1859-1934
John Fery was born in 1859 in Hungary to an aristocratic family. From what little is known about his life, scholars have determined that Fery studied in Europe before coming to the United States. He spent time under Peter Jansen at the famed Dusseldorf Academy in Germany.
His transition to the U.S. was gradual at first. Initially he led European nobility on hunting trips throughout the Northwest. It was during these trips between 1892 and 1893 that he first painted the landscape of the American West.
Fery exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1983; Everett Drama League, 1930, 1931; Regional Painters of Puget Sound, 1870-1920, Museum of History and Industry, Seattle, Washington, 1986.
In about 1900, Fery worked in Utah painting “many large oils of the natural wonders of the West.” He lived and worked in many western locations, some which were Minnesota, Arizona, Washington, Oregon and California.
One of Fery’s more important contributions is that he aided in the creation of Glacier National Park through his paintings. Commissioned by the Great Northern Railroad, he painted the scenery along its route and in Glacier National Park in order to help attract people and attention to that area. He also worked for the Oregon Journal contributing many wonderful pieces to that publication.
John Fery died at the age of seventy-five in Everett, Washington.