Fishing Fleet, Mouth of the Fraser River, B.C., circa 1910 by Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith

Provenance:
Uno Langmann Antiques, Vancouver, 1980
Private Collection, Vancouver
Acquired by the present Private Collection, Spring 1981

Exhibited:
“Thirty‒Eighth Annual Exhibition”, Ontario Society of Artists, Toronto, from March 1910, no. 8
“Collector's Canada: Selections from a Toronto Private Collection,” Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; travelling to Musée du Québec, Quebec City; Vancouver Art Gallery; Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, 14 May 1988‒7 May 1989, no. 21
“Artists on the CPR”, Glenbow Museum, 20 June‒20 September 2009
“Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven”, Vancouver Art Gallery; travelling to the Glenbow Museum, Calgary; Art Gallery of Hamilton, 30 October 2015‒25 September 2016

Literature:
‘Uno Langmann Limited’, “Antiques and Art 7”, October‒November 1980, reproduced on inside back cover as “Salmon Fishing Fleet at the Mouth of the Fraser River, B.C.”
Dennis Reid, “Collector's Canada: Selections from a Toronto Private Collection”, Toronto, 1988, no. 21, reproduced page x and 30
Ian Thom, et al., “Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven,” Vancouver/London, 2015, reproduced page 79
Geoff Meggs, “Strange New Country: The Fraser River Salmon Strikes of 1900‒1901 and The Birth of Modern British Columbia”, British Columbia, 2018, reproduced on the cover

Frederic M. Bell-Smith took advantage of the new Canadian Pacific Railway from 1887 onward and travelled to western Canada. In 1886 the vice-president of the railway, William Cornelius Van Horne, offered free travel passes to several artists who would sketch and paint vistas of the Canadian west. He wanted artwork that would heighten public interest in transcontinental travel. Enamoured by the majesty of the Rockies, Bell-Smith found inspiration in the distinct landscape and returned throughout the remainder of his life to render the terrain in watercolour and oil paintings.

The longest waterway in British Columbia, The Fraser River is a historic fishing destination, known for its sturgeon and salmon. In “Fishing Fleet, Mouth of the Fraser Rivers, B.C.”, Bell-Smith depicts a scene of sailing fishermen out on the river, with multiple sailboats lining the horizon in the distance, below the rocky mountains on a sunny day. His regional and cross-country travels led Bell-Smith to advocate for a Canadian school of art which distinguished itself by the use of the Canadian landscape as its subject matter. Later artists, including Tom Thomson, Emily Carr and the Group of Seven, would further develop this focus on Canada’s natural environment in art.

Bell-Smith returned to Europe many times throughout his career; he painted a series of pictures on the Death of Sir John Thomson who died at Windsor Castle minutes after being sworn in by Queen Victoria as a member of the Privy Council of Canada. While at Windsor Castle he did several canvases of the Queen, two of which are in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. In 1896 he studied at the Académie Colarossi in Paris before returning to Alma College in St. Thomas, Ontario 1897 to resume his duties as art director until 1910. “Fishing Fleet” was painted in 1910, while at Alma College and during the height of the artist's career. The artist contemplated moving to Britain during this time, but he decided to remain based in Canada. Back in Ontario, Bell–Smith advocated for a distinctly Canadian style, foreshadowing the major art movements to come.