Benjamin Sayre Cory Kilvert (1879-1946)
About the Artist:
Benjamin Sayre Cory Kilvert was born in Hamilton in 1879, the son of one of its early mayors, Francis Edwin Kilvert.
Like most of his contemporaries in Hamilton, B. Cory Kilvert was a student of John Ireland at the Hamilton Art School. However, unlike many of his contemporaries, he was also a professional football player for the Hamilton Tigers Football Club. When Kilvert was chosen to play on the All-Canadian Team as a full-back in 1898, the opposing career paths may have represented a difficult choice, but art won out. Considering the monetary issue alone would likely have made the decision an easy one. Kilvert headed to New York and study with the Art Students' League. A few years later he entered into the highly remunerative and highly regarded profession of magazine illustrator in America. His work appeared in such periodicals as the New York Herald, the New York Journal and Life magazine, as well as his hometown paper, the Hamilton Spectator which reprinted a series of illustrations from the New York Herald. Toward the late 1920's Kilvert turned to more 'serious' art and began to work in oil and water colour depicting ocean scenes of historical significance. He exhibited in New York City, Washington, Montreal, Toronto and at the G.W. Robinson Company in Hamilton.
Stuart MacCuaig
Climbing the Cold White Peaks: A Survey of Artists in and from Hamilton 1910 -1950
About the Painting:
Kilvert became somewhat a specialist in studies of children. His cartoons were very popular with readers of the day and in fact one in particular became one of Life magazine's most popular cartoons ever and was reissued for many years as a print. 'and then came the apple' was reprinted as part of a series by the Hamilton Spectator in 1906 and is typically of his detailed, poster-sized illustrations. Kilvert's 'Kids', as they became known, caught on in many leading publications of the day and in 1911, one local clothier, 'Oak Hall' at 12 James St. N., arranged with Kilvert to use his 'Kids' illustrations in advertisements for their boys' clothing department."
Stuart MacCuaig
Climbing the Cold White Peaks: A Survey of Artists in and from Hamilton 1910 -1950
