Notability came in 1939 when Butler was commissioned by the education and agriculture ministries to create a series of pictures of farm animals to be placed in schools across Canada.
The contract called for more than 500 "Standard Type" paintings of each breed of cattle, swine, horses, sheep, poultry and other Canadian livestock.
The exhibition was called Ross Butler: Branding, Butter, and Bulls, and was curated by the Curatorial and Collections Assistant Samantha Purvis-Johnston.
The exhibition was accompanied by a publication and its contents are found below: Ross Butler: Branding, Butter, and Bulls A Jersey Man Ross Butler (1907–1997), born into a farming family in Norwich, Ontario, would begin to brand his legacy not in the art historical context but instead in the agricultural community of Oxford County.
His fascination ignited at an early age when, after witnessing a groundbreaking sale of a Holstein cow, he convinced his father to purchase registered purebred pedigreed Jerseys for the potential of a similar windfall.
Ross Butler would become the primary caretaker for his father's newly acquired livestock, and at the age of twelve he recorded their daily habits and illustrated their pedigrees.
Pursuing Perfection "Breed standards" designate a set of physical and functional qualities that speak to an animal's production and pedigree.
He eventually gained eager support from various cattle, poultry, and equestrian breed associations for the adoption of these standards, though not without initial difficulty and dismissal.
This attention to detail, combined with his apparent adoration for animals, is exceptional and an important facet of Butler's life's work.
Following much opposition, he eventually secured a contract with the Department of Education that dispersed hundreds of thousands of his photolithographs to decorate the walls of schools across Canada.
Some of Butler's earliest initiatives included painted glass slides that were displayed on the Capitol Theatre's screen before the showing of each movie.
He found inventive ways to continually express his creativity, like the darling "rain shoe" – a stylish art deco design that protects a walker's calf from splattered mud.
He also went on to develop a number of branding assignments for various associations and businesses, including the Township of Norwich, Dawes Brewery in Quebec, and the aforementioned Jersey Canada.
Presenting his theory of animal proportions at the National Percheron Show resulted in a commission to paint the True Types of the breed.
From clay dug from the banks of the Otter Creek swimming hole on his father's farm in Norwich, Butler's model would gain eager approval from the True Type Percheron committee.
Ross Butler's agricultural art has seeped into all corners of the rural community; however, his creative initiatives exhibited at the fair were widely recognized during his lifetime.
To his amazement, the fair showed thousands of breeds of animals, rewarding an educational experience that surely inspired his calling.
Among many others, Ross Butler participated at both the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (RAWF).
The CNE was first hosted in 1879 and continues to exhibit current technologies, consumer innovations, and creative ingenuities from the nation's leading industrialists and artists.
Inspired by the All-American awards, the All Canadian celebrates the best animals in each class and shows cattle exclusively bred in Canada.
The group portrait assumes a wonderfully imaginative scenario with multiple vanishing points that suggest a journey, but one with no distinct start or finish.
Since the painting proved favourable to the thousands of fair attendees, Butler found an excited audience to purchase his reproductions.
The popularity of the Royal Review drew hundreds of visitors to Woodstock, and the reproductions continue to enjoy similar success.
Evidence of these works existing in archives are rare, yet photographs remain in the holdings at the Ross Butler Gallery in Woodstock, and news footage was recently discovered in the Sherman Grinberg Film Library in Los Angeles.
The Pathe Warner News footage charms its viewer by capturing a rare and intimate movement of Ross shaping the Queen's nose.
Collection Legacy Ross Butler's agricultural art can be found in archives, classrooms, museums, galleries, and the homes of Woodstock and Oxford County residents.
No matter how diverse his multitude of practices and efforts, Ross Butler's initiatives always involved the form of animal perfection: a science that will forever hold a significant place in the history of agricultural art.
It is a story of ideas, a marathon of dreams tempered by the realizations of the pressures of life, family, location, and financial limitations.
By bringing together a multitude of works, the exhibition reveals the life of an artist whose ideals were not eclipsed by the struggles of balancing profitability and nourishing creativity.
Newsmaker Update: Artist's career started on the farm by Julie Carl, The London Free Press, Friday, November 13, 1992, page B-7.