Lot 130: William Percival (W.P.) Weston 1879 - 1967

William Percival (W.P.) Weston 1879 - 1967 Canadian oil on canvas Mt. Klitsa 44 x 36 inches 111.7 x 91.4 centimeters signed and on verso signed, titled, dated 1939 on the Heffel Gallery Limited label and inscribed ""$400"" on the Art Gallery of Toronto label and also inscribed ""1419 Dogwood Ave, Vancouver"" Literature:Ian M. Thom, W.P. Weston, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1980, page 12 Ian Thom, W.P. Weston, Heffel Gallery Limited, 1991, page 7, reproduced page 21, listed page 37 Letia Richardson, Silence and Solitude: The Art of W.P. Weston, Richmond Art Gallery, 1993, listed page 29 Provenance:Mrs. D. Hauschka, Vancouver Heffel Gallery Limited, Vancouver, 1991 Jacques Barbeau, Vancouver Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, November 9, 2000, lot 227 Private Collection, USA Exhibited:Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia Society of Fine Arts, 1939, catalogue #34 Vancouver Art Gallery, 8th British Columbia Artists' Exhibition, 1939, catalogue #52 The Art Gallery of Toronto, Canadian Group of Painters, 1940 Vancouver Art Gallery, W.P. Weston, 1946, catalogue #23 Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, W.P. Weston, 1980, catalogue #31 Heffel Gallery Limited, Vancouver, W.P. Weston, 1991, catalogue #11 Richmond Art Gallery, Silence and Solitude: The Art of W.P. Weston, April 3 - May 17, 1993 W.P. Weston graduated from the Putney School of Art in London in 1904. After working as a teacher and illustrator in England, he looked overseas to expand his horizons. He accepted a posting as an art teacher in Vancouver in 1909, and in 1914 was appointed Art Master at the new Provincial Normal School, where he worked until 1946. Weston was a well-known educator who was a force for change, seeking greater freedom of expression for his students. He was the co-author of The Teachers' Manual of Drawing and Design along with Charles H. Scott and S.P. Judge, and author of A Teacher's Manual of Drawing, both adopted as textbooks in British Columbia. Weston was among a small early group of exceptional artists that tackled the daunting task of depicting the West Coast, with its overwhelming scale and rugged beauty. Like Emily Carr, Weston immersed himself in the landscape, searching for his own voice as an artist. He stated, "I painted some pretty wild things, but always I came a little closer to my own language of form and the expression of my own feeling for this coast region; its epic quality, its grandeur, its natural beauty." People were not a part of his vision, since he felt, "The mountains and forest are so gigantic that man seems puny and his slight inroads are comparatively insignificant. If, as I believe, the function of the artist is to express his reactions to the environment, he cannot but record the overwhelming preponderance of nature and omit the human element." The reality of being an artist on the West Coast in those early days was often one of isolation. Carr, well aware of this, was both a friend and advisor to Weston, and he was known to have regularly visited her in the 1930s, and on occasion asked for her advice. From 1909 to 1929 Weston primarily exhibited with the British Columbia Society of Fine Arts. Weston insisted that he had initially developed independently of the Group of Seven and had not seen their work until 1930 when he met Frederick Varley. Beginning in 1930, Weston began to exhibit regularly in the east, at the Art Association of Montreal, the National Gallery of Canada, The Art Gallery of Toronto, the Royal Canadian Academy and the Canadian Group of Painters. For Weston, this was the beginning of national recognition. Weston's most powerful subjects were towering mountains and heroic trees, and Mt. Klitsa contains both. This mountain is the second-highest summit in the Alberni Valley on central Vancouver Island, and its snow- and ice-capped peak creates a dramatic backdrop. One of Weston's great themes was the life cycle present in nature, and this tree, at the end of its cycle - but still upright - is a powerful symbol of endurance. The patterning of its bare sun-whitened branches, drooping gracefully, shows Weston's affinity with Art Nouveau. Ian Thom affirms this in the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria exhibition catalogue, stating that his "mature style.....owes more to the design motifs of Art Nouveau / Deco, Japanese pattern books and Weston himself than to artists in the east." A unifying force in this work is Weston's sense of rhythm and pattern in all of its parts - waves of ripples in the water, the graceful flowing lines of the bare tree branches, curves in the mountain flanks and the undulating layers of clouds. Weston further emphasizes the tree with a bright patch of reflected light under its base. There is a palpable sense of mass and volume in this magnificent painting, as well as a strong sensation of atmosphere. Mt. Klitsa has long been considered one of his finest paintings. Weston, with his great regard for the wilderness and the power, clarity and precision of his images, was a trailblazer for landscape artists on the West Coast.