John Harold Thomas Snow

John Harold Thomas Snow was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1911. His family moved to England during World War I, where his English relatives fostered his interest in art and music. In 1919, the Snow family returned to Canada, settling in Olds, Alberta.

On August 3, 1928, Snow began a 43-year career with the Royal Bank of Canada. This career was interrupted only by his service as a navigator in the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Air Force during World War II. His tours of duty in Great Britain, India, and Northern Africa allowed him to visit major museums, significantly influencing his artistic development.

After the war, Snow returned to Calgary where he continued his banking career while pursuing his artistic interests. He took a life drawing class with Maxwell Bates at the Provincial Institute of Technology, forming a friendship with the senior artist. In 1953, Snow and Bates acquired two lithographic presses from the Western Printing and Lithograph Company. No one in Alberta was producing fine-art lithographs at the time, so they taught themselves the technique through trial and error and by studying books.

Snow produced 410 lithographs during his career and assisted fellow artists including Bates, Illingworth Kerr, and Pat Gordon with editions of their lithographs. His prints have been described as "moody and rich-hued," and "varied and venturesome." Snow himself stated that "coloring is of primary importance" in his work. He is considered a central figure in Canadian art who helped bring modernism to Alberta by developing a visual vocabulary unique to the province.

Snow retired from banking in 1971 as assistant manager of Calgary's main branch. Beyond visual arts, he organized the Calgary Film Society in the late 1940s and served as its president. He was also an accomplished musician, designed sets for television and theatre, and was instrumental in creating the New Works Calgary Society, which premiered numerous musical compositions.

Snow's work was exhibited at the Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon (1974) and the Edmonton Art Gallery (1989). His art was shown at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1956-1962) and with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1966-1970). His work has been displayed internationally in the U.S., Japan, France, England, Chile, Mexico, Italy, Scotland, and Australia.

Snow's art is in numerous important collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Glenbow Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. His works also hang in the residence of the Governor General of Canada and Alberta's Government House in Edmonton.

He received the Alberta Order of Excellence on November 21, 1996.

John Snow died peacefully on August 23, 2004, at the age of 92, after several years of declining health.