BRAMPTON – A provincial plaque was unveiled today by The Honourable James K. Bartleman, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, to honour renowned artist John Wycliffe Lowes Forster – famous portrait painter from the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Born in Norval, Ontario, this internationally renowned artist attended Brampton Grammar School before apprenticing in Toronto, and studying abroad in Paris and London. In 1883, he returned to Toronto and became a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy. Throughout his career, Forster painted over 500 portraits and historical tableaux of leading citizens and political, religious, business and historical figures from Canada and elsewhere.

"This is a story that the people of Ontario should know," said Ontario Heritage Foundation Chairman Allan Gotlieb. "Forster was significant not only for the quality of his remarkable paintings but also for the history that he has helped chronicle through these portraits and tableaux. The Ontario Heritage Foundation is delighted to commemorate this extraordinary man and his work."

From an early age, Forster exhibited artistic abilities. Encouraged by his parents, he moved to Toronto at age 19 and apprenticed with John Wesley Bridgman – noted for his professional crayon portraits, copies of historical paintings and portrait photographs. Within a year, Forster and Bridgman were collaborating on portraits and winning acclaim. Their work included a portrait of Mohawk chief Joseph Brant, painted for Lord Dufferin, and others displayed in the first exhibition of the Ontario Society of Artists.

After studying abroad in London and Paris, Forster returned to Toronto in 1883 to start his own portrait studio. With several prominent commissions, he soon established himself as a formidable artistic talent. He was elected a member of the prestigious Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy, and contributed to their annual shows until the 1920s. By the mid 1890s, Forster was also obtaining important commissions from the Ontario government. Forster painted retired Lieutenant-Governor The Honourable John Beverley Robinson in 1895, beginning the tradition that continues today of painting Ontario lieutenant-governors.

Forster painted such historical luminaries as: Queen Victoria, the Emperor and Empress of Japan, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, Colonel John Graves Simcoe, The Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King, Reverend Dr. Egerton Ryerson, Hart Massey and Timothy Eaton.

J.W.L. Forster's contribution to the Canadian artistic landscape is unquestionable. After his death in 1938, Forster's collection was bequeathed to establish his lifelong dream – a portrait gallery of historic and eminent Canadians. The collection is housed today at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

This plaque unveiling is part of the Ontario Heritage Foundation's provincial plaque program. The distinctive blue and gold plaques commemorate more than 1,100 significant people, places and events in Ontario's history.

The Ontario Heritage Foundation is a not-for-profit agency of the Government of Ontario, dedicated to preserving, protecting and promoting Ontario's heritage for all of us to enjoy now and for others to experience in the future.

- 30 -

Contact:

Gordon Pim
Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Tel.: 416-325-1484
E-mail: gordon.pim@heritagefdn.on.ca