Royal Collection
A portfolio of watercolours by
CSPWC members is part of the permanent collection of
Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle.
The Canadian Society of Painters
in Water Colour is the only organization outside of the
United Kingdom that has attained this honour.
The project began to celebrate
the 60th Anniversary of the CSPWC in 1985. Spearheaded
by Anthony J. Batten and president, Gery Puley (1984-85),
the society collected 60 paintings from its members and
presented them to the Queen’s Collection.
To celebrate the 75th anniversary
of the Society in 2000, Anthony Batten again came to
the fore. He organized a national competition to add
to the collection so that it would contain a painting
for every year of the Society’s life. Over eighty
artists from across the country, who were not represented
in the original portfolio, submitted work. Out of these,
fifteen paintings were selected.
The fifteen paintings were unveiled
at the gala 75th anniversary dinner at the Arts and Letters
Club, attended by Hilary Weston, Lieutenant Governor
of Ontario on November 11th, 2000. The paintings were
exhibited to the public at the O’Connor Gallery,
18 Maitland St., Toronto later in the year.
During December of 2001, the paintings
were shown at Canada House in Trafalgar Square, London.
On December 10th Prince Charles officially accepted the
works on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen.
In 2002 Anthony Batten was awarded
a Queens Golden Jubilee Medal for his work on this project.
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