Frederick Horsman Varley
ARCA G7 OSA
1881 - 1969
Canadian
From Kitsilano
oil on paper on board
signed and signed with thumbprint and on verso titled, dated 1932 and circa 1928 – 1929 on a label by Chris Varley, inscribed “North Shore from Bayswater, Vancouver” (crossed out) and stamped with the Varley inventory #1082
12 x 15 1/4 in, 30.5 x 38.7 cm
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, May 22, 2008, lot 114
Private Collection, Montreal
An Important Canadian Collection
LITERATURE
Christopher Varley, F.H Varley: A Centennial Exhibition, Edmonton Art Gallery, 1981, page 110
EXHIBITED
Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1967
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Harold Mortimer-Lamb: The Art Lover, 2013
Frederick Varley’s relationship with the British Columbia landscape began in 1926, when he arrived from Toronto to take a teaching position at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts. The Varley family moved into “The Bungalow” at 3857 Point Grey Road, overlooking Jericho Beach, the Strait of Georgia, Bowen Island and the North Shore mountains. Biographer Maria Tippett describes the rental property as the second storey of a boathouse. It featured a broad deck facing the expansive view of the water, which Varley often painted directly from his studio window.
Inscribed by Chris Varley on a label on verso, June 20, 1988, is the note: “re: F.H. Varley—view of Jericho Beach, with Burrard Inlet & Hollyburn Ridge (West Vancouver) beyond—Varley lived in house on left from 1926 to ca. 1934—ptng. Ca. 1928–29.”
From Kitsilano depicts two houses: the smaller brown bungalow on the left nestled next to a larger home on the right. The scene is quiet, devoid of figures, save for two modest structures gazing across the shoreline. The brown house, easily mistaken for an outbuilding, was Varley’s residence. From this vantage point he looked out daily over Jericho Beach and Burrard Inlet towards Hollyburn Ridge. In this sense, the painting serves as a kind of self-portrait, though not of the artist’s likeness but of his lived environment. Notably, Varley chooses not to centre his own home; instead, it is partly cropped at the edge of the composition. The primary subject is the view itself, a vista that appears again in his later work, notably Open Window (circa 1932 – 1933, Hart House Collection, University of Toronto).
When Varley moved from Ontario to BC, he exchanged a landscape of vast lakes, deciduous forests, and the granite backbone of the Canadian Shield for a world of lush evergreens, ferns, rain-soaked atmospheres and oceanic horizons. The artist and teacher frequently ventured across the water for day trips into the North Shore mountains and undertook longer hiking and camping expeditions each summer to Garibaldi Park. Varley eloquently conveyed the effect of the BC landscape on his spirit:
British Columbia is heaven.… It trembles within me and pains me with its wonder as when a child I first awakened to the song of the earth at home. Only the hills are bigger, the torrents are bigger. The sea is here, and the sky is as vast; and humans—little bits of mind—would clamber up rocky slopes, creep in and out of mountain passes, fish in the streams, build little hermit cabins in sheltered places, curl up in sleeping bags and sleep under the stars.
From Kitsilano is rich with emotional resonance, achieved through Varley’s intricate layering of colours. Fascinated by how certain colour combinations produce visual harmony or tension, he intentionally crafted palettes that would evoke particular emotional responses. Even simple compositions come alive under his brush, animated by subtle, carefully constructed tonal relationships.
During his Vancouver period, Varley felt deeply at home in British Columbia. He thrived as both a painter and a teacher, working at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (now Emily Carr University of Art + Design), where he eventually became head of the Drawing and Painting Department. His success there led him to co-found with Jock Macdonald the British Columbia College of Arts in 1933, a short-lived venture that nonetheless helped shape a new generation of West Coast artists.
Today, 3857 Point Grey Road is the site of the Jericho Tennis Club, its large white bubble structures rising where Varley’s modest home once stood. Yet in the late 1920s and early 1930s, that simple bungalow offered one of the most extraordinary studio views in Canadian art history. From Kitsilano remains a luminous record of that time—a quintessential Vancouver image of Kitsilano, English Bay and the North Shore mountains, rendered with the emotional depth and colouristic brilliance that defined Varley’s West Coast works. Listen Stop
Estimate: $150,000 - $250,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.
