HumanitiesCMAJ

Science and art were Sir Frederick GrantBanting’s (1891–1941) “undiscover’dcountry”1 that he determinedly exploredthroughout his life.

Known to the world as the co-discoverer of insulin and co-recipient of the 1923 Nobel

Prize in Medicine, Banting’s diligentobservational skills as well as his pen-chant for detail and note taking, as bothscientist and physician, were applied toa variety of artistic pursuits. He hadhoped to pursue art full time after his50th birthday, but died in an airplanecrash in Newfoundland at the age of49. What remains of Banting’s artisticefforts is a legacy of hundreds of paint-ings and sketches of wilderness scenes,rural and town landscapes and thehuman form. They demonstrate Bant-ing’s capacity for intense observationand his desire to improve his skills asan artist even under harsh conditions.

In 1923, Banting stated that “If aman thinks hard enough he can accom-plish any rational task.”2 Banting’sachievements in science, and in art,were founded on hard work and thebelief that he could overcome obsta-cles. In the case of art, the obstaclesincluded learning the necessary skills.

Banting’s early exposure to art camefrom the illustrated books in the fam-ily’s library, including The Pilgrim’sProgress, Dickens’ novels, and ConanDoyle’s Sherlock Holmes series. As ayouth he became interested in pyrogra-phy, the art of burning images intowood. His great nephew, Bob Bantingreports that his uncle made objectsfrom wood throughout his life and wasconstantly whittling, as well as sketch-ing. Banting began painting water-colours in 1920 to pass the time whilewaiting for patients. After his scientificsuccess, painting became an escapefrom the fame and attention that the ret-icent Banting disliked so intensely.

In 1925, he joined the Arts & Let-ters Club in Toronto, Ont., where hebecame friends with the Group ofSeven’s founding member and one ofCanada’s leading landscape artists,A.Y. Jackson. The two had much incommon: they both served on theWestern Front during World War I andshared a love for the outdoors and land-scape painting. Over the next 16 years,the men enjoyed many painting excur-sions, some lasting as long as twomonths, beginning with a trip to ruralQuebec in March 1927 and including amemorable trip to the Eastern Arctic.They painted and sketched en plein air,lived in the rough and explored thewilderness. In, A Painter’s Country:The Autobiography of A.Y. Jackson,3

Jackson recalls one time when thesnow drifted into Banting’s sketch box

and Banting’s hands were so cold hecould barely paint. Banting reportedlysaid to Jackson, “And I thought thiswas a sissy game.”

Banting was always determined toimprove his work and would show Jack-son his sketches asking, “Now, what’swrong with it?” In a sketch book from atrip to the Rocky Mountains in 1928 hewrote that: “One gets out of life whatone puts into it. It is the same with sci-ence or the branches of art.”4

Certainly, Banting invested a lot oftime and effort into learning to sketchand paint, and in his lifetime he becameone of Canada’s best known amateurartists. During the Rocky Mountain trip,his detailed sketches display confidencein the bold strokes in charcoal penciland meticulous attention to detail in histotem poles and the peculiarities of

CMAJ© 2010 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

1

Art

The determined painter: Sir Frederick Banting

DO

I:10

.150

3/cm

aj.1

0123

2

Frederick Banting, French Countryside, 1937. Oil on canvas. 22 × 26 cm. Hart House Perma-nent Collection, University of Toronto. Donated by Lady Henrietta Banting, 1954. 1954.01

Har

t H

ou

se P

erm

anen

t C

olle

ctio

n

Early release, published at www.cmaj.ca on September 13, 2010. Subject to revision.

faces. In 1933, Banting’s sketches inSpain show a maturing skill.

