Open Collections

Kuthan, George

Printed in black and red ink on blue paper. The image includes a border in black ink surrounding the image of a ship in red ink and text in black ink. What appears to be a small letter 'K' in red ink is to the right of the ship.

Ships; Marine drawings

Gale, W. E.

Still Image

The artist, George Kuthan, was born in Klatovy, Czechoslovakia, in 1916 and died in 1966. Kuthan studied at the University of Prague until it closed in 1939 due to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, at which point he began studying art at Prague's School of Decorative Arts. Kuthan began his professional career as an artist while in Paris and continued to hold exhibitions of his work after immigrating to Vancouver, Canada, in 1950. Kuthan's work largely consists of linocuts, woodblocks, and pen and ink drawings. He produced a large number of works, including published books: Kuthan's Menagerie of Interesting Zoo Animals (1960), Vancouver: Sights and Insights (1962), Aphrodite's cup (1964), and Scenes from Snowbound (1970). The University of British Columbia holds many of Kuthan's works including three of the books mentioned above and the George Kuthan fonds. While the identity of the owner of the bookplate, W.E. Gale, is not certain, it is possible that the bookplate belonged to William Esteen Gale of Vancouver, Canada. William Gale was born in 1906 and immigrated to Canada in 1912. By 1936, William Gale worked in the mortgage loan industry, eventually founding his own company, W.E. Gale Mortgage Company Ltd., in 1954. He produced two books related to his profession and was a collector of First Nations artifacts, rare books, and paintings. William Gale died in 1987.
References:
1) 'George Kuthan.' Heavenly Monkey. 25 January 2011 .
2) 'George Kuthan, Vancouver Artist.' Finding aid at the University of British Columbia Rare Books and Special Collections: Archives. 25 January 2011 .
3) Kuthan, George. Aphrodite's Cup. North Vancouver: Honeysuckle Press, 1964.
4) Kuthan, George, and Donald Stainsby. Vancouver: Sights and Insights. Toronto: Macmillan, 1962.
5) 'William Gale Fonds.' Finding aid at the West Vancouver Archives. Memory BC: The British Columbia Archival Information Network. 25 January 2011 .
6) Whittier, John Greenleaf, and George Kuthan. Scenes from Snow-Bound. San Francisco: A.R. Tommasini, 1970.

RBSC Bookplates

2026-04-10

Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from Rare Books and Special Collections: http://rbsc.library.ubc.ca

CONTENTdm