“Thanks to the foresight and generosity of the late Ronald Gordon Rowswell to the Edmonton Community Foundation, the net proceeds of sale from this artwork will contribute, now and in the future, financial support for talented university students”
George Weber
Watercolourist and Printmaker, Alberta artist George Weber was born in Munich, Germany in 1907 and died in 2002 at the age of 95 years. He began doing pen and ink drawings at an early age. A draftsman by training, he worked in Munich and Frankfurt until emigrating to Canada in 1930 and then to Edmonton in 1932. He studied colour and composition at the Ontario College of Art in 1937 and techniques at the Banff School of Fine Arts under Jack Taylor in 1951. He was employed as a lithographic artist in Edmonton from 1942 to 1969 at which time he became a fulltime artist. Mr. Weber died in Edmonton, Alberta in 2002.
Known for his serigraphs of Alberta and British Columbia, Mr. Weber exhibited nationally, also with the Edmonton Art Gallery in 1979. His works are in the permanent collections of the Alberta Art Foundation, Imperial Oil, Dominion Foundries and Steel Ltd. and the Society of Canadian Painters, Etchers and Engravers as well as many private collections. The two dollar definitive stamp of Moraine Lake, Alberta, was commissioned by Canada Post to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Canada’s Nation Parks in 1985. Original serigraphs by Mr. Weber were presented to the Edmonton Oiler hockey team, in celebration of their 1988 Stanley Cup victory, by the City of Edmonton.
It is largely due to George Weber that the fine art of serigraphy was introduced to Western Canada. In 1948 he lectured at the University of Alberta on the adoption of this silkscreen process in fine arts. Workshops were held at the Edmonton Art Gallery in 1950 and 1951 on serigraphy. He also completed a list of handmade Japanese and European papers for print making which was made available to members of the Canadian Federation of Canadian Artists, Edmonton Chapter.
COMMISSIONS
Dr. J.A. Williams, Edmonton, Alberta
George Ethier Construction (1964) Ltd., Edmonton, Alberta
Imperial Oil Ltd., Edmonton, Alberta
Nova Corp., Calgary, Alberta
International Pipe Line Company, Edmonton, Alberta
Lakehead Pipeline Company, Edmonton, Alberta
Mr. D. Sexsmith, Edmonton, Alberta
Canadian Tire, Edmonton
Field & Field, Edmonton
Altpro Cleaning & Disaster Restoration Ltd., Edmonotn
H.P.I. Beverages, Edmonton
Government of Alberta
The Good Samaritan Society, Edmonton
Life Underwriters, Edmonton
Banff School of Fine Art, Banff
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The C.P.E. Permanent Print Collection, Hamilton, Ontario
Art and Letters Club, Toronto, Ontario
Glenbow Foundation, Calgary, Alberta
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta
The City of Edmonton Archives
Edmonton Art Gallery