ARTIST: Shannon Stirnweis (Arizona, New York, New Hampshire, Oregon, 1931 - 2019)
NAME: Fort William
YEAR: 1983
MEDIUM: acrylic on board
CONDITION: Excellent. No visible inpaint under UV light.
SIGHT SIZE: 20 x 18 inches / 50 x 45 cm
BOARD SIZE: 23 x 20 inches / 58 x 50 cm
SIGNATURE: lower right
NOTE: This painting is the original painting which was published on the Fleetwood First Day Cover for the Canada 32c Fort William stamp issue June 30, 1983. As early trappers and traders began to realize the natural bounty the New World had to offer them, they built fur trading posts and trading centers on the frontier. Many of these were located along the seacoast, rivers and lakes so that the trappers and traders could use the waterways to transport their wares. One such trading center was Fort William, located at Thunder Bay, an inlet on Lake Superior. The first white settlement at the site of Fort William was probably Dulhut's fur-trading post built in 1678. However, a more substantial French fort, Kaministikwia, was erected in 1717 and later abandoned after the Seven Years' War. After the war, Montreal traders used the Grand Portage-Pigeon River route south of Fort William to transport their wares. However, when the American border was set along the Pigeon River, the British traders rediscovered the French route to the west. Between 1801 and 1805, the English built a fort on Thunder Bay, naming it Fort William after William McGillivray, principal director of the North West Company. Fort William soon became the inland headquarters of the North West Company and served as a major trading depot for trading expeditions into the West. From 1802 until 1821, when the North West Company merged with the Hudson Bay Company, and the Nor'Westers, as the traders were called, met annually at Fort William. After 1821, the main trade route for the merged company was switched to Hudson Bay and Fort William became an obscure post.
PROVENANCE: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation.
CATEGORY: antique vintage painting
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BIOGRAPHY:
Born in Portland, Oregon, Shannon Stirnweis settled in New York City, where he earned a reputation for his illustration work and fine art painting. He studied at the University of Oregon, the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, and with Pruett Carter.He served in the U.S. Army as an illustrator and had special assignments in a variety of places that included the Berlin Wall, the Everglades, Arizona, and Alaska. He was also an illustrator for Sportsman Magazine, and Field and Stream as well as for books, posters, and ads. After serving two years as President of the Society of Illustrators in New York he entered the field of gallery painting. His skills as an illustrator served him well when he focused later on the history of the Old West.He is represented in the permanent collections of the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army Historical Museum, U.S. Coast Guard, Leaning Tree, Marriott, Grumbacher, Rumley, C.B.S., Burt Reynolds, California Federal Savings, University of Texas (El Paso), University of Wyoming and the Pippin Museum. He has participated in shows at the Hunterton Art Center, New York Historical Society and the Smithsonian.