Landscape with Figure by James MacDonald Barnsley

Born in Toronto, Ontario, he attended the St. Louis School of Fine Arts where he won a gold medal. Robert Ayre in viewing his work rates them equal in quality to paintings of Horatio Walker and Homer Watson. E.F.B. Johnston in 1914 recorded that his picture “The Entrance to Dieppe Harbour” was a masterpiece in the eyes of several eminent critics of the day. He won a number of medals for his work. A Canadian, he painted little or no Canadian subject matter and is known best as a marine painter. His works are technically fine and lively.

Interest in his paintings has been revived through the efforts of the Curator of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Richard B. Simmons and Assistant Curator, J. Barry Lord who carried out a search for his paintings and drawings and selected 65 of these which were shown in five galleries across Canada – the London Public Library and Art Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery and the Confederation Centre, Charlottetown. He is represented in the National Gallery of Canada by five works. His work was regularly shown at the Royal Canadian Academy shows until 1920.

Source: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume I: A-F", compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1977