From Ayr, Ontario to California and back again
J.J. Kenyon painting comes ‘home’
This rare J.J. Kenyon oil on canvas of a horse sold for $11,800 at Miller & Miller Auctions on February 8, 2020.
A rare and desirable J.J. Kenyon oil painting of a prized Clydesdale made its way back to Canada after hanging on a wall in southern California for the past 20 years.
Consigner Edward Cropley, who says he collects a variety of old things, discovered the painting in a consignment store in northern California. It was being sold as a “print”, but he instinctively knew otherwise. He loved the painting and immediately bought it for an undisclosed sum. “I grew up in the 1970s and the Clydesdale horses in the Budweiser ads made a big impression on me.” Cropley says there were a lot of upscale retirement homes in the area and speculates it may have come into the store via that route.
A 1986 Budweiser commercial featuring Clydesdale horses, the same breed of horse in J.J. Kenyon’s painting. Historically, the Clydesdale has been synonymous with Budweiser since the end of US Prohibition in 1933.
The painting by Kenyon (1862-1937) is titled ‘Custodian at 4 years. Imported by & the property of James Chandler, Ayr, Ontario.’ It’s signed in the lower left corner. It’s a bit of a mystery just exactly when Chandler owned Custodian, but according to the Clydesdale Stud Book of Canada, Volume VI from 1892, a horse named Custodian and fitting his description was imported into Canada from Scotland in 1883 by an Andrew Renwick, also from Ayr. According to the Clydesdale Horse Society of Britain and Ireland’s Stud Book Volume 12, James Chandler owned four other Clydesdales in the late 1800s, suggesting he was a significant player in the horse circuit.
Clydesdales typically weigh between 1,800 and 2,200 pounds – roughly double that of a standard horse. They’re “horses of superior quality,” according to canadianclydesdales.ca, known for their strength and ability to pull heavy loads. They were originally raised in Scotland’s Valley of the Clyde for more than 300 years – hence the name. The first Clydesdale was shipped to Canada in 1840.
How the J.J. Kenyan painting made its way all the way back to Miller & Miller Auctions in New Hamburg – just 30 kilometers from Ayr, where Custodian and his owner lived – is another story.
Cropley, who lives in California and works as a chief engineer with Marriott International, was researching J.J. Kenyon and discovered that owner James Chandler was a member of the Clydesdale Horse Association of Canada – a membership which cost the princely sum of $3 a year to maintain in the late 1800s. He also discovered that Miller & Miller Auctions had sold a Kenyon painting in 2018, so he contacted the auction house about selling his. Ironically, Miller & Miller is also located just 15 kilometers from Kenyon’s birthplace.
Rare Kenyon Oil Painting of a Horse sold at Miller's 2018 auction for $5175.
“I think I probably rescued it from being thrown out,” ventures Cropley. “Art really needs to be appreciated and I’ve enjoyed it on my wall for 20 years. But this is a Canadian artist and now it’s time for this painting to go home and be appreciated back in Canada. That’s always been a dream of mine.”
Kenyon owned horses, loved horses and loved painting them for other people. He was born in the hamlet of Washington, Ontario but in his mid-30s settled in Blair, Ontario where he established himself as a photographer and a painter. According to historical records, he followed the ‘Grand Circuit’ horse races where he would photograph winning horses, then paint them and sell the portraits to the horses’ owners. He is also reported to have painted horses at the historic Cruickston Park Farm, a large farm established near Blair in 1858, which became well known for breeding prize-winning horses. Interestingly, Kenyon also travelled to local schools and took class photographs, selling the prints to teachers and parents.
An aerial view of the historic Cruickston Park Farm where Kenyon reportedly painted prize-winning horses in 1858.
“J.J. Kenyon paintings are fairly rare and he is one of just a few painters who recorded prize-winning horses,” says Michael Rowan, a Green River, Ontario-area dealer in Canadiana and folk art, who also co-authored with John Fleming the 2012 book Canadian Folk Art to 1950. Rowan says the things that tend to drive value with Kenyon paintings are the interest in the names of the most famous horses, the fact they fit so well in the folk-art category, and the condition of the work itself.
“Kenyon really did get around and carried on the very British tradition of doing animal portraits in this country,” says Rowan. “Joseph Swift did similar work, but he just worked in watercolours and he died in the late 1880s.”
This J.J. Kenyon painting was offered in Miller & Miller’s Canadiana, Pottery & Folk Art auction on February 8, 2020. It sold for $11,800 (CAN).
Story by Diane Sewell
Auction Details: Canadiana, Pottery & Folk Art, February 8th, 2020. 9 am.
Live Auction Location: 59 Webster St. New Hamburg, Ontario. N3A 1W8
Sold For: $11,800
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