William Alexander Drake ALNY, NSMP, A&LCT (November 7, 1891 – April 8, 1979)

A prominent Canadian/American theatrical designer, painter, printmaker, draftsman, and educator, William Alexander Drake was born in Toronto, Ontario and died in Bergenfield, New Jersey (about 20 miles north of New York City) where he had lived for many years. Drake worked in the early motion picture business in New Jersey, he taught at Yale University, he exhibited his paintings with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, he was a scenic artist for live theater in New York City for over 60 years, and he was an art director for NBC TV. He created scenery for some of the most famous Broadway plays and his paintings, prints and drawings are in several museum collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Canada. (1)(2)(3)

His mediums included oils, watercolors, graphite, etching, lithograph, and dry point. His subjects included figures, landscapes, still life, rural scenes, marine scenes, street scenes, boats, buildings and genre. The locations included France, Belgium, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York and Ontario; and, most likely Roche's Point on Lake Simcoe north of Toronto where Drake had a summer home for many years. His styles could be described as Impressionism*, Naturalism*, Post Impressionism* and Realism*. The askART auction results have some good illustrations of his paintings.

Drake studied intermittently (c.1905 – 1914) at the Central Ontario School of Art and Design (later called Ontario College of Art*), Toronto under George A. Reid, William Cruikshank, and Charles M. Manly. Peter Clapham Sheppard was a fellow student and friend there and in 1911 painted the portrait of Drake shown on the askART website. During his Toronto years Drake also designed scenery at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. (4)

After a discussion with Tom Thomson, Drake realized that opportunities were better for an artist in the USA and in 1914 he left Toronto for New York and New Jersey where he painted sets for the New York Opera Company (c.1914 – 1915) and worked in the motion picture business in New Jersey (c. 1915 – 1917). In 1918 he returned briefly to what was now called the Ontario College of Art* to finish his studies under J.W. Beatty, George A. Reid, Gustav Hahn, Emanuel Hahn and Robert Holmes. Drake graduated from the OCA in 1918.

Drake moved back to the U.S.A. in 1920, became a member of the United Scenic Arts Union in New York, and began working there as an art director and scenic designer for Broadway plays and later for the National Broadcasting Company (from 1953) where he was a “staff scenic artist”. He was also a lecturer in painting at the Yale School of Drama, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (1951 – 1965) and briefly a visiting critic in design there (1965 – 1966). He retired from painting sets and backdrops for Broadway shows and television productions in 1975, a job, which according to his New York Times obituary he had been doing since 1914.

He was a member of the Architectural League of New York* (1920); the United Scenic Arts Union, New York City; the National Society of Mural Painters (NYC); and the Arts & Letters Club, Toronto (1946).

Drake exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts* (1916, 1918, 1919, 1921, 1928 and 1929); the Ontario Society of Artists* (1917 and 1930); the Art Association of Montreal* (1929); the New Jersey State Annual Exhibition, at the Montclair Art Museum (1937); the Laguna Beach Art Association; the Salons of America*; and at the Library of Congress. (5)

His works were also shown at the “British Empire Exhibition”* in London, England (1924); the Venice Biennale* (1940); and at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario in the group exhibition “Industrial Strength” (January 17 to March 10, 2002).

Drake’s life and work was the subject of the exhibition “The Man Who Got Away” held at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario in 1992.