Robert H. Savery

1902-1980
Artist, landscape architect, public servant

Notes and References

The following sources were helpful in writing a biographical sketch of Robert H. Savery. The images show the breadth of his creative work, which was certainly not limited to the design of commemorative fountains.

"Commercial Fishers," ink drawing shown at the Second Annual British Columbia at Work Exhibition, sponsored by the Labor Arts Guild and held at the Vancouver Art Gallery, 13 November-2 December 1945.
Exhibition catalogue courtesy of the BC Labour History Centre. Image courtesy of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. 1976.004.001.

A drawing created for the B.C. centennial celebrations in 1958 and used for a series of souvenir cards.
Image courtesy Royal BC Museum/ BC Archives: PR2379.

A detail from a tourist brochure advertising Salt Spring Island and the lodge at Vesuvius Bay, B.C.
Image courtesy Royal BC Museum/ BC Archives: PR 2379.

ARCHIVAL MATERIAL

Royal BC Museum/BC Archives. PR-2379. Robert H. Savery fonds.
This collection comprises artwork, notes, and ephemera. In particular, see MS-3352, which consists of sketchbooks and personal scrapbooks with newspaper clippings.

Drawing of a belted kingfisher from one of Savery's sketch books.
Royal BC Museum/BC Archives: PDP09596.

GOVERNMENT RECORDS

British Columbia. Annual Reports of the Department of Education, 1937-1944.

British Columbia. Annual Reports of the Department of Public Works, 1944-1970.

NEWSPAPERS

“Artists Cry Out Against Fountain/ ‘Shocked’ Colony Up in Arms over ‘Absolutely Dreadful’ B.C. Gift to City,” Victoria Daily Colonist (8 June 1961), Second News Section, p. 17.

“Artistic Infighter Battles Fountain/Facsimile, Not Design Says UBC Professor," Victoria Daily Colonist (10 June 1961), p. 13.

“Fountain Furore International/Pacific Northwest Group Also Unhappy,” Victoria Daily Times (10 June 1961), p. 19.

"Fountain Fury Flows," Montreal Gazette (20 June 1961), p. 6J.

Obituary: "Robert Hubert Savery," Victoria Times Colonist (23 January 1980), p. 51.

ONLINE REFENCES AND RESOURCES

Gary Sim, "Robert Hubert Savery," in Gary Sim, comp. and ed., British Columbia Artists.

BLOGPOST

Eve Lazarus, “Robert Savery. Our Missing Heritage: The Centennial Fountain,” (14 November 2020)
Every Place Has A Story.