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F. H. Varley Protraits

Portraits Into the Light - 10th Anniversary Show

From May 25th to September 3rd, 2007, Unionville's Varley Art Gallery presents an exhibition of the portrait painting of Fred Varley, a founder member of the Group of Seven and of Canada's greatest portrait artists.

Varley Years in Unionville

In 1957, Fred Varley moved to Unionville - at the time a small rural villlage, and the place where Varley was to spend his last decade. Varley's life until then had been colourful and often chaotic. An immigrant to Canada in 1912, he met other painters who together discovered the Canadian landscape and founded the Group of Seven. He served as an official war artist during World War I, and later worked as an artist and taught painting in Toronto and Vancouver.

At the age of 70, he met Kathleen Gormley McKay and her husband. Kathleen was a descendant of a Berczy Settler family, the Eckardts. In 1957, Varley moved with the McKays to Kathleen's ancestral family home on Unionville's Main Street. The McKays called the house Burndennet.

Varley had a studio in the basement overlooking the garden and the Rouge River and continued to paint until the last courple of years of his life. In 1962, a suburban housing development opened in Unionville and was named Varley Village by the developer. However, when asked how he felt about having Varley Village named after him, Varley said, "That's damn silly. I don't belong to the place, it's ridiculous." And when told about Fred Varley Drive, he asked "Don't I rate at least a boulevard?" Varley died on September 8, 1969. His ashes are buried at the McMichael Art Gallery. In his studio at "Burndennet", there once was a sign which read, "Artist awake, or be forever fallen."