etching

Artwork

Accession Number
2017.016.008
Description
An unframed etching depicting a circa 1911 view of the Canadian Puget Sound Lumber and Timber Company mill in Victoria, B.C. In the midground to the right is a tall steel-plate wood-burner, with a man guiding logs to a ramp for raising them from the water into the mill building at its base. At the far left is an even taller chimney, to the right in the distance is a tall ship. In the background is the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway bridge. The etching is signed and dated 1913 by the artist at lower right.
Narrative
Goad’s 1911 Insurance Plan of Victoria Volume 1 page 18 shows that the Canadian Puget Sound Lumber and Timber Company mill was situated at the northern end of Store Street where the Rock Bay bridge commenced. Two good photographs of the mill from the west side of the Inner Harbour are B.C. Archives C-06029 and C-06028. The Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway bridge in the background was built by Hon. Robert Dunsmuir. 

This etching is part of a set seven etchings by the highly-regarded American Arts & Crafts painter, sculptor, etcher and picture frame designer Frederick William Harer (1879-1949). These etchings depict early 20th Century harbour scenes in Victoria and Vancouver with a high degree of aesthetic sensitivity.  Their connection to Mary Jean Dunsmuir (Mrs. Henry Croft), herself a painter, musician and lover of theatre, affirms her commitment to art and her appreciation for Victoria’s working harbour, which she saw daily from her Esquimalt (West Bay) waterfront house, Mt. Adelaide.  
 
History of Use
The set of seven etchings, from which this is one, was acquired by Mary Jean Dunsmuir (Mrs. Henry Croft) in about 1913. After her death in 1928, the etchings were inherited by her sister’s son’s daughter, Lucy Lenore Bryden, who bequeathed them to her son, the donor.
Date
circa 1913
Dimensions
30.5 x 38 cm
Artist/Photographer
Frederick W. Harer
Medium
Ink
Support
Paper
Technique
Etched; Printed

Related people/businesses/organizations
Mary Jean Dunsmuir (owner)
Frederick W. Harer (artist)
Related Association
Mt. Adelaide (was used in)
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