Lionel Fielding Downes (1900 – 1972)

A Canadian painter and war artist, Lionel Fielding Downes (aka: Lionel Fielding-Downes) was born in Wigan, Lancashire, England; immigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba with his family in 1912; lived in Montreal; and, died in Ste-Foy, Quebec, a suburb of Quebec City. He exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts* and at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. His works are in the permanent collections of the Canadian War Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and the Quebec Museum of Fine Arts. (1)

His mediums included oils, watercolors, and pastels. His subjects included portraits, street scenes, landscapes, figures, Indians, boating, shorelines, genre* (outdoor work and sports activities), and still lifes. His styles could be described as Fauvism*, Impressionism* and Naturalism*. His askART record has dozens of excellent illustrations of his oeuvre.

Our sources include a long and impressive list of mostly Canadian art teachers and associates for Downes; they include studies in illustration under Charles Comfort and Hal Foster in Winnipeg (c. 1918 – 1921); the Federal School of Commercial Design, Minneapolis* [please note: our source uses the name Federal School of Design] (1918); the Winnipeg School of Art* under Franz Johnston (1919 – 1923); the Art Institute of Chicago* (1923); sketching with Nicholas de Grandmaison, most likely in Alberta (1926); painting under Lionel Lemoine Fitzgerald (in the early 1930s, most likely in Winnipeg); a move to Montreal in the 1930s where he illustrated magazines and painted with Arthur Lismer and Frederick Simpson Coburn (1934 – 1936); and the Art Students League of New York* under Louis George Bouche (1951 – 1953). (2)(3)

Downes exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts* in 1945 and with the Spring Exhibitions at the Montreal Museum of fine arts from 1936 to 1954.

According to the Canadian Heritage Information Network* and individual museum sources, his works are in the permanent collections of the Canadian War Museum (Ottawa, Ontario), the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Quebec), and the Quebec Museum of Fine Arts (Quebec City).

Footnotes:
(1) Researchers please note: A Dictionary of Canadian Artists A to F and The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction say Downes served in the RAF [sic] as a “War Artist” (1940 – 45); however, the only official reference we found to his war art is the painting of a Long Range Liberator [bomber] in the collection of the Canadian War Museum which is by Downes and referenced to the Royal Canadian Air Force, the RCAF not the RAF. Source: Canadian War museum. – M.D. Silverbrooke

(2) Please note: All of the artists and teachers mentioned in the paragraph about Downes’s education and early work experiences have their own askART auction records. – M.D. Silverbrooke

(3) Researchers please note: Most of our sources include a line stating that Downes studied at the “Wells Blye School”, Somerset, England under Amy Phelps and Wilfred Ball (see askART); but, the name of the school must be a typo copied by subsequent biographers because we could not find any school by that name in Somerset. There is however a school named the Wells Blue School (aka: The Blue School, Wells) which was founded in 1641 and is still operating in 2023. Source: U.K. National Archives. – M.D. Silverbrooke

Sources – Books and Catalogues:
The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction (2001), by Anthony R. Westbridge and Diana L. Bodnar (see askART Publications)

A Dictionary of Canadian Artists A to F 5th edition (1997), by Colin S. MacDonald; Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Limited, Ottawa, Ontario

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts: Exhibitions and Members, 1880 – 1979 (1997), by Evelyn de R. McMann; University of Toronto Press

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: Spring Exhibitions 1880 – 1970 (1988), by Evelyn de R. McMann (see askART Publications)

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts: Exhibitions and Members, 1880 – 1979 (1981), by Evelyn de R. McMann (see askART Publications)

Sources – Websites:
Canadian Heritage Information Network*
Quebec Museum of Fine Arts (Quebec City),
Canadian War Museum
U.K. National Archives
Galerie D’Art Douce Passion

* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com. Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx

Written and contributed to askART by M.D. Silverbrooke.