British Columbia’s scenic coast entranced Vancouver Island painter E.J. Hughes. Steamships and freighters captured his eye. But Hughes also visited northern B.C., the Interior and the Rockies.
The art he produced on trips to the mainland are the subject of E.J. Hughes Paints British Columbia, the second book on the prolific artist by Victoria author Robert Amos.
As with his earlier volume, E.J. Hughes Paints Vancouver Island, a finalist for a 2019 B.C. Book Prize, Amos shies away from critique, letting Hughes and his work speak for themselves.
E.J. Hughes, “Fishboats, Rivers Inlet,” 1946
oil, 42" x 50" (courtesy of the estate of E.J. Hughes)
The 204-page hardcover book is largely biographical thanks to the letters Hughes shared with Pat Salmon, his secretary and official biographer, who, in turn, shared them with Amos. We learn, for instance, that Hughes thought of himself as a primitive and once worried that his paintings were “too postcardy.” Nevertheless, one of his paintings, Fishboats, Rivers Inlet, sold for more than $2 million at auction in 2018.
Hughes was born in 1913, and both books begin with his childhood, his time at the Vancouver School of Art and his military service as a war artist. The later book offers much more historical detail. And while the first discusses painting media and techniques, it’s not a concern in the second.
E.J. Hughes, “Abandoned Village,” 1947
oil, 30" x 38" (University of British Columbia; courtesy of the estate of E.J. Hughes)
There are surprises. Amos tells us about the artist’s dark period, a series of stark and angular paintings he completed after seeing a Henri Rousseau exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. These angry, largely monochromatic works are the antithesis of the people pleasers that came later.
Hughes left his home on Vancouver Island for a sketching trip up the coast in 1947. He never painted on site, but used the sketches as references as he worked in his studio.
E.J. Hughes, “Trees, Savary Island,” 1953
oil, 24" x 30" (courtesy of the National Gallery of Canada)
In 1952, he was hired to paint scenic images for Imperial Oil’s in-house publication, The Torch. His boats and buildings are strong, simple and flattened out. The drama of his earlier Rousseau-inspired pieces has been tempered and he once again embraces colour.
Hughes first visited the province’s Interior grasslands in 1955. Later visits throughout the ’50s and ’60s dominate the last half of the book. Amos has documented the era with photographs of scenes Hughes sketched and painted.
E.J. Hughes, “South Thompson Valley Near Chase, BC,” 1957
oil, 25" x 32" (courtesy of the Vancouver Art Gallery)
Placed next to each other, it’s fascinating to see the degree to which the artist added or subtracted elements. By this point, Hughes had refined his distinctive style. His paintings of mountains are as striking as his steamships, if not as well known.
His last trip to the mainland was in 1967. He continued painting but confined himself to Vancouver Island. Hughes died in 2007, aged 93. He left a plethora of sketches and paintings, gloriously reproduced and annotated by Amos. ■
E.J. Hughes Paints British Columbia by Robert Amos: Touchwood Editions, Victoria, 2019.
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