Landscape Paintings
by Peter and
Catharine Whyte
Landscape Paintings |
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Peter Whyte Peter was born in January of 1905, just one year before Banff was introduced to the luxuries of electricity and telephones. His father, Dave White, was a general merchant who owned a dry goods firm in Banff, and had been a CPR section man at Sawback west of Banff from 1886 until 1893. Peter's mother, Annie, was the daughter of John Donaldson Curren, a coal scout and painter. As Peter grew up in Banff he enjoyed activities such as snowshoe outings, skiing and hiking. He also took the opportunity to learn from the resident artists of Banff and those passing through. These artistic influences enticed Peter to consider painting as a career. Belmore Browne, a remarkable outdoors-man/painter, and Nora Drummond-Davis, an illustrator for a British postcard company, were early instructors that gave Peter private lessons in painting and cartooning. Peter's academic art instruction began when New England landscape painter Aldro T. Hibbard encouraged Peter to enroll at the Boston Museum School of Fine Art in 1925, and in 1927 he met Catharine Robb. There he studied anatomy, figure drawing and portrait painting. Back in Banff Peter learned landscape techniques from Belmore Browne, Aldro T. Hibbard, Carl Rungius and J.E.H. MacDonald , the Toronto painter and oldest member of the Group of Seven. Peter and Catharine were married in 1930 and settled in Peter's hometown where they built a log home and studio. Peter was actively involved in the portrait painting of noteworthy individuals from his community and landscape painting until his death in 1966.
Catharine Whyte was born June 1906 in Concord, Massachusetts. Although she grew up in a very comfortable home she was expected to knit, mend and practice the crafts her mother had made a career in designing and selling. Catharine's mother, Edith Morse Robb, provided the strong artistic influence that led her to begin her art education at the Boston Museum School of Fine Art in 1925. Catharine married Peter Whyte after she finished her formal art training. From their home in the Canadian Rockies, the Whytes painted 40 to 50 days each year of the 1930s. They painted outdoors within calling distance of each other, creating swift, strong sketches of the mountain landscape. Since her formal training did not include the art of landscape painting, Catharine studied and learned from Peter and other artists such as J.E.H. MacDonald and Carl Rungius. Excerpted from Mountain Glory by Jon Whyte |
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