Joseph Archibald Browne (Canadian, 1862-1948) RCA, OSA, CSC
‘In the Adirondacks’, c. 1938
pastel
(sight) 13” high X 10 ½” wide
(framed) 16 ½” H x 14” wide
Notes Complete with original “CANADA POST CARD” marked with PO stamp for, Magog, PQ, 1938, AM AU 10 and sent with a red Canada King George 2 cent Stamp to a Mrs. John Steckle, R. R. 2., Kitchener | Ont”. The notation in blue/black fountain pen verso reads: “ ? a.m. P.Q. | We spent last night at cousins of McNairn’s at Lachine – a beautiful home with acres of lawn, over-looking | the St. Lawrence – left there at 6 a.m. – glorious drive. | It does my soul good to | see hills again. | On the way from Cornwall to Lachine we | called on an artist | Archibald Browne, a friend | of the McNairn’s – white |beard and long hair & smock | – we saw some of his | pictures which were not yet dry – very beautiful | they were. They invited | us to stay for Tea. I’m | having a glorious Trip. | Aren’t I lucky? Love | Mary. | So cool we need coats to-day.” At a later date the postcard was rediscovered and inscribed on the obverse in blue ball-point pen, “Rose & Bob | came across | this & thot (sic) | you’d be | interested! —- [pointing to a circle around the stamp date ‘38]”; “I’m in Edmonton to be | with my sister for 10 days. | ? bob died | of cancer Jan. 31. | Feb 8/64”
Biography Born in Liverpool, England, of Scottish parents, he spent his boyhood days at Blantyre, Scotland, and worked as a bank clerk in his youth. He came to Canada in 1888 and was engaged in commercial work then decided to become a painter. He went back to Scotland where he studied under R. Macaulay Stevenson. He returned to Toronto and took further study under William Cruikshank. He emerged principally as a landscape painter of romantic scenes. He became active in art circles and was a founding member of the Canadian Art Club. He moved to Montreal in 1923 where he lived for about three years. When he was 63, a booklet entitled Archibald Browne (1925) was compiled by R. C. Read. In 1927 Browne settled in a house just outside Lancaster, Ontario, where he made painting trips to the Laurentians. When he was 70 year sold, Robson’s book Canadian Landscape Painters (1932) was published in which Robson noted, “While his active art career has been spent in Canada, he has been prominent and successful exhibitor in the larger art centers of the United States and England. Mr. Browne has devoted himself exclusively to landscape painting and is one of the few Canadian artists who present nature in a delicate, dreamy, poetic mood,”…Browne died at the age of 86 in Cornwall, Ontario. His affiliations were: ARCA (898); RCA (1919); OSA (1907, only); CAC (fdr-mbr., 1907-1915); A&LCT (fdr-mbr., 1908); Pen & Pencil Club, Mtl. (1923); MMFA (1880-1970). COLLECTIONS (selected); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Montreal Museum of Fine Art. He was described as the “Poet Painter of Canada” by E. F. B. Johnston, noted authority on art at the time.
