Our Founders: Peter and Catharine WhyteFar from the wild peaks of the Canadian Rockies, Catharine Robb and Peter Whyte met at the Boston Museum School of Fine Art in 1927. This was a time when Canadian landscape painting was under-going change. They married in 1930, and made Banff and the Canadian mountains their home. A studio was built one year later where they would soon live and paint the grandeur of their beloved mountains. The Whytes often painted in the company of outstanding artists. Contemporaries Carl Rungius and Belmore Brown were influential with their ideas and use of colour. The Whytes responded with passion to their approach of depicting the form and colour present in Western Canada. Their commitment to painting was wholehearted — leading them to study remote mountain stretches and unpredictable skies. Catharine and Peter travelled extensively and continued to paint and draw through the 50s and 60s until Peter's death in 1966. Catharine then turned her concerns to the community, travel, skiing and conservation. Their interest in culture and understanding of philanthropy led to the development of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, first opened in 1968. Catharine remained involved until her death in 1979. Rays of light and swirling clouds often form the focus
in Catharine's sketches. Peter constructed obscure mountain views
with somber mystic hues of blues, browns and greens. Together, their
life's work provides for us a sense of place. |
Visit Under a Familiar Sky – Landscape Paintings by Peter and Catharine Whyte.
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