Banting, the scientist was oft timesevident in his work. For example, theSpanish pencil and ink sketches have

detailed notations about the place, day,hour and minute the work was created.Another sketch includes notes aboutbirds, cells and fibroblasts. A 1908sketch book features a landscape with a

detailed grid charting the barometricfluctuations for the date Mar. 30, 1908.A few of Banting’s Rocky Mountainsketches had notes on colour and shad-ing, however, many of the Spanishland-, farm- and townscapes evoke apaint-by-numbers kit, as Banting,thinking like a painter and scientist, dis-sected his sketched scenes into blocksof colour and shading. One sketch of anold castle (10.8 × 17.5 cm), done onNov. 14, 1933 at 3 pm, is detailed withnotes like “blue shadows,” “3 cream toyellow ochre” and “towers red brown.”

Years of seeing internal landscapesthrough a microscope and looking forspecific elements in a slide, may alsohave taught Banting how to frame ascene and focus on important elementsfor a composition. In his Spanish town-scapes and Canadian city and farmscenes he used a 4 × 4 inch grid toensure the correct perspective, horizonline and vanishing point. In one sketchof a modern Canadian scene, faintly

CMAJ© 2010 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

2

Humanities

This picture of A.Y. Jackson (left) and Banting was taken aboard the Beothic on a 1927trip to Ellesmere Island.

The

Art

s &

Let

ters

Clu

b A

rch

ives

This sketch from Banting’s trip to the Rocky Mountains in 1928 shows the influence of A.Y. Jackson. (Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library,University of Toronto, MS COLL 76, Box 43B; Rocky Mountain sketch book, p. 4.)

Tho

mas

Fis

her

Rar

e B

oo

k Li

bra

ry

pencilled-in grid lines and a diagonalline are still visible. Banting’s Spanishstreet scenes, while architecturally accu-rate, lack passion as he seemed moreinterested in representing an exact ren-dering than a scene imbued with feelingand insight. It is in his sketches of Span-ish farmers and affectionate renderingsof animals where one can see Bantingbringing his interest in personality andits physical manifestations to play.

Banting’s paintings are more conser-vative. His brush strokes are controlledand the bold lines of his sketches areabsent, although he does take some riskwith colour. Dennis Reid, the formerdirector of Collections and Research atthe Art Gallery of Ontario, views Bant-ing as “very much under the shadow ofJackson,” that his paintings are the“work of an acolyte” whose work is“part of the Jackson story.”

This association continues to form abackdrop to his work. During his life-time Banting earned only $13.77 fromhis art work: royalties from the repro-duction of his paintings on postcards.Today, his works do extremely well atauction. Rooftops, Quebec City, an oilon panel work, recently sold for morethan $76 000. Robert Heffel, vice presi-dent of Heffel Fine Art said Banting’spaintings will continue to receive atten-tion at auction due to the Jackson asso-ciation, a “hook” for potential buyers.

Banting embraced challenge both inhis scientific research and in his art. Inboth realms his methods were methodi-cal, determined and inspired by a loveof discovery. “Scientific research,”Banting said “is nothing more than theendeavour to unfold the secrets ofnature. When once the law underlyingnatural phenomenon is understood, weare placed in a better position to governthose phenomena.”5 Art, like science,was another secret landscape Bantingwanted to explore.

J. Lynn Fraser BA(d) MESWriter and amateur painterToronto, Ont.

REFERENCES1. Hume SE. Frederick Banting: hero, healer, artist.

Montréal (QC): XYZ Publishers; 2001.2. Shaw MM. Frederick Banting. Don Mills (ON):

Fitzhenry & Whiteside; 1976.3. Jackson AY. The Arctic 1927. Moonbeam (ON):

Penumbra Press; 1982.4. Jackson AY. A painter’s country: the autobiography

of A.Y. Jackson. Toronto (ON): Clark, Irwin; 1958.5. Jackson AY. Banting as an artist. Toronto (ON):

The Ryerson Press; 1943.

CMAJ© 2010 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

3

Humanities

Frederick Banting, Elora, 1927. Oil on panel, 22 × 27 cm. Hart House Permanent Collec-tion, University of Toronto. Donated by A.Y. Jackson, 1962. 1962.02

Har

t H

ou

se P

erm

anen

t C

olle

ctio

n