#paul goranson

[illustratedvancouver]

Boats in Coal Harbour, a linocut by Paul Goranson (BCSFA CPE CSGA 1911 - 2002), up for auction at Heffel auction house this month. As Goranson is one of my favourite artists, I’m making this special reprise post for him. Paul Goranson, along with his peers Orville Fisher and EJ Hughes had a series of art exhibits at the Vancouver Art Gallery starting in the thirties, carrying into the decades that followed. This print (7 of 60) is dated 1936, and while I don’t see this title listed in the various show inventories I’ve seen, his work in the 1930s was selling for around $1.50 - $4 per print. This piece is now estimated at $1,000-1,500 which is approaching 1000% inflation, and while this might be in line with Vancouver real estate prices, dare I say I think this print offers more value.

For some context, I’ve included a few other examples of Goranson’s work which I have not yet featured on this site. Two more scenes of our vibrant shipping industry at the time (dated 1936 and 1937), and one of the most dramatic depictions of our fishing trade (dated 1940). I wonder if that 1940 etching “BC Purse Seiners” is an evolutionary work that continued the spirit of the Golden Gate International Exposition murals on Treasure Island. It could easily be added to that series, based on its monumental overtones. The loss of those murals is one of the greatest art losses of our province. It can perhaps be seen as a casualty of war, since the attention of everyone was so focused on WWII, we forgot to bring these murals home.

Goranson himself had at least one harrowing experience during the war. He joined the RCAF as an NCO artist, and painted a fine series of paintings of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. On the night of March 10-11 1943, he was sent to England in a cargo ship that was torpedoed by a U-boat. The ship sank within minutes, but fortunately, only one sailor was lost, and Goranson spent several hours in a row boat before being rescued. (source) I imagine him recalling all those etchings of ships he had done in years prior that cold night on the sea.

To round out this post, I’ve added a couple scenes from his time in New York City, as this was an important chapter in Goranson’s biography. After the war, he continued to develop some of his sketches into paintings while serving in Ottawa, until his discharge from military service in September 1947. Not wanting to be constrained by the art scene in the small town he grew up in, he moved on to Manhattan, where he painted window displays for retailers like Macy’s and Gimbels. From 1966-1986 he was a scenic painter for the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York, where he got to work alongside Cecil Beaton, among many other artistic legends. While he had generally fallen off the radar of his former colleagues during this time period, he was received with open arms when he returned to British Columbia in 1986 when he retired from the Met. He continued to sketch and paint for his enjoyment until his death in 2002.

I encourage my fans and followers to watch the Heffel auction calendar this year, as they are likely to have some significant shows in the months to come. In particular, take note of the show in July, titled Oh Canada! / Fine Canadian Art. This show opens Thursday, July 6, and closes on Thursday, July 27, 2017. It is Canada's sesquicentennial after all.

[illustratedvancouver]

Lost Murals Found, Part II - How a Modern Masterpiece Slipped From Our Collective Memory

In my previous post, I announced the remarkable hypothesis that the 1939 GGIE murals by Hughes, Goranson, and Fisher were not lost or destroyed, but in fact, were brought back to Vancouver and displayed at the PNE, at least for a number of years. Now, I present further photographic proof of the hypothesis, certifiably proven with these images from the BC Archives (images I-23099 through I-24109).

Due to collective amnesia and a series of unfortunate events, these murals remained hidden from the public since their disappearance until I finally spotted them and made the connection. The naming of the photos in the BC Archives and the poorly framed subject matter of an empty pavilion just nearing completion also did not help bring them to the surface.

OF COURSE they came back to BC and were placed in the BC Building at the PNE, looking back now it was the most logical place for them to be. Unfortunately, this didn't happen immediately as the BC Building did not exist in late 1939 when the Golden Gate Expo closed in San Francisco and World War II broke out around the globe.

The artful vision of British Columbia's natural resources and tourism ambitions would have to wait for happier days of postwar peacetime. The war effort took immediate precedence and all three artists enlisted to help fight for Canada. Because of the Japanese Internment, the PNE remained closed from 1942-1946. That’s another subject entirely, and one which took decades to resolve, marring the Canadian psyche for generations. For the purposes of this post, a link to this page will have to suffice.

