There were a few memorable visits to Chilliwack by famous people in the 1950s, such as Queen Elizabeth, Prince Phillip, and even Marilyn Monroe. Perhaps less well-known is the visit to Chilliwack by iconic Canadian artist Edward John Hughes, who spent two weeks drawing and painting the natural beauty surrounding our little town in June of 1958. The paintings and drawings he created during and after his visit remain as cherished and valuable additions to many public and private collections across Canada.
E. J. Hughes was born in North Vancouver in 1913 and spent many years of his childhood in Nanaimo, B.C. He was raised during the depression and studied at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts where he graduated in 1933. His distinctive, strong images of the landscapes and seascapes of B.C. attracted the attention of well-known painters of the Group of Seven like Frederick Varley and Lawren Harris. Jack Shadbolt described Hughes as “the most engaging and intuitive painter of the B.C. landscape since Emily Carr.”
His unique style was marked by the use of flattened space, skewed perspective and simplified shapes. While many important artists at that time were embracing abstract painting, Hughes was determined to realistically paint the picturesque landscapes of B.C, however out of style it may have been. He succeeded in doing so with what has been described as a “tremendous intensity” that eventually made him one of Canada’s most famous and successful artists.
In June of 1958, E.J. Hughes and his wife Fern travelled by bus from Vancouver to Chilliwack in search of fresh inspiration for his paintings. The year before, Hughes had been awarded the prestigious $4,000 Canada Council senior fellowship, and he was eager to explore the natural beauty of Chilliwack and as he wrote more specifically “to concentrate especially on a study of clouds in relation to land and water masses this summer, from Nature”. The money from the Canada Council Grant meant that his wife could accompany him on his trip.
They stayed in a motel in downtown Chilliwack from which his wife could walk to shops and restaurants. As E.J. Hughes did not have his driver's license, he was reliant on being able to walk in both directions from downtown in search of subject matter.
The painting titled “The Highway East of Chilliwack” was described by Hughes as being 2 or 3 miles east of Chilliwack, looking east. He had set up to draw on the Old Yale Rd, and made mention of painting “from a hill, one of the very few in the midst of this flat Fraser Valley farming area, and I was sitting among some Pioneer tombstones, which were partially neglected and overgrown but, I felt, steeped in history”. We can assume that he had set up somewhere on the hill at the cemetery on Little Mountain, overlooking the valley.
Hughes usually chose a subject matter that was in sight of water. One day, he walked north from downtown along Young Road which led him to the Hope Slough. Of this view, as described by his biographer Robert Amos, he made “a sort of impressionist dream, a leisurely stream overhung with trees and, in this case majestic mountains”.
The most well-known of Hughes’ Chilliwack subjects is the painting “Mt. Cheam and The Fraser River” (1959). In this instance, Hughes took a bus from Chilliwack towards Hope and mentioned to the driver that he was an artist looking for the best vantage point to paint from. After being dropped off at the side of the road at the base of Mt. Cheam he was able to create a detailed drawing that he would eventually paint in oils a year later.
Hughes also walked south of downtown Chilliwack, creating beautiful paintings and drawings of rural scenes. He described the journey as being a “3 mile walk south of the city with the beautiful snowcapped mountains in the distance.” A watercolour painting entitled “South of Chilliwack” looks very much like the farms we still can see operating today, perhaps on Chilliwack River Road. He also painted oils from these South Chilliwack reference points, as well as numerous detailed sketches which he would later paint in oils at his home studio.
E.J. Hughes continued painting until his death in 2007 at Duncan, B.C. He was the recipient of many awards including the Order of Canada in 2001 and The Order of British Columbia in 2005. The Vancouver Art Gallery has the most extensive holding of Hughes’ work in public hands. In November 2018, his painting “Fishboats, Rivers Inlet” sold for $2,041,250 CAD. Incidentally, the painting of the Hope Slough sold for $87,750 CAD in 2018, and another oil on canvas “Farm Scene near Chilliwack,B.C.” sold for $172,500 CAD in 2006.
In celebrating Hughes's life and work, we are reminded of the power of art to transcend time and space, evoking emotions and memories that resonate across generations. His paintings serve as windows into the past, offering glimpses of a bygone era while inviting us to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us in the present moment.
Source Material: Amos, R ( 2019) E.J. Hughes Paints British Columbia, Touchwood Editions.
Images: Unless otherwise noted, all images are from the above mentioned book and are copyrighted from the estate of E.J. Hughes.
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