Although W.P. Weston trained in England, he became a painter of distinction following his move to British Columbia in 1909. An important teacher, Weston spent from 1914 to 1946 working at the Provincial Normal School, where he taught his students methods for their own teaching in BC schools. Having a regular job was of critical importance to Weston in that it ensured he was not dependent on the vagaries of art sales to make a living. This also meant that his art was not geared directly to sales but rather to expressing his “own language of form and the expression of my own feeling for this coast region; its epic quality, its grandeur, its natural beauty.”[1]

Weston’s approach to the landscape of the BC coast was direct. While he did not paint large-scale images such as Windswept on location, he did produce fine chalk drawings on site, and these images form the basis of the canvases he completed in his Vancouver studio. Weston was keen to depict the “epic quality” of the coastal landscape of British Columbia, and Windswept is a masterful example of the artist at his best.

The painting shows a remarkably twisted tree trunk clinging to bare rocks above Howe Sound, with a complex pattern of branches spread against the sky. In the distance are the waters and mountains of the sound. This tree, as Weston’s title suggests, has weathered many violent storms in the past. Weston’s compositional choices emphasize that this tree has grown and survived despite prolonged battles with the elements, its profoundly gnarled trunk and many broken branches—occupying more than half of the image—vividly suggesting the violent force of the coastal winds. The foliage is but small ornament on the writhing stems, in marked contrast to the rich foliage of trees painted by Emily Carr. Whereas Carr’s works generally depict lush, overgrown forest settings, Weston chooses to depict a singular tree almost devoid of leaves. Windswept thus reads as an image of survival and endurance despite the uncertainties of nature.

In paintings such as Windswept, Weston distinguished himself within the group of artists who depicted the coastal landscape of British Columbia. Weston sought to depict the “overwhelming preponderance of nature” surpassing human scale.[2] In its presence the viewer, like Weston himself, can but marvel at the grandeur of the natural world.

We thank Ian M. Thom, Senior Curator—Historical at the Vancouver Art Gallery from 1988 to 2018, for contributing the above essay. Thom is the author of W.P. Weston, published in 1980.

1. Quoted by Margery Dallas, Portrait of an Artist: W.P. Weston, A.R.C.A, C.G.P., B.C.S.A., 1962, unpublished manuscript, Glenbow Museum, Calgary.

2. W.P. Weston, undated note, formerly in the collection of his daughter, Mrs. Doris Wood.