Biography

Frederick Horsman Varley was a famed Canadian painter. Born in England, he emigrated to Canada in 1912 to work as a commercial artist in Toronto. He was an Official War Artist during World War One, producing some of his greatest paintings. In 1920, he was a founding member of the iconic Group of Seven. He did not share the Group's enthusiasm for landscape painting, however, and during the early 1920s attempted to make a living as a portraitist. His carefree lifestyle accounted for times of great fame and later near poverty.