Clarence Tillenius
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
artist, environmentalist
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
, and advocate for the protection of wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
and wilderness
Wilderness
Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...
.
Early years
Born in Sandridge, Manitoba to parents having Swedish and Norwegian ancestry, Tillenius grew up with six siblings on a farm in the Manitoba Interlake region 100 km north of WinnipegWinnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
. His parents recognized his artistic skills when he created a portrait of the family dog at the young age of four and he has sketched, painted or drawn every day since then. Tillenius attended Clematis School in 1919 and kept in correspondence with his teacher Marion Archibald (Irwin) until her death recently. Tillenius attended High School in Teulon, Manitoba
Teulon, Manitoba
Teulon is a community located approximately 60 kilometers north of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, on Provincial Truck Highway 7. Located between Stonewall and Gimli, Teulon is commonly referred to as "The Gateway to the Interlake" and "The Petunia Capital of Manitoba"...
but never attended university due to the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Tillenius educated himself by acquiring and reading books and now has over 5,000 books in his library.
Career
Tillenius worked on farms, mines, lumber camps, railroad crews, forest fire crews and construction crews in ManitobaManitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
and Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
during which time he developed a greater interest in the outdoors. He built a homestead cabin in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
Tillenius sold his first cover to the Country Guide in 1934.
He barely escaped death in a railway line reconstruction accident at Hudson, Ontario
Hudson, Ontario
Hudson is a township municipality incorporating the congruent geographic township in Timiskaming District in northeastern Ontario, Canada. Hudson is located directly west of the city of Temiskaming Shores and has only one named settlement, the community of Hillview.-Demographics:The township had an...
in 1936, losing his right arm at the shoulder after falling under a CNR rock car while operating a steam shovel. During recovery at the hospital in Sioux Lookout, a nurse and doctor encouraged him to learn to paint using his left hand. This encouraged Tillenius to persevere and to redevelop his painting skills using his left hand. He received the tutelage of a fine artist and great friend, Alexander J. Musgrove, who established the first drawing school in Manitoba.
The Country Guide published the first magazine cover done with Tillenius's left hand in 1940 and he continued to work as an illustrator and cover designer for the magazine for 30 years. Tillenius also provided illustrations and covers for The Beaver
The Beaver
The Beaver is the weekly newspaper of the London School of Economics Students' Union at the LSE.Despite being published by the Students' Union, The Beaver is independent in its reporting....
for over 40 years, as well as many other magazines and newspapers.
Tillenius met weekly with artist and sculptor Leo Mol
Leo Mol
Leo Mol, OC, OM was a Ukrainian Canadian artist and sculptor.Born Leonid Molodozhanyn in Polonne, Ukraine, Mol studied sculpture at the Leningrad Academy of Arts from 1936 to 1940. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union he moved to Germany where he was influenced by Arno Breker...
, cartoonist Peter Kuch and several other artists for life drawing sessions of a live model in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
During 1943 to 1945, Tillenius visited and became friends with famed painter Carl Rungius
Carl Rungius
Carl Clemens Moritz Rungius was a leading American wildlife artist. He was born in Germany though he immigrated to the United States and he spent his career painting in the western United States and Canada...
in his Banff
Banff, Alberta
Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise....
studio and in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He also met painter of birds Alan Brooks in Vernon, British Columbia
Vernon, British Columbia
Vernon is a city in the south-central region of British Columbia, Canada. Named after Forbes George Vernon, a former MLA of British Columbia who helped found the famed Coldstream Ranch, the City of Vernon was incorporated on December 30, 1892. The City of Vernon has a population of 35,944 , while...
and traveled with the editor of the Country Guide on a 2000 mile trip through the Rockies
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
and British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and back and forth across the plains of Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
and Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
.
From 1948 to 1953, Tillenius observed a number of wolf-hunting expeditions in Kenora, Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
and Sioux Lookout. Some of his wolf series were completed at this time.
Tillenius was contracted in the 1950s to create a total of 18 lifesize dioramas of buffalo, wildlife and wilderness for Canadian Museums including the Canadian Museum of Nature
Canadian Museum of Nature
The Canadian Museum of Nature is a natural history museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its collections, which were started by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1856, include all aspects of the intersection of human society and nature, from gardening to gene-splicing...
in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, the Alberta Provincial Museum in Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, the Provincial Museum
Royal British Columbia Museum
The Royal British Columbia Museum is a natural history and human history museum in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, founded in 1886. The "Royal" title was approved by Queen Elizabeth II and bestowed by HRH Prince Philip in 1987, to coincide with a Royal tour that year...
in Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
and the Cultural Heritage Centre in Baker Lake. He completed a 51-foot diorama depicting a Red River
Red River of the North
The Red River is a North American river. Originating at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers in the United States, it flows northward through the Red River Valley and forms the border between the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota before continuing into Manitoba, Canada...
