Jack Humphrey

Early Life, Family and Training

Jack Humphrey was born on January 12, 1901, in Saint John, New Brunswick. His early years in this coastal setting provided a backdrop for a life spent observing the world through line and color. He eventually moved toward formal training, beginning his studies at the school of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts under Philip Hale. This period of study focused on the fundamentals of form and the way light settles on a subject.

His education continued in New York, where he spent time at the Art Students League. Between 1924 and 1929, he studied at the National Academy of Design, working under Charles Webster Hawthorne. He also attended Charles Hawthorne's Cape Cod School of Art, seeking to refine his ability to see the essential structure of his subjects. In 1927, he spent time as a Tiffany Foundation student at Oyster Bay, Long Island, adding further technical depth to his practice.

In 1942, he married Jean Elizabeth Fowler. His training had prepared him to look closely at the world, moving from the structured lessons of the classroom to a more personal way of seeing. He carried these technical foundations with him as he moved through the various stages of his life and his work.

Studies and Travels in Europe

Between 1929 and 1930, Humphrey moved through the established art centers of Europe. In Paris, he spent time at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and studied under André Lhote. His training also took him to Munich, where he spent ten weeks at the Hans Hofmann school. During this period, his movements took him through Italy, Holland, Belgium, and England.

He returned to France in 1952 on a fellowship. This second period in Europe involved a year spent in Paris and two months in Brittany. These years abroad provided a backdrop to his developing eye for form and composition.

Professional Affiliations and Roles

His involvement in the Canadian art community was marked by steady, active participation in several key organizations. In 1933, he became a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters. By 1938, he had joined the Eastern Group, a collective that eventually transitioned into the Contemporary Arts Society. These connections placed him at the center of much of the modern movement occurring in Canada during those decades.

His commitment to specific mediums led to leadership positions within professional societies. He took on the role of Director for the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour in 1944, and by the following year, he was serving as its Vice-President. His work with the Canadian Society of Graphic Art was also extensive; he acted as a Regional Representative in 1946, 1956, and 1959, and held the position of Eastern Vice-President in 1951.

Technique and Artistic Style

Humphrey worked across several mediums, acting as a painter, watercolourist, draughtsman, and printmaker. His approach brought a modernist sensibility to both his figurative and abstract compositions. In his work from the 1930s, a clear interest in formal organization and the use of colour began to emerge. He looked closely at how shapes and tones could structure a scene, whether he was capturing a person or a landscape.

His practice shifted after 1954. During this period, he began to experiment with more abstract methods when working in gouache and oil landscapes. While his larger works moved toward abstraction, his watercolours took a different path, focusing instead on the intimate details of nature. This duality allowed him to explore both the broad structure of a landscape and the small, specific textures found within it.

Key Works and Subject Matter

Much of his work is tied to the streets and harbour of Saint John. He spent time capturing the movement of workers and the specific layout of the city's buildings. These scenes of the harbour and the local streets helped establish his reputation. He also turned his attention to the people around him, producing many portraits of his friends and the children of the city. During the war, he took on the role of an unofficial war artist, painting portraits of soldiers.

His travels often dictated his subject matter. In 1938, a trip to Mexico resulted in over 100 drawings and watercolours. Back in Canada, he worked through still lifes and field sketches. He looked closely at the intimate details of nature in his watercolours, while his later oil and gouache landscapes moved toward more abstract forms. He often focused on the way light and shape interacted in his compositions.

• Still-life with Oil Lamp, about 1930

Later Years and Death

The years following his return from France saw a shift in his focus. In 1951, he spent time teaching at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. That same year, the University of New Brunswick awarded him a Doctor of Laws. His continued presence in the Canadian art scene was marked by a Canada Council Senior Arts Fellowship in 1960.

His connection to Saint John remained a constant throughout his life. He lived and worked in the city where he was born, often returning to the light and the specific shapes of the local landscape. On March 23, 1967, he died of a heart attack in a hospital in Saint John, New Brunswick, while recovering from a recent surgery.

Legacy and Influence

The weight of his contribution to Canadian art was recognized by contemporaries who saw him as the most significant eastern Canadian painter of his generation. His presence in the art community was marked by a commitment to both regional identity and modern formal organization. This balance between the local and the universal defined his place in the country's mid-century landscape.

In the years around 1966 and 1967, his work was given a broad audience through a retrospective exhibition. This collection of his paintings was organized for the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and was also circulated by the National Gallery of Canada. These exhibitions allowed for a wider view of his development from his early studies to his later, more abstract explorations in oil and gouache.

His personal history and professional life remain preserved for study. The Jack Humphrey fonds, which contains his papers, is held within the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives. These records offer a direct look at the man behind the watercolours and the landscapes of Saint John.