The PNE was finally ready to reopen in 1947, allowing the murals to make their first reappearance. It had been 8 years since they were widely seen in public, and it took 7 more years for a provincial pavilion to take shape. Finally opening in 1954, the remarkable Challenger Map was the building’s focal point and various mural panels were scattered throughout the halls of the building. It might have made more impact as a single continuous series of panels, but that is not how it was ultimately presented.

You can see from the various viewpoints that the murals were displayed across two levels of the pavilion, generally appearing as single panels or in pairs. From the poor resolution of the photos, I can only currently make out about 6 of the 12 panels. Unfortunately, it does not appear that all panels were photographed, though the Vancouver Archives does have a few more views of the murals that were likely taken by a different photographer. The good news is, I may be able to extract more detail from one of the worst panels - the Mountaineering mural - as it appears fairly clearly in the distance of one of the images. I will have to see what emerges when I order a higher resolution images from the BC Archives.

If you would like to help with this endeavour, I would be happy to take donations - even in small amounts - to help fund future research of this topic. Consider contributing to my ‘tip jar’ in the amount of a ‘coffee’ or ‘donut’. I have provided a link to my PayPal, where you can send me a dollar or two. Whatever suits you. But there’s more ways you can help. Because indoor photography remained a difficult task for most amateur photographers, there likely aren’t many photos of the BC Pavilion in existence. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t ANY photos of the interior of this building. The murals may have remained there for years, possibly even decades, which means there’s a chance that additional photos in various photo albums and slide trays might actually show more details of these murals in situ. So please keep on the lookout - any photos which show the interior of the BC Pavilion at the PNE would be of interest.

And to anyone working with the PNE - by all means, double check every possible storage area for these murals. If they survived the demolition of the pavilion, they may have been kept with the Challenger Map, or possibly in another large prop storage area? At this point, it would be an absolute miracle if they have survived, but stranger things have happened in recent times. I’m hoping for a miracle.

Update: I’ve actually taken a moment to check in with the Challenger family of the Challenger Map fame, as I suspected if anyone knew more about the murals, it might be the Challengers. And sure enough...it turns out Bill Challenger DOES remember the murals! And he came up with a most excellent deduction. When I mentioned I did not know how long they were exhibited there, he did say it would have been necessary for them to be removed by 1966 when the BC Sports Hall of Fame first opened there in August. BINGO! We now have a definitive end date for the murals! They would not have remained there beyond 1966. This was also just one year shy of Canada’s Confederation Centennial, and so lots of preparations were in the works for that anniversary.

I passed this info on to both the PNE administration AND the BC Sports Hall of Fame, in case they come up with anything further. The BC Sports Hall of Fame had never heard of the murals, or even seen the early BC Pavilion photos. The PNE was able to provide me with a brief textual description from the mid-1960s, describing the BC Pavilion Building:

GENERAL INFORMATION “The large murals located in foyers and ramps throughout the British Columbia Pavilion were painted by Messrs. [EJ] Hughes, [Paul] Geranson (sic) Goranson and [Orville] Fisher for the 1939 World’s Fair. The Provincial Government commissioned the work and owns the paintings.” (note: there were other murals put on various other ramps in the Pavilion as part of an annual competition in partnership with the Vancouver School of Art – not part of the 1939 World’s Fair project).

I can actually see some of these other murals in at least one of the BC Archives photos - I noticed at least one other mural or painting alongside the GGIE panels. Note also the mention that the Provincial Government commissioned the work and owns the paintings. Thus, the PNE would not have had the authority to keep them in storage nor would they have wanted to destroy them, knowing they were owned by the province.

This is a very exciting development...and it suggests one more possible scenario I’m going to hope against hope might come true. The province may have actually taken these murals back to Victoria, and put them into long term oversized storage...and they may have remained there, uncatalogued, and forgotten, much like the final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark! If this turns out to be true, what a discovery that would be! Let’s keep on the lookout!

[illustratedvancouver]

I forgot, here was one more linocut print from the Paul Goranson series that appeared on Instagram a year or so ago. Again, I lightly tweaked the colour and contrast, not quite to the extent as the previous post.

[illustratedvancouver]

A series of Paul Goranson linocuts, in review. I am repeating a few original colour linocut prints that I’ve shared before, along with a few new images from the series to illustrate a few points. The wide divergence in colours and the variance in the condition of the paper is quite dramatic. You might first be drawn to my ‘simulated / exaggerated colour corrections’, where I’ve attempted to neutralize the paper, and reinvigorate the colours some eighty+ years after the artworks were printed. These are not necessarily how the works of art appeared when they were first printed, although I can’t say for certain this ISN’T how they first might have appeared in person, under certain lighting conditions.

