Paul Kane

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Paul Kane (September 3, 1810-1861) was an Irish-born Canadian painter best known for his drawings of First Nations peoples in the Canadian West and other Native Americans in the Columbia District. Paul Kane, a largely self-educated artist, grew up in York, Upper Canada (now Toronto), and taught himself by copying European masters from European masters on a "Grand Tour" study tour of Europe.

In 1845 and 1848, he undertook two voyages through the Canadian northwest, from 1846 to 1848.

He went from Toronto to Sault Ste.

Marie and back.

He took a second, much longer ride from Toronto through the Rocky Mountains to Fort Vancouver (present-day Vancouver, Washington) and Fort Victoria, British Columbia, after obtaining the Hudson's Bay Company's help. Kane sketched and painted First Nations and Métis peoples on both trips.

More than 100 oil paintings were created from these sketches on his return to Toronto.

The oil paintings he created in his studio are considered a part of Canada's heritage, although he often embellished them greatly, abandoning the authenticity of his field sketches in favour of more dramatic scenes.

Kane's work was inspired by the tenants of salvage ethnography.

Early life and formative years

Kane was born in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, and was the fifth child of Michael Kane and Frances Loach's eight children. His father, a soldier from Preston, Lancashire, England, served in the Royal Horse Artillery until his resignation in 1801. The family then settled in Ireland. Kane immigrated to Upper Canada and settled in York, now Toronto, sometime between 1819 and 1822, when Kane was about ten. Kane's father owned a store that sold spirits and wines.

Kane's youth in York, which at the time was a small settlement of fewer than 1,000 residents, was not widely known. He went to school at Upper Canada College and then received some painting instruction at the Upper Canada College in 1830. In July 1834, he displayed some of his paintings in The Society of Artists and Amateurs' first (and only) exhibition in Toronto, receiving a favourable review from a local newspaper, The Patriot.

Kane began his career as a sign and furniture painter in York until he migrated to Cobourg, Ontario, in 1834. He may have worked in the furniture factory of Freeman Schermerhorn Clench, the father of Harriet Clench who married in 1853. Kane painted several portraits of the local people, including the sheriff and his employer's wife. Kane immigrated to Detroit, Michigan, where American artist James Bowman was born. The two people met at York earlier this year. Bowman and Samuel Bell Waugh had persuaded Kane that studying art in Europe was a must for an aspiring painter, and they had intended to visit Europe together. Kane was forced to postpone the trip because he was short of money to pay for the crossing to Europe, and Bowman had married shortly before and was not about to leave his family. Kane toured the American Midwest for five years as an itinerant portrait painter, from New Orleans.

Kane left America in June 1841, sailing from New Orleans on a ship headed for Marseilles, France, about three months later, and immediately headed for Italy. Kane rode much of this trip, travelling on foot from Rome to Naples as well as Switzerland's Brenner Pass. He went to Paris and then London. George Catlin, an American salvage painter who worked on Native Americans on the prairies and now lives in London, may have encountered him. Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians. Catlin spoke at Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, where he also displayed some of his works. The Native American cultures were slowly disappearing and should be recorded before falling into oblivion, according to Catlin's book. Kane found the argument convincing and decided to similarly support Canadian First Nations.

Kane returned to Mobile, Alabama, in early 1843, where he established a studio and worked as a portrait painter until he owed back the money borrowed for his journey to Europe. He returned to Toronto late 1844 or early 1845 and began to plan his journey west.

Life in Toronto

Kane has permanently settled in Toronto. When he was hired by a British party in 1849 as a tour guide and interpreter, he went west, but they didn't go as far as the Red River Colony. An exhibition of 240 of his sketches in Toronto in November 1848 was a hit, and a second exhibition of eight oil canvases was also well-received in September 1852. George William Allan, a lawyer, took note of the artist and became his most influential patron, commissioning one hundred oil paintings for $20,000 in 1852. Kane was able to live as a professional artist as a result of his work. Kane was also able to convince the Province of Canada's Parliament to have twelve paintings worth £500, which he delivered in late 1856.

Kane married Harriet Clench (1823–1892), the daughter of his deceased employer in Cobourg, in 1853. David Wilson, a University of Toronto contemporary historian, discovered that she was also a gifted painter and writer. They had four children, two sons, and two daughters.

Kane fulfilled his orders until 1857: more than 120 oil canvases for Allan, the Parliament, and Simpsons. His works were on display at the World's Fair in Paris in 1855, where they were praised very positively, and some of them were sent to Buckingham Palace in 1858 for consideration by Queen Victoria.

Kane had also created a manuscript based on his travel notes and sent it to a publishing house in London by that time. When he didn't hear back from them, he went to London and, with the help of Simpson, got the book published the next year. It was titled The Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of North America from Vancouver to Vancouver, Oregon, and Back Again by Longman, Brown, Green, Longman & Roberts in London, 1859, and illustrated with several lithographs of his own sketches and paintings. Kane had dedicated the book to Allan, which angered Simpson so much that he had to break off his friendship with Kane. The book was an instant hit and had appeared in French, Danish, and German editions by 1863.

Kane's eyesight had been fading rapidly in the 1860s and had to stop painting altogether. Frederick Arthur Verner, who had been inspired by Kane and was a "western" artist, became a friend and acquaintance. Verner did three portraits of the ageing Paul Kane, one of which is on display at the Royal Ontario Museum today. Kane died in his house one winter morning, just after returning from his daily walks. He is buried at the St. James Cemetery in Toronto.

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