Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Hurley / Westcott Collection
General material designation
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Level of description
Fonds
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Edition area
Edition statement
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Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
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Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1937-1980 (inclusive); 1971-1980 (predominant) (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
8 cm of textual records
57 photographs and slide positives
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born in London, England on March 26, 1894, Robert Hurley trained as an apprentice printer-compositor before serving in the Suffolk Regiment (1917-1920). In 1923, Hurley immigrated to Canada and moved to Saskatoon in 1930. Finding himself unemployed at the age of forty during the Depression, Hurley began to paint with berry juices and a toothbrush. Largely self-taught with only a few classes from Ernest Lindner, he quickly became well known in Saskatchewan and other parts of Canada for his treatment of the prairie landscape. His first showing was at a 1935 exhibition with the Manitoba Society of Artists in Winnipeg. In Saskatoon, he worked as a plant technician with the Dominion Plant Pathology Laboratory on the University of Saskatchewan campus alongside Dr. Ralph C. Russell. Hurley and Russell made many field excursions across the prairies. Hurley remained in Saskatchewan until 1963 when he retired to Victoria, British Columbia. He lived in Victoria until his death in 1980.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Jim Westcott was an undergraduate student in psychology at the University of Saskatchewan when he met Robert Hurley in 1949. It was the beginning of a friendship which continued until Hurley’s death in 1980. Wescott moved to Montreal where he earned an MA in psychology; and after briefly beginning studies for his PhD, switched disciplines and earned an MBA at the University of Pennsylvania. He worked in human relations throughout his career, eventually settling in Toronto. There, Westcott became active in promoting and selling Hurley’s artwork and came to own many pieces himself. He described himself as “an art collector, go between and the keeper of the Hurley Archives” (Novum in Libris, University of Saskatchewan Library, Spring 2009).
Custodial history
This collection contains materials created by Robert Hurley, and sent to (or, in the case of some paintings, purchased from Hurley by) Jim Westcott over the course of their friendship. The OS paintings were acquired from the Kenderdine, who acquired them from Westcott.
Scope and content
The Westcott-Hurley Collection contains many finished paintings, sketches, and experimental artworks by Hurley as well as correspondence, newspaper clippings, slides and photographs of Hurley, as well as his family, friends, and things that interested him.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
No restrictions on access.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Uploaded finding aid
Associated materials
Russell/Walker/Hurley fonds, the Robert N. Hurley fonds, and the J.A.E Child fonds.