Vistas:  Artists on the Canadian Pacific Railway

Organized & Circulated by                                          Presented by

Calgary, Alberta, Canada                 with the support of

                                                          Henry, George and Erwin Braun

Join The Reach Gallery Museum Abbotsford  for the opening of Vistas:  Artists on the Canadian Pacific Railway presented by PNR RailWorks with the support of Henry, George and Erwin Braun. 

Admission to Exhibitions is free.

Images expressing the Canadian Pacific Railway’s vision of a sprawling new Canada are featured in this sweeping exhibition with 95 artworks and photographs from the permanent collection of the Glenbow Museum and from other public and private collections in Canada and the United States. Many of these works have not been seen for decades. Artists in the exhibition include Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith, Albert Bierstadt, William Brymner, Forshaw Day, John Colin Forbes, John Arthur Fraser, Robert Gagen, John Hammond, Thomas Mower Martin, Lucius O’Brien, Edward Roper, Cleveland Rockwell, Sir William Cornelius Van Horne and photographer William McFarlane Notman.  Many of the artists were founding members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, established in 1880.

As builder and later President of the CPR, William Cornelius Van Horne, combining his interest in art with his understanding of the importance of advertising, encouraged several prominent artists and photographers to capture the beauty of the “new west”. He created the CPR artists’ pass program providing such benefits as free rail passage, temporary railcar studios, accommodation at mountain lodges and the promotion of the artists’ work at international exhibits.

Roger H. Boulet is an independent art historian who has written extensively on Canadian art.  In addition to this significant knowledge of the work of CPR artists and CPR historical photography, Boulet is the author of numerous books on Canadian art and artists including Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith 1846-1923, and has made significant contributions to scholarship on the work of Walter J. Phillips.

Light refreshments provided.

This project has been made possible in part through a grant from the Museums Assistance Program, Department of Canadian Heritage.

Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce à une subvention du Programme d’aide aux musées du ministère du Patrimoine canadien.