Canadian winter atmosphere, with its dazzling light, sharp colours and mysterious snow shadows. While he painted many other subjects, Coburn became famous for scenes of teams of horses pulling sleighs filled with logs in the Eastern Townships. His paintings are included in virtually every major collection in Canada, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal, Vancouver Art Gallery, etc.

Another aspect of Coburn’s considerable talent is demonstrated in his illustrations for the works of the poet and scholar, Dr. William Henry Drummond. He also produced illustrations for the other authors in the stable of the major publishing house of J.H. Putnam.