I can tell you that he taught modeling and watercolor painting for Central Technical School which was situated where the old Beverly Robinson Club used to be and turned into the Police Offices for Toronto. I learned from Alfred Howell who took over his job that the swimming pool was made into the sculpting court. The reproductions I see from the information I gathered show a wonderful club.
It seems the school started in 1900 and is still going today but located on Lippincott Street and Harbord. The present technical school has four miles of corridors in all. I attended that school in 1945-50 and know every part of it.
I was more then excited to gather this information that I believe to be very valuable in the history making of our art school.
The teaching record tells me that from 1906 to 1913 John Lisney Banks was the instructor for clay modeling being paid $600.00 for the whole term. The wages went up a little until they reached $1,600.00 and included the teaching of Watercolours. This comes from the Toronto Board of Education.
For the department of Architecture for the University of Toronto their records give him $500.00 for modeling (part time) in 1912. From 1916 he is listed as part time right up to 1921. He got $1,000.00 for 1921 as lecturer (sessional appointment- part time)
I have him listed as moving to Woodstock U.S.A. where there was an active art colony in progress. He taught at the Troy Art School as I gather from the press clippings I have in my collection. Unfortunately the dates are missing but he certainly was active in both sculpting and water colour paintings.
I have seen one of his large reliefs of the Voyageurs in the private collection of John Acton Bond who designed the interiors of the lake boats for Ontario.
John had to know everything there was to sculpting to survive those first years of growth in Canada. He did work for architects like everyone else in the field. McKim Meade and White was no exception. He claims classical designs in the Boston and Columbia Libraries. His use of material was just right. From a "Tiger Hunt" on an elephant to his own children's portraits he was a master. I just love his "Napoleon relief.. the Gilbert Hasbrouck , Judge from New York City, portrait is as fine as they come. "Farm scenes" animals of all kinds from bears to horses, wolves. "Putting the shot" is one of sports as is "Lifting the weight" is a small figure as are reclining figures. Where would he be if he could not carve and Eagle".
I get a thrill from his "Le Printemps" rearing horses in high relief in plaster similar to those in the Philadelphia train station done by a German sculptor Carl Bitter.
He made his mark in his lifetime but it was not a good time for sculpting and sculptors as I have learned. Very few classes were offered for the student to gain the craft and skill you had to have to do architectural works.
I think if you look at the sculptors I have named in this project you will then understand what was going on in this part of the world. We haven't had hundreds of years of building buildings like in Europe and Italy.
I am amazed that there was this much going on in the way of decorating our Public buildings let alone those of our government.
The number of carvers who worked on the Old Toronto City Hall has never to my knowledge been credited. They were all so busy they did not know what the next carver was doing. That is why they could get away with secretly getting the name of the architect carved undetected. I would like to record that one.
Lots of things to do and find out and this is just a start for some student who wants to get a degree for doing a just search of our past.
