Confession: until today I knew nothing about Alan Beddoe, or any of this. His pieces have been in our house for at least a year. Today I finally went down the rabbit hole.
Turns out Alan Brookman Beddoe (1893-1975) supervised the illumination of the Books of Remembrance in the Peace Tower, designed badges for 180+ Royal Canadian Navy ships, drew the coats of arms for Yukon and the NWT, and designed the Pearson Pennant during the 1964 flag debate.
He also painted. Here's what we've apparently been living with:
- Pastels of Ottawa and Gatineau: Wellington St., the Rideau River railway bridge, the cement factory in Hull, Gatineau farms
- A winter river scene signed and dated '36
- A stack of loose watercolour sketches
- A 1933 calendar from his own ad studio at 185 Sparks St. (phone number: Queen 2995)
The framed ones carry numbered estate labels from 1995, and the numbers go up to at least 42, so someone once catalogued a lot of his work.
Anyone here know his easel work, or the Ottawa commercial art scene in the 30s? I'm very new to all of this.