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Item Name: Drawing
Title: Two Birds on a Branch
Maker: Jan Gerrit Wyers
Year: n.d.
Country: Canadian
Materials: pastel and watercolour on paper
Measurements: overall: 35.8 cm x 26.3 cm
ID Number: PC83.1.92
Legal Status: PERMANENT COLLECTION


Extended Label Info: Jan Gerrit Wyers was a self-taught artist known for his folk-art paintings of Saskatchewan life. As a hard-working farmer, Wyers spent time in the winter months painting images reflecting his daily life. This image of two birds reflects Wyers’ love of the colour red, using it whenever he could. Despite his physical ailments he continued to paint well into his senior years, creating a body of work that reflects a well-lived prairie life. Jan Wyers (1888- 1973) was born in the farming community of Emmer, Holland. He immigrated to the United States in 1913 and in 1916, he moved to Canada and settled near Windthorst, Saskatchewan. Wyers started painting in 1937 and exhibited his work in the Saskatchewan Arts Board's 7th Annual Saskatchewan Art Exhibition in 1956. In 1959, eight of his paintings were included in “Folk Painters of the Canadian West,” a touring exhibition of the National Gallery of Canada. That same year, the Mackenzie Art Gallery (Regina) acquired his largest painting, “These Good Old Threshing Days,” which was then featured on the cover of Canadian Art magazine. He also received an Award of Merit for a work entitled "The First Saskatchewan Harvest." Wyers was self-taught, and his subject matter included memories of his life and farming, wanting others to remember a traditional way of living.