Peter Sheppard

Born in Toronto, Peter Clapham (P.C.) Sheppard (1879 - 1965) began work at age 16 as a commercial illustrator for the lithographers Barclay, Clark & Co. (later Rolf-Clark-Stone Limited), with whom he stayed for most of his working life. Sheppard spent weekdays producing pamphlets and posters for the advertising industry and his leisure time on painting excursions into the Ontario hinterlands. Such trips resulted in the artist's vivid landscapes that combined a fiery palette with robust brushwork-a distinctively Canadian style of art. 

Sheppard studied at the Central Ontario School of Art and Industrial Design (later named the Ontario College of Art in 1912) under George Reid, John William Beatty, and William Cruickshank. He was the recipient of the Sir Edmund Walker Scholarship and later the Stone Scholarship (Life Classes) in 1913-14, as well as nine Honors diplomas for painting, drawing, and composition. Sheppard's work was included in many exhibitions including the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1925, at the Jeu de Paume in Paris in 1927 and the World’s Fair in New York in 1939. He became a member of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1918 and was made an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1929. Sheppard's work is held in collections including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Canadian War Museum and the National Gallery of Canada.