One can only imagine the wonderment Walter J. Phillips felt when he first laid eyes on Alberta's Rocky Mountains.
Phillips – born in Lincolnshire, England in 1884 before immigrating to Canada in 1913 – was already a well-established artist when he made his first sketching trip to Banff in 1926. The Winnipeg resident had made a name for himself painting and sketching scenes from the Manitoba wilderness. But after his trip to Alberta, the Rockies would prove to be Phillips' main inspiration for the next 30 years.
Phillips' work is the first to be featured in the ATB Financial Early Masters Series at the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton. The aim of the series is to tell the story of Alberta's artistic heritage. It seemed only natural that Walter J. Phillips be the first artist featured in the series.
"Even though he had a significant impact on this province during the '40s and '50s, little is known about Phillips' work," said AGA associate curator Ruth Burns. "So we thought it was time to rectify a wrong and pay attention to his body of work of which there are some very fascinating images."
The exhibition – titled Walter J. Phillips: Water and Woods – includes a combination of watercolours and colour woodblock prints – a Japanese technique where the artist uses several printing blocks with different colours to create a colour image.
"His works are quite small but quite impactful because of the colour he uses and the pure beauty he puts on display," Burns said. "He uses his art to frame nature and sometimes adjusts things to have the most beautiful image."
After 28 years in Winnipeg, Phillips moved to Calgary in 1941 – 15 years after his first trip to the mountains – where he was invited to teach at the Provincial Institute of Art. Soon after, Phillips built a home in Banff where he and his wife Gladys lived for the next 20 years.
In addition to creating countless works featuring breathtaking Alberta images, Phillips taught at the Banff School of Fine Arts (now known as the Banff Centre) where the art gallery now bears his name.
"I don't know why he loved the mountains so much but he was certainly impressed by their majesty and grandeur," recalled Phillips' grandson David Duffin of Calgary, who offered several pieces from his personal collection to the AGA's exhibition. "He also loved the small-town atmosphere there."
"He was an amateur naturalist and used that love for the natural world in his work," added Burns. "He has a certain concept of nature that is informed by his background. It's not necessarily a pure or wild or rugged nature. It's one where you can often see the impact of man."
"His work helped keep Sotheby's Canada and other auction houses in business," Duffin chuckled. "His work is well scattered in Calgary living rooms and they're changing hands all the time whenever there's an art auction. There was a show on Vancouver Island earlier this year where they had one print for sale for $65,000."
Phillips spent the final years of his life on Vancouver Island but his time in Alberta certainly had the biggest impact on his life. His ashes were scattered across the Rocky Mountains.
"There are two things that stand out to me when it comes to Phillips," said Burns. "One, his story is a story that a lot of Albertans share. He came to Alberta later in life and ended up falling in love with it. Two, his appreciation for local communities and the natural environment are things that resonate throughout this province."
From now until June 5, 2011, 70 of Phillips' works – including some rarely-seen pieces from his early career – are on display at the AGA.
Click on the video below for a virtual tour of Walter J. Phillips: Water and Woods
