Ross Butler (artist)

February 17 to June 30, 2018, the Woodstock Art Gallery (Ontario) housed a retrospective exhibition of his life's work. The exhibition was called Ross Butler: Branding, Butter, and Bulls, and was curated by the Curatorial and Collections Assistant Samantha Purvis-Johnston. The exhibition was accompanied by a publication and its contents are found below:

BIBLIOGRAPHY Simpson, Pamela H. "Butter Cows and Butter Ladies." In Corn Palaces and Butter Queens: A History of Crop Art and Dairy Sculpture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012. The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Accessed Oct. & Nov. 2017. http://www.royalfair.org/. Holstein Canada. 2018. Accessed Nov. & Dec. 2017. https://www.holstein.ca/en/Public. Butler, David. Ross Butler Gallery. Accessed Nov. & Dec. 2017. http://www.rossbutler.gallery/. Cooper, Bonnie E., ed. "Shows and All-Canadians." Compiled by Bruce N. Murchison. Holstein Canada: Century of Achievement, 132-38. Crawford-Siano, Irene. Journey to perfection: the agricultural art of Ross Butler. Kingston, Ont.: Quarry Press, 1997. "Dawes Black Horse Collection." Black Horse. August 07, 2013. Accessed Oct. & Nov. 2017. http://villedemtl.ca/pourboireilfautvendre/en/3_0/dawes_black_horse_collection. "History." Canadian National Exhibition. 2018. Accessed Nov. & Dec. 2017. https://theex.com/footer/about-the-cne/history/. "Inductee Details: Ross Butler." Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. Accessed Nov. & Dec. 2017. http://www.cahfa.com/en-us/inductees/ross-butler. Lewington, Peter. Canada's Holsteins. Edited by Frank English. Markham, ON: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, 1983. World News: The Queen is sculpted in butter. Performed by Ross Butler. Warner Pathe News, 1952. Accessed from the Sherman Grinberg Film Library, 2018.

Butler's achievements as an agricultural artist were recognized posthumously in June 1997, when he was inducted into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame at the Agricultural Museum in Milton, Ontario and into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in November, 1997, at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto.

He died in 1995 at his 100-acre (0.40 km) studio-art gallery-farm in Oxford County, south of Woodstock, on Highway #59. Today, the Butler studio-art gallery-farm is operated by his son, David Butler.

Newsmaker Update: Artist's career started on the farm by Julie Carl, The London Free Press, Friday, November 13, 1992, page B-7.

All works: Ross Butler. Dimensions in cm height x width x length. Cover Image All Canadian Holsteins, c. 1976. Oil on Masonite, 122 x 244. 1 Jersey Cow, c. 1934. Pastel on Paper, 61 x 91.5. 2 Jersey Bull, c. 1934. Pastel on Paper, 61 x 91.5. 3 Jersey Canada Logo, 1981. Oil on two-tiered Masonite, 66 dia. 4 Black Horse (Dawes Brewery Commission), c. 1940. Hand-painted plaster, 48 x 28 x 48. 5 Percheron Stallion, 1938. Oil on Canvas, 76 x 91.5. 6 Percheron Mare, 1938. Oil on Canvas, 76 x 91.5. 7 Royal Review, c. 1974. Oil on Masonite, 122 x 244

Ross Butler's All Canadian Holsteins – The Cattle upon the Thousand Hills (1976), shows the best of the breed in each class from 1975. Like many of his works, it serves as a guide for breeders to consult when mastering their herd standards. The painting captures the impressive parade of living Holsteins and represents the artist's fortitude and passion for celebrating the animals’ excellence through equally excellent representations. Like many of his imagined animals, the All Canadian Holsteins, each uniquely patterned, have separate personalities and a character of their own, since they are portraits of living animals.

Only one year prior, Ross Butler painted the captivating Royal Review (1974) for the RAWF. Departing from his typical portraiture, Butler assembled a vision of champions heading to the fair. The group portrait assumes a wonderfully imaginative scenario with multiple vanishing points that suggest a journey, but one with no distinct start or finish. Since the painting proved favourable to the thousands of fair attendees, Butler found an excited audience to purchase his reproductions. The popularity of the Royal Review drew hundreds of visitors to Woodstock, and the reproductions continue to enjoy similar success.