ARCA G7 OSA
1881 - 1969
Canadian
From Kitsilano
oil on paper on board
signed and signed with thumbprint and on verso titled, dated 1932 and circa 1928 – 1929 on a label by Chris Varley, inscribed “North Shore from Bayswater, Vancouver” (crossed out) and stamped with the Varley inventory #1082
12 x 15 1/4 in, 30.5 x 38.7 cm
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, May 22, 2008, lot 114
Private Collection, Montreal
An Important Canadian Collection
LITERATURE
Christopher Varley, F.H Varley: A Centennial Exhibition, Edmonton Art Gallery, 1981, page 110
EXHIBITED
Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1967
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Harold Mortimer-Lamb: The Art Lover, 2013
Frederick Varley’s relationship with the British Columbia landscape began in 1926, when he arrived from Toronto to take a teaching position at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts. The Varley family moved into “The Bungalow” at 3857 Point Grey Road, overlooking Jericho Beach, the Strait of Georgia, Bowen Island and the North Shore mountains. Biographer Maria Tippett describes the rental property as the second storey of a boathouse. It featured a broad deck facing the expansive view of the water, which Varley often painted directly from his studio window.
Inscribed by Chris Varley on a label on verso, June 20, 1988, is the note: “re: F.H. Varley—view of Jericho Beach, with Burrard Inlet & Hollyburn Ridge (West Vancouver) beyond—Varley lived in house on left from 1926 to ca. 1934—ptng. Ca. 1928–29.”
From Kitsilano depicts two houses: the smaller brown bungalow on the left nestled next to a larger home on the right. The scene is quiet, devoid of figures, save for two modest structures gazing across the shoreline. The brown house, easily mistaken for an outbuilding, was Varley’s residence. From this vantage point he looked out daily over Jericho Beach and Burrard Inlet towards Hollyburn Ridge. In this sense, the painting serves as a kind of self-portrait, though not of the artist’s likeness but of his lived environment. Notably, Varley chooses not to centre his own home; instead, it is partly cropped at the edge of the composition. The primary subject is the view itself, a vista that appears again in his later work, notably Open Window (circa 1932 – 1933, Hart House Collection, University of Toronto).
When Varley moved from Ontario to BC, he exchanged a landscape of vast lakes, deciduous forests, and the granite backbone of the Canadian Shield for a world of lush evergreens, ferns, rain-soaked atmospheres and oceanic horizons. The artist and teacher frequently ventured across the water for day trips into the North Shore mountains and undertook longer hiking and camping expeditions each summer to Garibaldi Park. Varley eloquently conveyed the effect of the BC landscape on his spirit:
British Columbia is heaven.… It trembles within me and pains me with its wonder as when a child I first awakened to the song of the earth at home. Only the hills are bigger, the torrents are bigger. The sea is here, and the sky is as vast; and humans—little bits of mind—would clamber up rocky slopes, creep in and out of mountain passes, fish in the streams, build little hermit cabins in sheltered places, curl up in sleeping bags and sleep under the stars.
From Kitsilano is rich with emotional resonance, achieved through Varley’s intricate layering of colours. Fascinated by how certain colour combinations produce visual harmony or tension, he intentionally crafted palettes that would evoke particular emotional responses. Even simple compositions come alive under his brush, animated by subtle, carefully constructed tonal relationships.
During his Vancouver period, Varley felt deeply at home in British Columbia. He thrived as both a painter and a teacher, working at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (now Emily Carr University of Art + Design), where he eventually became head of the Drawing and Painting Department. His success there led him to co-found with Jock Macdonald the British Columbia College of Arts in 1933, a short-lived venture that nonetheless helped shape a new generation of West Coast artists.
Today, 3857 Point Grey Road is the site of the Jericho Tennis Club, its large white bubble structures rising where Varley’s modest home once stood. Yet in the late 1920s and early 1930s, that simple bungalow offered one of the most extraordinary studio views in Canadian art history. From Kitsilano remains a luminous record of that time—a quintessential Vancouver image of Kitsilano, English Bay and the North Shore mountains, rendered with the emotional depth and colouristic brilliance that defined Varley’s West Coast works. Listen Stop
Estimate: $150,000 - $250,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.
