"It Was a Real Place Then"
the Lure of the Wild

an exhibit of portraits from the
Harmon Gallery Collection

"What was Banff like when you first arrived?" someone asked Jimmy Simpson, guide, trapper, hunter, resort owner. He replied,

"Well, we used to play poker in the police barracks, and we used to play polo where the Mount Royal is; we didn't have a decent Main Street until R.B. Bennett lost one of his rubbers in the mud and said, "I'll have this damned street paved." What was Banff like? It was a real place then".

I believe this quotation from Jimmy Simpson Senior was in response to a question asked by Catherine Whyte many years after the era he was referring to. It is redolent with nostalgia for the wilder, freer life which The Canadian Rockies offered for so many people through the years; Jimmy himself exemplified that spirit.

In the early twentieth century The Canadian Rockies were one of the few remaining true wilderness areas on the globe. Independent souls cast off lives in bustling cities, wealthy families, promising careers, and sometimes abject poverty, in search of a wilder freer life without the social and economic constraints of “civilization”. Many of these were men who gravitated to the self-sufficiency and freedom of a life in the wilderness. Others were spiritual seekers, artists, and adventurers.

Jimmy Simpson

Women were attracted by the same enchantments as men and either chose such a life for themselves or followed the glamorous men who seduced them with wilderness tales.

This exhibition focuses on portraits of several individuals who have lived the lure of the wild including Jimmy Simpson, Ike Mills, Aileen Harmon, Bert Mickle and Sam Evans.

HARMON
GALLERY

111 Banff Avenue in Harmony Lane

Public Opening August 8, 2009

A part of Banff Art Walk and Open Doors Banff, 2009

Aileen Harmon