Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

GEBURTSHAUS FRITZ SICK, TENINGEN

Date Range From

1910

Date Range To

1930

Materials

OIL, CANVAS, WOOD

No. Pieces

1

Height

63.5

Length

78.5

Width

6

Description

BROWN AND GOLD LAYERED FRAME HOLDS OIL PAINTING ON CANVAS. FRAME HAS MINOR SCRATCHES THROUGHOUT, AND MISSING PIECES FROM LOWER RIGHT CORNER. SCENE DEPICTS BAVARIAN-STYLE HOUSES ALONG A CURVED STREET, RENDERED IN THICK, VISIBLE BRUSHSTROKES. PALETTE IS MUTED PASTELS. SIGNED “W. MARTIN” IN LOWER RIGHT CORNER. PLAQUE AT CENTER OF FRAME’S BOTTOM EDGE IS ENGRAVED: “GEBURTSHAUS FRITZ SICK, TENINGEN”, WHICH LOOSELY TRANSLATES TO “FRITZ SICK’S BIRTHPLACE, TENINGEN”. REVERSE FRAME HAS “65” WRITTEN IN PENCIL AT BOTTOM CENTRE, AND REVERSE CANVAS IS SIGNED WITH “WILF MARTIN” AND MORE GERMAN WRITING IN BLACK PAINT. BLUE FELT TRIANGLES AT EACH CORNER OF THE FRAME. BENT NAILS SECURE CANVAS IN FRAME. COPPER HANGING WIRE.

Subjects

ART

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

History

THIS PAINTING ORGINALLY BELONGED TO FRITZ SICK, WHO FOUNDED THE LETHBRIDGE BREWERY IN 1901 AND FORMED THE ASSOCIATED BREWERIES OF CANADA IN 1928 WITH HIS SON EMIL (WHICH BECAME SICK’S BREWERIES LTD IN 1944). SICK WAS BORN IN GERMANY IN 1859, AND EMIGRATED WITH HIS WIFE AND YOUNG SON TO NORTH AMERICA IN 1883. PRIOR TO SETTLING IN LETHBRIDGE, SICK TRAINED IN BREWING FUNDAMENTALS IN CINCINNATI, WORKED IN BREWERIES IN SAN FRANCISCO, TACOMA, AND SPOKANE, AND ESTABLISHED BOTH THE TRAIL BREWING CO. AND FORT STEELE BREWING CO. IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. SICK’S BREWERY IN LETHBRIDGE BECAME FAMOUS FOR ITS OLD STYLE PILSNER, WHICH IS STILL PRODUCED TODAY BY MOLSON’S BREWING CO, FOLLOWING MOLSON’S PURCHASE OF SICK’S BREWERY IN 1959. IN APRIL 2011, GALT MUSEUM COLLECTIONS TECH KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED ELIZABETH BLAIR MATISZ, GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF FRITZ AND LOUISE SICK, ABOUT HER FAMILY’S HISTORY WITH LETHBRIDGE AND SOME OF HER GREAT-GRANDPARENTS BELONGINGS, INCLUDING THIS PAINTING. ELIZABETH SAID: “THAT IS FROM TENINGEN AND TENINGEN IS A LITTLE PLACE NOT FAR FROM, LIKE MY GREAT-GRANDMOTHER CAME FROM EMMENDINGEN BUT TENINGEN IS ONLY TWO KILOMETERS FROM EMMENDINGEN AND A LOT OF THE FAMILY KIND OF CAME FROM THERE. IT’S IN THE PART OF GERMANY THAT YOU WOULD CALL THE BLACK FOREST AND A LOT OF THE HOUSES LOOKED LIKE THAT, I DON’T THINK THE GERMANS CALLED IT TUDOR BUT THAT KIND OF TIMBER AND STUCCO KIND OF BUILDINGS. IT’S A, I GUESS YOU WOULD SAY IT’S KIND OF A QUAINT VILLAGE. WHEN I WENT THERE WITH MY GRANDMOTHER IN 1967 THERE WAS STILL A LOT OF RELATIVES STILL IN TENINGEN. SOME HAD BAKERIES, SOME HAD VARIOUS OTHER BUSINESSES BUT PEOPLE USED TO CALL US THE CANADISHA. THEY TREATED US REALLY WELL THERE AND EVERYWHERE YOU WENT THEY WERE GIVING YOU CAKES AND EVERYTHING. I THINK THEY CONSIDERED FRITZ SICK KIND OF A SON THAT DID REALLY WELL. YOU KNOW, HE WENT TO THE NEW WORLD SORT OF MADE HIS FORTUNE AS IT WERE. I DON’T, I REMEMBER BEING ON A STREET IN TENINGEN, BY THE TIME I WENT THIS PICTURE WOULD HAVE BEEN PAINTED A LONG TIME BEFORE I EVER WENT THERE SO I DON’T ACTUALLY REMEMBER SEEING THE HOUSE. I REMEMBER MY GRANDMOTHER SHOWING ME OTHER HOUSES… I SUSPECT THAT SOMBODY IN GERMANY HAD IT PAINTED FOR [MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER] AND GAVE IT TO HIM AS A GIFT… I THINK THAT PROBABLY FOR ME AND MY PARENTS AND PROBABLY FOR MY BROTHERS TOO, I THINK [MY GREAT-GRANDPARENTS’ BELONGINGS] ARE KIND OF A LINK TO THE PAST. YOU KNOW, THAT THEY ARE A PART OF YOUR HISTORY AND THERE’S SOMETHING THAT SEEMS OF VALUE THERE, WHERE YOU CAN, YOU KNOW, YOU ARE HERE BECAUSE THEY WERE HERE, AND THEY WERE HERE BECAUSE THEIR PARENTS WERE HERE, AND I FIND IT INTERESTING TO SEE THAT LINK…IT’S JUST KIND OF FASCINATING TO HAVE THESE THINGS HANDED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION AND SEE WHERE NOT JUST YOUR, YOU KNOW YOUR PARENTS AND YOU KNOW YOUR AUNTS AND UNCLES AND YOU KNOW YOUR GRANDPARENTS, BUT THIS TAKES YOU BACK EVEN FURTHER AND, I REMEMBER WHEN I WENT TO GERMANY WITH MY GRANDMOTHER, THAT IT WAS SUCH A SHOCK TO MEET RELATIVES THAT I HAD NEVER MET BEFORE, BUT WHO LOOKED LIKE MY DAD, YOU KNOW, IT WAS, THERE WAS SOMETHING PROFOUND ABOUT IT, THAT, IT’S ALMOST AS THOUGH WE HAVE THIS YEARNING IN OURSELVES TO KNOW WHERE WE CAME FROM. THAT’S WHAT THE OBJECTS KIND OF HAVE ALWAYS BEEN LIKE TO ME, EVEN IF I DON’T KNOW ALL THE STORIES BEHIND EVERY ONE OF THEM. I FIND THERE IS SOMETHING PROFOUND ABOUT PICKING UP SOMETHING LIKE THIS AND THINKING, WOW, YOU KNOW, THIS GOES BACK A LONG WAY. ” FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND A TRANSCRIPT OF THE INTERVIEW, SEE PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P20130007002

Acquisition Date

2013-04

Collection

Museum

Less detail