SPRING 2025: FINE ART
FEATURING: ROLAND GISSING
British born Roland Gissing came from a family of successful writers and poets, though young Gissing preferred the visual arts and, during his school years, drawing was a frequent pastime. During the era of “moving pictures”, Gissing became drawn to Canada, attracted by images of cowboy life and the Wild West that he saw in films.
He learned to ride a horse, then headed overseas at age 18, arriving in Calgary in 1913. He spent the next 10 years working at various ranches, travelling between Peace River and Mexico. A true renaissance man, Gissing continued to sketch and draw during this time, mostly Western and Cowboy scenes.
Roland Gissing
DITCHED; 1925
watercolour, ink and gouache on paper
8.5 x 10 in.
Gissing made the decision to become a professional artist in 1923, and began forging connections within the Calgary art community, including with R. L. Harvey (who oversaw the Calgary Exhibition & Stampede Art Department) and with Leonard Richmond (a CPR painter and influential art instructor). Richmond gave Gissing his first formal art instruction.
As was the fashion at the time, Gissing was trained in a traditional style and worked in the delicate mediums of pastel and watercolour. His body of work impressed Ernie Richardson (of the Calgary Stampede & Exhibition), who granted Gissing a one-man show, held February 1929 at the Calgary Public Library in Central Park. The inaugural exhibition was received with such enthusiasm that a second exhibition was held later that year, hosted by art dealer Jack Booth.
Roland Gissing
SOUTHERN ALBERTA LANDSCAPE WITH FOAL AND BISON SKULL
watercolour on illustration board
7.5 x 10.75 in.
Roland Gissing
THE DAY HERD; 1925
ink and wash on paper
8.5 x 12 in.
Roland Gissing
BOW LAKE AND CROWFOOT GLACIER
pastel on paper
17 x 23 in.
Gissing initially settled near the Ghost River, west of Cochrane, and later in life, moved his home and studio to a property south of Calgary (in the Dewinton area). His surroundings greatly influenced his work. Gissing would also travel extensively throughout southern Alberta on sketching trips, often accompanied by like-minded artist friends.
Roland Gissing
MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE
oil on board
14 x 18 in.
Roland Gissing
HILLS NEAR DEWINTON; 1960
oil on canvas
18 x 24 in.
Roland Gissing’s career was long and prodigious, spanning an incredible six decades. He became one of Alberta’s best-recognized and most sought-after artists. A populist at heart, he was truly “the people’s painter.”
Through his evocative scenes of mountains, ranchlands, harvests, and rolling foothills, Gissing helped shape the iconography of Alberta landscape art. True to his childhood dreams, he remained a working cowboy through most of his life.
Roland Gissing
HARVEST NEAR COCHRANE
oil on canvas
22 x 30 in.
