Historical Paintings at the Museum - Brought to Life With Some History

Stephanie Lipsit

Here in the museum, we have various artwork on display. I have always been curious who the artists behind the paintings have been.

I started by looking at two paintings painted by Adrian Germiquet. Both paintings were commissioned by the city of Prince Albert in the 30's.

Adrian was hired to paint signs for relief work, but when they found out he painted, he was asked to paint his vision of the future of Prince Albert. Looking at the paintings, you can see where he put docks on the river where planes would land, and you can even see the fire hall (now the Historical Museum).

The other painting show a birds eye view of Prince Albert, and from never being in a plane before, Adrian painted it quite accurately.

Adrian emigrated from Switzerland, where he and his family first settled in Leask, but they soon moved to Prince Albert. It turns out, Adrian's son, Paul Germiquet was also as artist, and went on to win art competitions in Vancouver. Paul was born October 18th, 1918, and he attended school at King George.

When he was a child he loved both art and music, but he chose to pursue music instead. Even though his father encouraged his art making all throughout his life, and Paul did take the odd class, he never pursued it until he retired. In 1940, Paul joined the war, and during this time he did many sketches, often they were soldier’s portraits. In 1987,

Paul was 70 years old, and that is when he started his art making. All of Paul's life experiences were reflected in his work, often there were fields or farms with animals and machinery. This reflected back to when he worked on a farm before the war. Paul sketched what was around him, and he paid very close attention to detail. Machines were so descript, and landmark buildings were accurate.

He used many mediums such as pen and ink, pastels, charcoal and colored pencils. Paul took a casual art class here and there, but never went to school for it. He thought that an instructor could influence an artist’s style, and he did not want to absorb the style of another, besides he already understood colour and balance, and how to plan a piece. Although Paul had no formal training, he soon began receiving requests for work.

He was able to get to know people, and figure out what they wanted, and make it for them. Later, for many years the focus of his art was the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver. He did win a couple times, one award was the 'Most Outstanding Entry', and another was the 'PNE Best in Show'.

Now he continues his practice in Glenfell. In the museum, we have one piece that he did named 'The Last View of Prince Albert'. In honour of his brother George, who was lost at war, Paul imagines this to be George’s last view of Prince Albert. The drawing is the view from the window of Burns Foods, looking at the old railway station and a train.

Addendum—The Historical Museum has received a third Adrian Germiquet painting, this one of Cook Municipal Golf Course.