Vintage: The City of Bridges

Pastel on print - Broadway bridge with Bessborough Hotel, 1969

Fritz never did run out of motifs, and both the prairies and the layout of the city of Saskatoon fascinated him. The 'City of Bridges' offered so many scenic views, as evidenced by the many sketches and prints in the collection. The vast prairie however, might have been more of a challenge? When first arriving, someone did tell him about the long winters - the white on white and flat 'nothing to see' misconception. Some of these classic motifs are available in print now: Landscape Art Publishing prints

White on White

Watercolour, 1982

Fritz on a frozen lake, capturing the beauty of winter. Colour fading photo by W.Stehwien

Capturing History

 

 

 

Traffic Bridge and Rotary Park with the Blairmore Ring, ca.1980

As Saskatoon lost more of its history today, looking at the vast Stehwien collection, one is reminded that not only an artist's works are preserved, but also images of significant landmarks. The Saskatoon skyline has changed over the years, but mostly in expansion - new buildings, new bridges. Today the removal of more of the Victoria Bridge, or the Traffic Bridge, has added more historical value to these 'City of Bridges' sketches by Fritz.

Saskatoon Skyline 1969 (Have the limited edition prints just gone up in value? Still a few for sale)

Not just city skylines are changing, the prairie landscape has also seen the tearing down of many of the much loved old wooden grain elevators. Paintings and photos of these have become classics.