Barker Fairley was a painter, author, scholar, art critic and educator. He was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England and died in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where (since 1915) he had lived most of his life. He also lived in Edmonton, Alberta (1910 - 1915) and Manchester, England (1932 - 1936).

His primary mediums were oil and watercolour. His subjects were portraits, figures, landscapes and still life. His style was Fauvism.* His paintings are spare, linear with a limited palette and bring to mind the American artist Milton Avery. Paradoxically, Fairley, who was a close friend of most of the members of the Group of Seven * and was, as a writer and critic, a foremost sup...