Frederick Simpson Coburn, R.C.A.

Canadian , 1871-1960

Born: Canada: Quebec, Upper Melbourne 1871-03-18
Died: Canada: Quebec, Upper Melbourne 1960-05-26
Selected works
Biography
Coburn’s early success came as an illustrator for literary works. He later began to receive recognition as a painter. Coburn was deeply inspired by the rural landscapes of his beloved Eastern Townships. He is most well known for his oil paintings of winter scenes, horses, and sleighs emerging from a forest into a clearing, the majority executed after about 1916 in the Eastern Townships of Québec.

Frederick Simpson Coburn was born on March 18, 1871, in the small village of Upper Melbourne in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, about 90 miles southeast of Montreal. Soon after enrolling in the Council of Arts and Manufactures school in Montreal he had outgrown its opportunities and went to the Carl Hecker School of Art in New York City. In 1890, at the age of 19, he headed for the Royal Academy in Berlin to begin his studies in the world of international art. From about 1890 until 1916, Coburn resided in Europe, where he enjoyed a lucrative career as an illustrator, his reputation having been established in 1897 with the highly successful illustrated publication of The Habitant by the Canadian poet W.H. DRUMMOND.

In addition to 4 other volumes of Drummond’s poetry, Coburn illustrated literature by such well-known authors as Louis-Honoré Fréchette, Washington Irving, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning. His later oils and etchings are bathed in a bright Canadian winter light in contrast to the heavy, sombre palette of his illustrations, which betray a European influence

Studied at
Council of Arts and Manufactures school in Montreal
Carl Hecker School of Art in New York City
Royal Academy in Berlin
Collections
Exhibitions
In 1928, he exhibited two canvases at the Imperial Gallery of Art Exhibition in London, England.
In 1932, the Arts Club of Montreal held a special exhibition of his Drummond illustrations.
In 1938 he exhibited two paintings in the Tate Gallery’s “A Century of Canadian Art” exhibition in London
Awards
1929 – the Art Association of Montreal’s Jessie Dow prize for his painting “March Morning.” 1936, he received an honorary D.C.L. from Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Quebec.
Professional Activities
In 1928, at the age of 57, Coburn was elected a Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art (RCA). He became a Senior Member in 1941.
Publications
F.S. Coburn: Beyond the landscape, by Evelyn Lloyd Coburn, Boston Mills Pr; First Edition edition (July 1 1997) , ISBN-10: 1550461591