Frank Panabaker (1904 - 1992)
About the Artist:
Frank Panabaker is an artist closely associated with Hamilton during his lengthy career, although he also enjoyed a considerable international reputation for his paintings of the Canadian landscape. He was a member of the Allied Artists of America, one of a handful of Canadians ever to be elected to the group, an associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy, and a member of the board of trustees for the National Gallery in Ottawa for six years. Much of his subject matter was local scenes in and around Ancaster, the Dundas valley and marsh, and of course, Hamilton. From the royal yacht Britannia in Hamilton Harbour, to the Hamilton Farmers' Market, the Tiger Cats and Gore Park, Frank Panabaker documented the life and times of the Steel City from the 1940's to through to the 1990's.
Panabaker studied art in a variety of locations, beginning in his native Hespeler and at the Ontario College of Art under Arthur Lismer and J.E.H. MacDonald.
From early in his career he was able to be a fully self-supported professional artist enjoying many successful exhibitions at home and abroad. His work is owned by many galleries, museums and business throughout the country and "many of his Canadian landscapes have become familiar to thousands as the subjects of Christmas cards."
Beckett Fine Art Ltd.
Stuart MacCuaig
Climbing the Cold White Peaks: A survey of artists in and from Hamilton 1910-1950
About the Painting:
Oil
Panabaker used the old Birks building, depicted here in this downtown Hamilton winter scene, as a location for an exhibition of his works in 1933. He sold eight paintings during the first four days and considered it a "reasonably successful show" . However, it was a visit to the city and the gallery by Sara D. Roosevelt, mother of Franklin D. Roosevelt, that really boosted his fortunes. After the Toronto Mail and Empire had reported that Mrs. Roosevelt had purchased a small seascape, Panabaker sold 18 more pictures in two days.
Panabaker's style has been described as "individual without departing over-much from standard conventions" and, "He has been content to paint his subjects as he has seen and felt them; honestly and with no pretense to anything more that the delight of lively colour and design as derived from and applied to nature and things of nature."
Stuart MacCuaig
Climbing the Cold White Peaks: A survey of artists in and from Hamilton 1910-1950
