Monday, August 27, 2007

Jessie & Harry Webb at the VAG 1958



Photograph from British Columbia:A Centennial Anthology- Watters, M&S-1958.

4 comments:

m.f. said...

When I first saw this photograph I wondered who these young artists were, sitting so smartly amongst the paintings and why do we not know their names, and what happened to their work?

This anthology was designed by Robert Reid.

"Jessie & Harry were well known to Bert Binning, Jack Shadbolt, Lionel Thomas as dedicated and talented artists, but were never accepted by the
"middle class" mentality that prevailed in the mainstream of Vancouver art.
They were our first hippies, I'd say, mainly because they didn't have any money and were more interested in making art than money. Too Bohemian, as were most of the other artists you are probably including in your research..."

– Robert Reid

Anonymous said...

Are either Harry or Jessie Webb still living in this city? What has happened to them? I remember meeting Harry Webb at the 1963 poetry conference at ubc. He was sitting next to Phyllis Webb (I don't think they were related). I liked him and enjoyed short conversation but never got to know him.

m.f. said...

Harry died, but Jessie is still living here, she is very reclusive.

I hope to include her and Harry's work in a future book.

Anonymous said...

Jessie Webb lives in North Vancouver, and continues to paint. Harry became a landscape architect soon after this photo was taken, and practiced in Vancouver for 35 years before retiring in 1991. He passed away in April 1995 at the age of 68. I'm their only child, born in 1957.

This photograph presents a rare glimpse of the art scene in Vancouver in the 50's, and many artists who lived and worked in Vancouver during this period do remain virtually unknown. Indeed, both the times, and the regional sensibility that developed have yet to be defined in terms of this broader community of independent artists.

- Adrienne Webb Brown