ARTIST PROFILE: AN ARTIST’S GLAMOROUS GIG
Frederick Watson’s art celebrates the beauty of elegant, stylish women
Movato presents Toronto Home Magazine: The Summer Issue 2015
By: Susan Kelly
Glamorous and sophistication are in when it comes to interior decor, and there are always those who appreciate some retro charm. these qualities define the work of Frederick Watson who has enjoyed a career that has spanned close to five decades, first as a fashion illustrator, then a fine artist. “I’ve always loved the glamour of the Gatsby era, and of films from the 1930’s and 40’s,” says the artist from his Toronto home. “The furs, the hats, the veils, the mystique – I love it all.”
Watson’s own bio reads like an old Hollywood script: When not riding bareback across fields, a southern Ontario farm boy avidly watches old movies and sketches elegant women in his notebook. Moves to Toronto at age 20 to join a tap dance troupe and acting company. One day in 1957, while working as a coat-room clerk at Simpson’s department store, a flamboyantly chic lady, one of the many he admires, leaves behind a portfolio. She is legendary fashion illustrator Jean Miller, who quickly becomes his mentor. A new career as fashion illustrator begins, changing his life forever.
Fashion illustrator was a hot commodity until the 1980’s. “But our work was disposable,” Watson says. “People would throw away newspaper and the companies did not archive illustrator’s work.” He made forays eight times a year to New York City to observe glamorous ladies. There he mingled with an elite coterie of illustrators, including Kenneth Paul Block, Jay Hyde Crawford, Richard Ely and Rene Gruau. His credentials earned him a seat at couture fashion shows where he cut a stylish figure himself. Today, at age 80, the artist still aims for an appearance that is “Dapper but not a dandy.”
Watson began oil painting on canvas 20 years ago as a sideline and it is now his primary focus. Although he occasionally paints portraits, most of his works depict composite women. He begins with a face drawn from his imagination with a ner reverence. His subjects represent the elusive qualities of beauty and elegance that have ever fascinated him. “I started painting for myself and people liked the results,” he says. “So I just kept painting these wonderful women of a bygone era with their red lips and veils.”
Eminent fashion journalist Jeanne Beker has known Watson for almost two decades. Over the years they’ve collaborated at fashion events and she owns several of his works. She was first attracted by the sense of history and fashion illustration aspect, a lost art now making a comeback. “He has turned it into a fine art through these glorious canvases,” Beker says.
Her favorite Watson painting, one that has a place of prominence in her home, is a very early work from the 1950s. Its subject is a high-fashion woman at an art gallery, seen from the back with a white fur wrap draped across her shoulders. His works have an appeal that extends beyond fashion, Beker finds. “They have a sense of whimsy along with the elegance,” she says. “They celebrate the feminine beauty and great style.”
Watson’s works have also appeared in several major shows in Toronto and new york. and he accepts private commissions. theatre posters he composed in the early days are now collectors’ items, as are a series of art deco-inspired fashion posters he released in the 1980s. he paints every day, always on the lookout for an image to inspire him. It is found mostly in his personal library of books and magazines containing photos or illustrations from his favorite eras. But every Sunday, he strolls through one flea market or another in search of fresh sources. “As I go forward I see, to go back further in time and to my roots in lustration,” Watson says. “I’m impatient to finish a work so I can start the next one.”