The two prints of Siwash Rock are particularly vulnerable to the effects of time; one print has faded quite dramatically, while the other has gone in the other direction, looking rather muddied and yellow, possibly due to exposure to smoke, sun, or moisture - maybe even some bad lighting as well.

Paper is fragile, and doesn’t always age well, particularly if left under direct sunlight, without the benefit of UV protection and acid free backings. But you can also see in the first two examples - the lower number in the series being #7 and the higher number in the series being #43 - the colours of the ships do appear to be a completely different shade or hue. Again, it’s hard to say just how much the colours would have differed, but due to the nature of limited edition prints, you should expect to see some variety throughout the series.

One of the sad consequences of this medium is its temporal quality; as the works fade, so too does the glory of the artist, so to speak. You might begin to overlook these prints as ‘less accomplished’ than they really are, especially as surviving specimens dwindle.

The numbered print #43/60 of “Boats in Coal Harbour” is currently being offered by Heffel in their June 25, 2020 online auction. If you were looking to add a Goranson to your collection, I would recommend this one. It’s one thing to view these images reproduced on a screen or cell phone, but it’s another matter entirely to see them in person. The delicacy and details in the prints jump out at you, and you are drawn closer to the artist’s original inspiration for the work. I absolutely love this series, and even though I don’t own an original, it’s always a treat to see them, whenever and wherever they appear.

[terresauvage]

Paul Goranson

Posted to Newfie, 1942

This painting shows civilians and military personnel mixing on a train in Newfoundland.

[illustratedvancouver]

Evening on False Creek by Paul Goranson, a print from 1935 when False Creek was an entirely different place, as you can see from all the billowing smoke stacks.

[illustratedvancouver]

Extra, Extra! Newsflash! Full house for amazing Vancouver Sun photo archive show!

It was an amazing burst of the historical floodgates this weekend at the Presentation House Satellite Gallery, 560 Seymour Street (correction - initially I said Belkin Satellite). The Vancouver Sun's photo archives were put up on display in a show filled to the brim with 8x10 glossy photographs, full page newspaper covers, and ephemera. On Saturday afternoon, Kate Bird and John Mackie spoke about the history of the collection, and overflow audience sat at the edge of their seats for the entire presentation!

One profoundly significant recent discovery was made just before Saturday's talk. John Mackie came upon photographs of one of the most exceptional murals ever painted in British Columbia, the murals for the BC Pavilion at the Golden Gate Exposition in 1939. A set of extraordinary photographs depicts the three artists at work with the mural, along with images of the interior of the BC Pavilion. I believe the three images you see being painted are in fact, the miniature versions of the murals that were painted for the hometown crowd, and which reside in the Royal BC Archives in Victoria. The paintings are largely completed, so the photographs appear to be somewhat 'staged'. I am still holding out for the discovery of some colour images featuring the murals, but for 1939, that might be just fantasy!

Sadly, no one really knows what happened to the original murals, which were larger than life in size and wrapped around the entire interior of the building in 12 panels. Considering they were the work of 3 accomplished war artists who all went on to critical acclaim, I think it's safe to say the mural would have been worth millions. The Golden Gate Expo made a comeback in 1940, but BC was too preoccupied with the war effort to return, and I have not yet determined who took over the BC pavilion (hunch: it may have been Alaska). Thus, I believe the loss of this mural is one of the sad cultural casualties of war; had we not been at war, perhaps someone would have thought to bring the murals back home where they belonged.

I highly recommend a visit or two to this show; it really is overflowing with treasures and deserves repeated visits. The show runs until March 30th. Here's John Mackie's article in the Sun as a background to the show.

Cross-posted to VancouverIsAwesome.

[illustratedvancouver]

The Sentinel of Stanley Park, a colour image by Paul Goranson, 14 x 18 inches. This was done in 1939 just before Paul went off to WWII, where along with E.J. Hughes and Orville Fisher, he became a celebrated war artist. Construction of the Lions Gate bridge had just been completed, there was no seawall around Stanley Park, and there was a famous cave to the right of Siwash Rock.

This appeared on Craigslist recently, and it seems it was a wedding gift to someone in the 1950s. A rare and extraordinary find; it might actually be the gouache original Goranson used to produce a linocut of the same image.