Born in Toronto, Ontario, he studied at the Ontario College of Art, the Art Students League, New York, and lithography in that city under George Miller. He studied returned to Canada where he was resident artist at Pickering College, Newmarket, Ontario, from 1942 to 1946; taught evenings at the Northern Vocational School, Toronto, 1945 to 1946; In 1946 he joined the staff of the Ontario College of Art where he instructed in drawing and graphics. Over the years he exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy, the Ontario Society of Artists, the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, the Canadian Group of Painters, the Canadian Society of Graphic Art (member) and the Canadian Society of Painter Etchers and Engravers (member). In 1947 he won the George A. Reid Silver Award at the annual exhibition of the Canadian Society of Painter Etchers and Engravers for his lithograph “Rebellious Hills” reproduced in ‘Canadian Art’ May of 1947.
Hugh Thomson writing in the Toronto Star in 1953 noted the following of his work, “One of the distinctive qualities about the watercolour paintings of Frederick Hagan is that he can make commonplace subjects and fill them with interest . . . wilder views of Algonquin Park he gets more dramatic in an effort to capture nature in varied aspects.” A lithograph which he did in 1950 entitled “Molly” (an excellent study) was reproduced in Paul Duval’s book ‘Canadian Drawings and Prints’ published in 1952. He exhibited with Eric Freifeld, Tom Lapierre and John Newman, (all staff members of the Ontario College of Art) at Glenhyrst, Ontario, in February of 1967. He lived in Toronto.
Source: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume II”, compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1979
