70 Paintings by Carl Ahrens: Canada’s “Painter of Trees” and His Galt Home
The latest video in my YouTube series, True North Palettes: 100 Canadian Paintings , is up, and this one is a little different. It features 70 paintings by Carl Henry Ahrens (1862–1936), the landscape painter known as Canada’s “Artist of Trees.” It was made in cooperation with Kim Bullock, the youngest great-grandchild of Carl and Madonna Ahrens, who has spent years keeping his story and his art in front of the public. If you’ve followed the series, you’ve already seen Frank Panabaker and Farquhar McGillivray Knowles . I’ve gone with 70 paintings for Carl because that’s the body of work Kim and I could bring together for this showcase, and it makes a strong, focused tribute. Who Was Carl Ahrens? Carl Ahrens was born on February 15, 1862, in Winfield, Ontario, and raised mostly in Berlin (now Kitchener) in Waterloo County. As a boy he contracted tuberculosis, which settled in his hip and left him with a limp and chronic pain for the rest of his life. It never slowed his spirit. He w...
