Background
He was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire and died, a Canadian citizen, in his home in Toronto, Canada.
He was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire and died, a Canadian citizen, in his home in Toronto, Canada.
He was educated at Leeds, and in 1907 was granted a Doctor of Philosophy from Jena University in Germany.
Although educated and brought up in a strong European tradition and background, Fairley"s important life"s scholarship in German literature and art criticism was done in Canada and was about Canadian art and Canadian culture. His perspective and writings strongly influenced a burgeoning academic and artistic culture in his new chosen home. His first academic appointment was at Jena.
Between 1910-1915, he joined the faculty at the newly founded University of Alberta in Edmonton.
He joined the University of Toronto"s German department in 1915 where he taught until the end of his career as a professor In 1949, he was invited to Bryn Mawr College to deliver lectures on the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, but was barred entry by the United States. Department of Justice.
He later compiled the texts of the abortive lectures into six essays on Faust. Many of his paintings are still owned by the University of Toronto and are in the Hart House collection.
In his use of colour and form, the effect of the Group of Seven is quite evident.
His critical approach and activism regarding The Group of Seven contributed to their acceptance in Canadian Art, and that his scholaristic influence over University College at the University of Toronto left a strong and lasting impression. Ought not the painting of humanity.. draw ahead of the landscape.. take priority over it? Ought it not do so in any age and especially in this age of intense human conflict and suffering and innovation? There is everything in the world about us, the world of today, to suggest that the luxury of dwelling on empty landscapes is likely to recede in men"s minds and the urgent human issues to assert themselves with growing force. What is needed then. is to set the whole subject matter of art free and not just the landscape part of lieutenant
lieutenant is the human subject, the human face, the human figure whether alone or in groups or in crowds, in town and country, in war in peace, in life and death, that is the real and central subject of art
Quotations:
Ought not the painting of humanity.. draw ahead of the landscape.. take priority over it? Ought it not do so in any age and especially in this age of intense human conflict and suffering and innovation? There is everything in the world about us, the world of today, to suggest that the luxury of dwelling on empty landscapes is likely to recede in men"s minds and the urgent human issues to assert themselves with growing force.
What is needed then. is to set the whole subject matter of art free and not just the landscape part of lieutenant lieutenant is the human subject, the human face, the human figure whether alone or in groups or in crowds, in town and country, in war in peace, in life and death, that is the real and central subject of art
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.