Ross Butler, was known as "the world's leading livestock artist". He created more than 500 works in his lifetime. His painting of the Springbank Snow Countess was the model for the Springbank Snow Countess monument located on Dundas Street East in Woodstock, Ontario. Another of his sculptures was at the Canadian National Exhibition in 1952. It was a life-size butter sculpture of Queen Elizabeth II and her horse, Winston, to commemorate her coronation.

Butler's arguably most recognized involvement at the fairs were his butter sculptures at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (RAWF). The artist was amused by the concept of a cow made from butter – a reversal of nature. Over his lifetime, Ross impressively formed more than ten life-size sculptures featuring both Canadian and agricultural icons. The most renowned of them, Queen Elizabeth on her Horse Winston, sculpted in 1952 for the CNE, garnered international fame and awarded Ross the trip of a lifetime to England to take part as a media presence at the Queen's coronation.

Ross Butler's commissioned designs exemplify his determination and the journey of forming a legacy within the canon of agricultural art. He leveraged his strongest creation, the True Type. Following much opposition, he eventually secured a contract with the Department of Education that dispersed hundreds of thousands of his photolithographs to decorate the walls of schools across Canada. This contract would transform his cows and bulls into icons of Canada's agrarian past. Some of Butler's earliest initiatives included painted glass slides that were displayed on the Capitol Theatre's screen before the showing of each movie. This venture may not have carried fiscal gains, but that did not deter an inspired artist. He found inventive ways to continually express his creativity, like the darling “rain shoe” – a stylish art deco design that protects a walker's calf from splattered mud. The design was successfully patented by Butler and then purchased by the Dominion Rubber Company. Butler was also known to have expressed his affections through poetry and song. His tender ode from 1929, “You’re My One Rose,” claimed popularity but rarely involved monetary profits. He also went on to develop a number of branding assignments for various associations and businesses, including the Township of Norwich, Dawes Brewery in Quebec, and the aforementioned Jersey Canada.

Butler began his career as an artist in earnest in the 1920s with a few commissioned portraits and paintings of animals. Notability came in 1939 when Butler was commissioned by the education and agriculture ministries to create a series of pictures of farm animals to be placed in schools across Canada.

Ross Butler (1907–1995) was a farmer, photographer, songwriter, livestock judge, cattle and poultry breeder, pioneer of cattle artificial insemination, painter and sculptor of farm animals, as well as a writer.

Butler was born in 1907 in Norwich, Ontario, Canada. He was a descendant of United Empire Loyalist Colonel John Butler.

Ross Butler (1907–1997), born into a farming family in Norwich, Ontario, would begin to brand his legacy not in the art historical context but instead in the agricultural community of Oxford County. While he painted an impressive variety of livestock portraits and landscapes, his true inspiration was the Jersey cow. His fascination ignited at an early age when, after witnessing a groundbreaking sale of a Holstein cow, he convinced his father to purchase registered purebred pedigreed Jerseys for the potential of a similar windfall. The sale captured his attention and wonder about what exactly had made this cow special. Ross Butler would become the primary caretaker for his father's newly acquired livestock, and at the age of twelve he recorded their daily habits and illustrated their pedigrees.

The CNE was first hosted in 1879 and continues to exhibit current technologies, consumer innovations, and creative ingenuities from the nation's leading industrialists and artists. Livestock fairs showcase thousands of animal breeds, highlighting the most desired traits associated with the purpose of breed reproduction. Inaugurated in 1922, the RAWF is the largest indoor combined agricultural fair and competition in the world. It is held annually in the Coliseum at Exhibition Place in Toronto, excluding the nine years of Canada's participation in WWII. Cancelling the CNE and the RAWF during WWII resulted in the founding of the All Canadian Holstein contest in 1942, sponsored by the Holstein Journal. Inspired by the All-American awards, the All Canadian celebrates the best animals in each class and shows cattle exclusively bred in Canada.

Over 250 years ago, in 1765, Canada held its first fair in Windsor, Nova Scotia. Since then, Canadian fairs have become a conventional community feature in many cities, reaching to the west coast. For Ross Butler, the fairgrounds were exciting, rewarding, and undoubtedly the cultural hub for agricultural communities. His involvement at the fairs started at a young age when he was employed to watch over the cattle for his neighbour, Beryl Hanmer, at the Guelph Winter Fair in 1922. To his amazement, the fair showed thousands of breeds of animals, rewarding an educational experience that surely inspired his calling. His childhood delight for the fair never waned. Among many others, Ross Butler participated at both the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (RAWF). His contribution respectfully illustrated his dual attendance in the agricultural community: through his livestock rearing and his artistic makings.