BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Henry Athelstan Stone

August 5 1861 - June 27 1943

B.C. Art League
Vancouver Art Gallery (Founder, President 1931 - ?)


Henry Athelstan Stone was born in London, England, came to Canada in 1882, and to Vancouver in either 1902 or 1903. He was a businessman interested in the arts, President of Gault Brothers, and made the most notable contribution to the arts in Vancouver of any early Patron, when he donated $50,000.00 towards the establishment of a civic art collection. This was a very large amount of money in those days. He also challenged the citizens of Vancouver to match his donation, and a number of other supporters of the arts did so, providing a total of $100,000.00 towards the purchase of art for the proposed new art gallery.

Stone was appointed to the Finance Committee of the B.C. Art League at its formation in 1920.

Stone became the first President of the Vancouver Art Gallery when it was founded in 1931, and travelled to Europe that year with Charles H. Scott to purchase the paintings that would form the nucleus of the gallery's collection. Refer to the Founders Collection for more information on this trip.

When the art gallery began its long series of annual B.C. Artists exhibitions, Stone presented the Beatrice Stone award in 1933 in honour of his wife Beatrice Hetty Stone who had died on August 16 1933 at the age of 69. The award was given annually to "the exhibitor whose picture, in colours, is judged as being of the highest standard of art exhibited." Stone also exhibited in the B.C. Artists shows in 1933 and 1940.

Stone regularly exhibited his travel sketches in solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery. The 1939 solo exhibition consisted of paintings of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, as noted in the Art Gallery Bulletin Vol. 6, No. 8.

He died at Caulfeild in 1943 at the age of 81.

Exhibitions

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION LOCATION
1933 October 5 - 19 Holiday Sketches Vancouver Art Gallery
1938 May 3 - 17 Travel Sketches Vancouver Art Gallery
1939 April 4 - 23 Travel Sketches Vancouver Art Gallery
1940 May 7 - 19 Travel Sketches (watercolours) Vancouver Art Gallery
1941 Dec. 2 - 14 Watercolours Vancouver Art Gallery

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1933 Sept. 22 - Oct. 15 VAG   B.C. Artists 2nd Annual Lych Gate, Caulfield
Lych Gate, Caulfield
1935 Sept. 20 - Oct. 15 VAG   B.C. Artists 4th Annual White Oak, Carmel
Squall, Carmel
Point Lobos, Carmel
1940 Sept. 20 - Oct. 13 VAG   B.C. Artists 9th Annual From Cypress Point, Carmel
1946 July 2 - 28 VAG   Jubilee Exhibition Cypress Trees - Carmel-By-The-Sea

References

WHO'S WHO IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 1937-38-39
      A Record of British Columbia Men and Women of Today
      S. Maurice Carter Editor & Publisher
      Copyright 1939, printed by The Robson Printers, Vancouver B.C.
      208 pages, hardcover; name index (8 pages), biographies (196 pages), obits. (4 pages)
      Includes reference to Stone

ARTISTS IN CANADA 1982 - UNION LIST OF ARTISTS' FILES (refer to AIC82)

VANCOUVER: ART & ARTISTS 1931 - 1983; various authors
      1983, ISBN 0-920095-00-3, Vancouver Art Gallery
      Published in conjunction with relocation of VAG to Court House building
      List of works; artists' biographies; credits; no index
      References to Stone pages 22 - 23; photo page 23.

B.C. VITAL STATISTICS ON-LINE death (refer to BCVS)

Clippings

"The committees which will be recommended to the League were named as follows: Finance: Mr. H.A. Stone ..."
      From "B.C. Art League Committees Are Active"
      Western Woman's Weekly, October 9 1920

"H.A. Stone Shows Work At Gallery"
      Vancouver Sun, May 10 1924

"Stone's Sketches to be Displayed"
      Vancouver Province, September 20 1933

"Stone Sketches Now On View" by T.H.W.
      News Herald, May 6 1938

"H.A. Stone, who has already done so much for the cause of art in B.C., has come forward with a suggestion that a building extension fund be inaugurated with a view to carrying out the enterprise when conditions allow. ... "
      From "Talented Husband and Wife Have Display at Art Gallery" by Mildred Valley Thornton
      Vancouver Sun, February 11 1942


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