Frederick Hutchison studied painting under William Brymner at the Art Association School of Montreal before coming to New York, where he studied at William Merritt Chase's school. He then went on to Paris, working at the Académie Julian under Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and Jean-Paul Laurens. Hutchison returned to settle in New York in 1905 and the following year began a long association with City College of New York. He was first a tutor in the college's art department, then an instructor, and then, in 1920, became art supervisor at its preparatory school, Townsend Harris Hall, a post he held until retirement. All the while, he enjoyed a successful career as a painter.
Hutchison was primarily a landscapist who preferred to work directly from his subject, outdoors, even for his larger canvases. He was particularly known for scenes of the lower Saint Lawrence region in his native Canada.
He had a strong affiliation with the Salmagundi Club, having become a member in 1906, within a year of moving to New York; he was elected the club's president for 1937-39 but seems to have served only until 1938. In 1937 Hutchison was elected an honorary member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. A symptom of his "dual nationality" may be his life memberships in both the National Arts Club, New York, and the Montreal Arts Club.
He showed his landscapes in National Academy annual and winter exhibitions consistently from 1907 through 1938; their subjects were frequently Canadian locations. Hutchison had the dubious distinction of having his canvas The Ripening Grain, selected to receive the Benjamin Altman Prize in the annual exhibition of 1937 but then quickly disqualified because he was not an "American born citizen"-a condition of the award. As Hutchison participated in the next year's annual exhibition, it does not seem likely that his absence from these shows in subsequent years was a response to his disqualification. It is more probable that his failure to show was due to the fact that, at age sixty-seven, he retired to Canada.
