Lot 37: Edward John (E.J.) Hughes 1913 - 2007 Canadian

Edward John (E.J.) Hughes 1913 - 2007 Canadian watercolour on paper Okanagan Lake at Penticton 18 x 24 inches 45.7 x 61 centimeters signed and dated 1992 and on verso titled and dated Literature:Patricia Salmon, E.J. Hughes: The Vast and Beautiful Interior, Kamloops Art Gallery, 1994, page 41, the 1958 drawing Okanagan Lake at Pentiction reproduced page 52 and the related 1961 canvas entitled Okanagan Lake at Penticton reproduced page 54 Ian Thom, E.J. Hughes, Vancouver Art Gallery, 2002, page 139 Provenance:Dominion Gallery, Montreal Private Collection, Toronto Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, November 24, 2005, Lot 158 Private Collection, Vancouver E.J. Hughes produced the sketch for this scene during a two-week trip in June 1958 to Penticton on Okanagan Lake, an area known for its picturesque beauty. Ian Thom writes, "Hughes's Canada Council fellowship in 1958 had enabled him to make sketching trips to the interior of the province....." Hughes used his 1958 sketch for the compositions of his 1961 oil painting and this exquisite 1992 watercolour. This watercolour captures the sun-drenched hills, the graceful shapes of the ponderosa pines indigenous to the area, and the expansiveness of the 80 mile long lake. As with his coastal scenes, Hughes focuses his foreground on colourful boats at dock. The magnificence of Hughes's landscape scenes of British Columbia's Interior shows that he grasped the sublime essence and beauty of British Columbia. His Interior landscapes were featured by the Kamloops Art Gallery in a 1994 solo exhibition entitled The Vast and Beautiful Interior.