Canadian Lumbermen

Frank Newbould 1887 - 1951

Summary

Two figures using a saw to fell a tree. Forest floor is covered in ferns and a cabin can be glimpsed in a clearing. Frank Newbould was commissioned to design this central image for the series The Empire is Still Building on the subject of Empire builders who have no memorial. The Empire Marketing Board Committee suggested to Newbould the theme of a pioneer clearing untouched country. As with many of the Empire Marketing Board posters of the Dominions (Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Newfoundland, South Africa and the Irish Free State), the indigenous inhabitants were never included. Men taming the wild landscape were depicted instead. Here, the forest is being cleared to make way for crops for export to Britain or for pasture for cattle and sheep. Empire Marketing Board images of the Dominions emphasised the Dominions as producers of commodities and consumers of British products. The underlying message was that buying from the Empire created British jobs.