Frank Charles Hennessey ( 1893 – 1941 ) FRSA OSA RCA
Title ” GRAY DAY, GATINEAU RIVER ”
Size 15 1/2″ x 19 5/8″ ( 21 1/8″ x 25 3/8″ framed ) ………$1895.00 Canadian
Signed lower left Hennessey 38 (1938)
“ The country under snow was an alluring time of year for him, as were the spring thaw and the break-up on rivers. He enjoyed painting the subtle obscurities that came with sundown on winter days. “ ……… C. Anthony Law, A Retrospective, Bernard Riordon (artist Charles Anthony Law, student of Frank Hennessey).
Hennessey preferred sketching plein air in and around the Ottawa region including the Gatineau area, Algonquin Park and the Laurentians. A highly regarded artist of his time, he was a well known illustrator and produced numerous oil paintings of exceptional quality. Hennessey mostly used pastels and he was a master of the medium, gifted with the ability to capture the true sense of snow, ice and reflections of water. He would create these in the latter hours of the day, executing finished works on the spot.
Although he obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Albion College in Albion, Michigan, he considered himself to be primarily self-taught. At age six he produced nature study drawings that were reproduced in “The Ottawa Journal”. At the age of fourteen he was the assistant naturalist and artist for an Arctic expedition at Winter Harbour, Melville Island. Furthermore Hennessey provided the illustrations for the school textbook “Birds of Eastern Canada” published in 1919, authored by P.A. Taverner. Again, he would supply illustrations for both “Birds of Western Canada” published in 1926 and “Birds of Canada” published in 1934 also by Taverner.
Frank Hennessey was a member of the “Ottawa Group” which also included fellow artist David Milne, Paul Alfred, Harold Beament, Florence McGillivray, Graham Norwell and Yoshida Sekido. Many of Hennessey’s pastel paintings were often exhibited at the James Wilson and Company of Ottawa on a near annual basis, always being received with great success.
Frank Hennessey was a member of the Ontario Society of Artists OSA (member 1932) exhibiting from 1929-1936 and 1940 (18 works total), the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts(Associate 1934, Academician 1941) exhibiting in the years 1921, 1924, 1927-1941 (40 works total), and a FRSA (Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts), London, England (1938) in recognition of Hennessey’s significant contributions to the Arts.
Leading artist of the time….
Hennessey had two paintings selected on behalf of the Canadian Art Section of Fine Arts for the British Empire Exhibition in 1924, #90 Wolf Crossing a Lake and #91 Red-Tailed Hawk.
See the painting ”Wolf Crossing a Lake”
Wolf Crossing a Lake was purchased by the National Gallery of Canada in 1926 and later exhibited again as #66 Loup Traversant un Lac, representing the Canadian Art Section of Fine Arts abroad for the Exposition D’Art Canadien in Paris of 1927 at Le Musée de Jeu de Paume.
Once again Hennessey represents Canadian art….
In 1936 the National Gallery of Canada arranged on behalf of the Carnegie Corporation of New York a selection of Canadian art for circulation in the Southern Dominions of the British Empire.
Frank Hennessey’s painting #40. RIVER DRIVER
Interesting notes…..
Charles Anthony Law, Maurice Hall Haycock and Bruce Heggtveit are a few artist who studied under Hennessey.
A 1933 pastel work by Peleg Franklin Brownell of Frank Hennessey while sketching in the Gatineau. (McDonald’s Stewart Art Gallery Guelph)
See “Frank Hennessey sketching in the Gatineau 1933”
Frank Hennessey artist label
Gray Day, Gatineau River
Copyright 2021 Nash Gallery | All rights reserved.