Lot 182: William Percival (W.P.) Weston 1879 - 1967

William Percival (W.P.) Weston 1879 - 1967 Canadian oil on canvas Atlin, BC 27 1/4 x 32 inches 69.2 x 81.3 centimeters signed and on verso signed, titled and dated 1956 Literature:Ian M. Thom, W.P. Weston, Heffel Gallery Limited, 1991, page 6 Provenance:Private Collection, Toronto Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, May 25, 2005, lot 51 Private Collection, USA Majestic mountains and indomitable trees were William Weston's two most powerful subjects. Rugged beauty was what he sought - and early in his career, he wrestled with depicting it, stating, "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." Atlin Lake is British Columbia's largest lake, drawing its aqua colour from the sediment in the melt water from the nearby Llewellyn Glacier. After he retired from teaching in 1946, Weston was able to make sketching trips outside of the Vancouver area, and traveled to the Okanagan Valley, the Kootenays and the Yukon, which provided material for his winter studio work. Atlin, BC contains the essence of Weston's reverential approach to British Columbia's awe-inspiring landscape, pared down to its essential elements of the misty lake with its foreshore of sculpted logs and rocky shelves and, rising above all, the stunning mountain range with glacial rivulets.