buffalo hunt for the opening of the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature in Winnipeg by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
Tillenius travelled across Canada in 1954 to create a series of 200 large oil paintings of Canada's wildlife and wilderness landscapes entitled "Monarchs of the Canadian Wilds", commissioned by the Monarch Life Assurance Company. These paintings are now grouped together in a collection at The Pavilion Gallery at Assiniboine Park
Assiniboine Park
Assiniboine Park is a park in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was established in 1904 and is located north of the Assiniboine Forest. Today, it covers , of these are designed in the English landscape style....
in Winnipeg. Hundreds of thousands of reproductions of these paintings and their accompanying texts have been distributed across Canada and around the world. Tillenius says that "It is my hope that people who saw them would be moved to preserve some of that matchless wilderness we are now so blessed with but which will disappear unless people who care unite to safeguard it." And "I want to create a body of paintings that will remain when the wilderness that inspired them has disappeared under asphalt highways, hydro lines and the survey trails of oil exploration companies." The paintings depict many of Canada's principal large animals; grizzlies, black and polar bears, timber wolves, mountain lions, musk-oxen, woodland and barren caribou, moose, pronghorned antelope, dall and bighorn sheep, mule and white-tail deer.
Between 1957 and 1959 Tillenius travelled by pack-horse on a number of trips in the Canadian Rockies
Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, extending from the Interior Plains of Alberta to the Rocky Mountain Trench of British Columbia. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the USA...
and Waterton Lakes with rancher, author and environmentalist friend Andy Russell
Andy Russell (Canadian author)
Andy Russell, was a famed conservationist and author who had a passion the wilderness. He was also a noted outfitter, mountain guide, photographer, television broadcaster and story teller. In 1976, he received the Julian T...
. In May 1959 he packed into the Kluane with Andy and Dick Russell to paint and draw grizzly bears, wolves, moose and golden eagles.
Tillenius left for a study trip to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in 1962 and was able to view the works of Anders Zorn
Anders Zorn
Anders Leonard Zorn was one of Sweden’s foremost artists who obtained international success as a painter, sculptor and printmaker in etching.-Biography:...
, Bruno Liljefors
Bruno Liljefors
Bruno Andreas Liljefors was a Swedish artist, the most important and probably the most influential wildlife painter of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century...
of Upsala
Upsala
Upsala may refer to:*Upsala Glacier, a glacier in Argentina*Uppsala, a city in Sweden, English exonym spelling**Gamla Uppsala, Old Upsala a village near the modern city, important centre in Norse mythology...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and the animal painter and illustrator Harald Wiberg. He also studied the Impressionists and traveled to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
to view the Sargents in the Tate in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
In 1964 Tillenius joined Ralph Hedlin who was on a writing and photography assignment for Maclean's
Maclean's
Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...
, and the pair traveled with Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
by dog team, lived in igloos, and observed firsthand the hunt for polar bears on Southampton Island
Southampton Island
Southampton Island is a large island at the entrance to Hudson Bay at Foxe Basin. One of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Southampton Island is part of the Kivalliq Region in Nunavut, Canada. The area of the island is stated as by Statistics Canada . It is the 34th largest...
. In August of that year, he traveled to Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
to hunt with Jim Dewar and to choose the environment and paint the background to be depicted in a cougar diorama in Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
.
Tillenius continued to study museum methods, diorama construction and mammal groups. In 1967 he visited the Buffalo Park
Buffalo Park
Buffalo Park is a cricket ground in East London, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It is one of the home grounds for the Warriors cricket team. It can hold up to 20,000.It has hosted one Test match, in 2002 and hosted a number of One Day Internationals....
near Wainwright
Wainwright, Alberta
Wainwright is a town on the prairies of east-central Alberta, Canada.It is located on the north side of the Canadian National Railway, with CFB Wainwright located on the southwest side. The town lies south of Vermilion, in the Battle River valley, along Highway 41, called the Buffalo Trail....
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
to record the reminiscences of old buffalo herders.
In 1968, Tillenius and Ralph Hedlin traveled to Southampton Island
Southampton Island
Southampton Island is a large island at the entrance to Hudson Bay at Foxe Basin. One of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Southampton Island is part of the Kivalliq Region in Nunavut, Canada. The area of the island is stated as by Statistics Canada . It is the 34th largest...
again to observe a polar bear hunt and Eskimo life as studies for a polar bear diorama. Tillenius also completed his pronghorn
Pronghorn
The pronghorn is a species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the prong buck, pronghorn antelope, or simply antelope, as it closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World and...
and buffalo dioramas in time for the opening of the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature.
Tillenius taught wildlife drawing classes at the Okanagan Summer School of the Arts near Penticton, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
for ten years until 1978. He has also taught many other artists including bronze sculptor Peter Sawatzky, cowboy artist John Moyers and cowgirl artist Terri Moyers.
In 2005, Tillenius painted two of sixty cement polar bears, each 8 feet (2.4 m) tall and weighing 10000 pounds (4,535.9 kg), created as a fundraising project for Cancer Care Manitoba. "Knights of the Polar Circle" features 15 smaller polar bears painted on it in a number of story themes. "Pondering Grizzly" (posing with Tillenius in photo, above) was the only grizzly bear in the collection and now stands guard in front of Winnipeg City Hall on Main Street. Peter Sawatzky assisted Tillenius by creating a hump on the bear's back and permanent claws characteristic of grizzly bears.
