COBURN, Frederick Simpson
Born at Upper Melbourne, Quebec, he frequently sketched horses as a boy. In later years Dr. William Henry Drummond, aware of the boy’s talent, was instrumental in having him sent to Notman and Sandham in Montreal for advice about his gift. Coburn was guided to the Arts and Crafts School in Montreal where he studied under C.S. Stevenson. In the following years he attended classes under Carl Hecker in New York; Ehrentraut Skarbina at the Academy of Berlin; classes in Munich; at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Jean Léon Gérôme; under Henry Tonks in London at the Slade School; under Abrecht de Vriendt in Antwerp. In Antwerp he married Malvina Scheepers, a painter in her own right, and they had a studio in that city for about 20 years, returning to Canada on visits. About 1898 Coburn met Dr. Drummond again, who was by then gaining fame for his poems. Dr. Drummond recommended Coburn to the G.P. Putnam Publishing Company in New York, to illustrate his poems of habitant life. This led him into the career of a successful illustrator, and also paid for his studies abroad. Coburn illustrated Dr. Drummond’s The Habitant, The Voyageur, The Great Fight, Johnnie Courteau, Phil-o-rum’s Canoe, and Madeleine Verchères. Coburn was almost swamped with commissions in this field. While studying under Tonks in London he did paintings for the London Sporting and Dramatic News, and illustrations for the London News. He had a deep interest in the “Luminous rolling skies” of J.H. Weissenbruch and the plowmen and horses of James Maris which showed up in his own work a few years later. Other illustrations by Coburn were created for Louis Frechette’s Noël Au Canada, work by Edgar Allen Poe, Lord Tennyson, Oliver Goldsmith, Robert Browning, and for other American and English authors. Coburn’s illustrations for Drummond’s poems were done with black and white oil paintings, still owned by the Drummond family in Montreal. About 1914 he turned to oils in colour through the encouragement of Maurice Cullen and a little later on decided to specialize in the painting of horse and oxen-drawn sleds in Laurentian and Eastern Townships settings. His very first painting on this theme was kept by him during his lifetime. Those that followed however were bought by eager collectors mainly through The Stevens Art Gallery, in Montreal. Gerald Stevens tells us in his book, “In the years to come Mr. Coburn was to hire many a farmer and his team to pose for studies and sketches made in oils, or with crayons with which, in a few strokes, he could catch the essential line and rhythm of a composition later to be transfered to a canvas.” William Colgate in his Canadian Art described his output of sleigh scenes as follows, “The subject may be, and sometimes is, repeated, but the light which illumines it rarely is.” Coburn also during his career painted a few nudes, still lifes, portraits, figure studies and some summer landscapes. He did not, however, receive official recognition until 1920 when he became an associate of the Royal Canadian, Academy. Seven years later he was made full member. Coburn’s pictures were so much in demand that he never had any on hand for a one-man show. His other media included water colours, a few engravings on wood, and etchings. He was also a photographer of note. Gerald Stevens, who is an authority on the artist, lists 112 collectors who at one time owned an example of Coburn’s work. He was a member of the Pen & Pencil Club of Montreal (Pres. 1941-42). In 1936 he received an Honorary Doctor of Civil Law from Bishops’ University at Lennoxville, Quebec. He is represented in: NG of Brisbane, Australia; The Tate Gallery, Lond., Eng.; NGC, Ottawa by two paintings and an etching of horse-drawn sleighs in winter settings and a floral painting, also galleries in Japan, Belgium, Europe, and the U.S.A.
Colin S. MacDonald
A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker
National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada