"Frederick Horsman Varley was a binge drinker, womanizer, and spendthrift. He was also a charter member of Canada's most famous band of painters, the Group of Seven, and in his own right, one of the country's finest and most inventive artists."--BOOK JACKET. "He is best known for the landscape paintings that were his chief contribution to the Group of Seven exhibitions. Of these, Stormy Weather, Georgian Bay, may be the most widely recognized and admired."--BOOK JACKET.

"He never held down a job for long. Although a fine portrait painter, he could not bring himself to curry favour with the powerful people who might have given him a living as a portraitist."--BOOK JACKET. "He was, above all, a committed bohemian who put his art before friends, family, and conventional appearances."--BOOK JACKET.

"Varley refused to turn out repeated renditions of the kind of landscape paintings that had given rise to his early fame. He needed new inspiration and sought it in new locations, from British Columbia to the Cape Breton highlands. The result is a varied body of work in which the enduring achievements are his early war pictures, his portraits, and landscapes from both the Group of Seven and later Lynn Valley, British Columbia, periods."--BOOK JACKET.