Tillenius's paintings are found in private and corporate collections across North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. His career of painting, drawing and sketching continues as of 2010.
Recognition
Clarence Tillenius is a:- Founding Member of the Society of Animal Artists of New York headquartered in New York, USA
- Founding Member of the Society for Wildlife Art of the Nations in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
- Past-President and Life Member of the Manitoba Naturalists Society, now Nature Manitoba
Clarence Tillenius received the following distinctive awards and elections:
- Order of CanadaOrder of CanadaThe Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
in 2005 - Order of ManitobaOrder of ManitobaThe Order of Manitoba is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Instituted in 1999 when Lieutenant Governor Peter M...
in 2003 - Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of WinnipegUniversity of WinnipegThe University of Winnipeg is a public university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and theology as well as graduate programs. The U of W's founding colleges were Manitoba College and Wesley College, which merged...
in 1970 - Elected a FellowFellowA fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
to the Explorers Club in New York, NY in 1967 and recently as a Fellow Emeritus - Elected a FellowFellowA fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
of the Royal Geographical SocietyRoyal Geographical SocietyThe Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
in London, England - Professional Wildlife Conservation Award by the Provincial Government of Manitoba
Tillenius's dioramas were designated as National Treasures in 2007 by the Canadian Museum of Nature
Canadian Museum of Nature
The Canadian Museum of Nature is a natural history museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its collections, which were started by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1856, include all aspects of the intersection of human society and nature, from gardening to gene-splicing...
in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
.
The Pavilion Gallery in Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park opened a permanent gallery honoring Tillenius and his art in 1998. A collection of his work remains on public display year round.
Conservation work
Tillenius sat on numerous committees to preserve tracts of Manitoba wilderness to benefit wildlife. He feels very strongly that human encroachment eliminates wildlife habitat and species, and this is the reason he paints wildlife and wilderness.Books
- Sketch Pad out-of-doors. Artist's instructional aid. Trails of the Interlake Studio, First published 1956, Reprinted 1962, 1986.
- Days of the Buffalo. Paintings. Trails of the Interlake Studio, 1998.
- Tillenius. Celebrated the opening of the Clarence Tillenius Gallery on the second floor of The Pavilion in Assiniboine park. Trails of the Interlake Studio, 1998.
- Buffalo. Edited by John E. Foster, Dick Harrison, I. S. McLaren, includes a section written by Tillenius on 'An Artist Among the Buffalo'; and a section written by I.S. McLaren on Tillenius as an artist. The University of Alberta Press, 1992.
- Deer Hunting Hints. by C.I. Tillenius, Canadian Industries LimitedCanadian Industries LimitedCanadian Industries Limited, also known as C-I-L is a Canadian chemicals manufacturer. Products include paints, fertilizers and pesticides, and explosives. It was formed in 1910 by the merger of five Canadian explosives companies...
Art Publications
Other pieces of Tillenius's art were published in magazines across the continent including:- Country Guide
- The Beaver
- Nature Magazine, Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
- The Montreal Standard
- Weekend Picture Magazine
- Virginia Wildlife
- Star Weekly
- Sports AfieldSports AfieldSports Afield was founded in 1887 as a hunting and fishing magazine by Claude King and is the oldest continuous outdoor publication in North America. The first issue, in January 1888, was eight pages long and printed on newspaper stock, published in Denver, Colorado...
(New York) - Fur Trade Journal
- Saturday NightSaturday Night (magazine)Saturday Night was a Canadian general interest magazine. It was founded in Toronto, Ontario in 1887.The publication was first established as a weekly broadsheet newspaper about public affairs and the arts, which was later expanded into a general interest magazine. The editor, Edmund E. Sheppard,...
- Rod and Gun
- Game and Fish Magazine
- Pelli and Pellicce
- Esperanto Magazine
Tillenius also provided illustrations for the following books:
- Little Giant by Olive Knox, published by Ryerson Press, Toronto
- North of "55" by C.P. Wilson
- Kirby's Gander by J.P. Gillese
- Furbearers of Canada published by Hudson's Bay Co.
- Brief History of the Hudson's Bay Co.
- What's Ahead for Prairie Agriculture by H.S. Fry
- The First Fifty Years by R.D. Colquette
- Tomorrow is for You by Vera Kelsey, Scribner's, New York
- Orphan of the North by Will Henry, Random House, New York
- Black FalconBlack FalconThe Black Falcon is a medium-large falcon that lives only in Australia. It is mainly found in open grasslands and woodlands in the semi arid inland parts of Australia. First year falcons are a dark black in colour fading to browner black in successive years...
by Olive Knox, Bouregy and Curl, New York - Encyclopedia Canadiana (10 volumes) The Grolier Society Ottawa, Ontario
- Game Birds and Animals of Manitoba Government of Manitoba