W. P. Weston (November30, 1879 December12, 1967), also known as William Percival (Percy) Weston, was a painter and printmaker, best known for his landscapes of British Columbia, and as a teacher.

Career

Weston was born in

Battersea, London Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batte ...

, England and trained as a teacher at the Battersea Pupil-Teacher Centre and the Borough Teacher Training College in London, England and as an artist at the Putney School of Art in London. He immigrated to Canada in 1909 and settled in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia. He accepted the position of art teacher at King Edward High School in 1909 and in 1914, was appointed Art Master of the Provincial Normal School. He taught until 1946 when he retired and devoted himself to painting full-time. Throughout all his teaching positions, he emphasized the importance of drawing and on his frequent sketching trips to coastal British Columbia applied his knowledge. In the 1920s, Weston began to paint landscape in a linear, decorative style and simplified his composition, reducing detail, and introducing solidly molded and sculptural form, influenced possibly by Japanese art and the

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is official ...

. An exhibition of his work was held at the

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Franc ...

in 1946 and a

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

titled ''Fifty Years of Painting in B.C.'', marking the 50th anniversary of Weston's arrival in British Columbia, in 1959,A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada along with one-man shows at the Victoria Arts Centre, Coste House in Calgary, the Vancouver Arts Club, and the Richmond Art Gallery. In 1993, the Richmond Art Gallery organized the exhibition titled ''Silence and Solitude: The Art of W.P. Weston''. He was an important member of the local art community and an admirer of

Emily Carr Emily Carr (or M. Emily Carr as she sometimes signed her work) (December 13, 1871 – March 2, 1945) was a Canadian artist and writer who was inspired by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. One of the painters in Canada to ado ...

with whom he corresponded. In 1910, he joined the British Columbia Society of Fine Art, became president twice (1922-1926, 1931–1937) and was made a Life Member in 1948. In 1933, he was a charter member of the

Canadian Group of Painters The Canadian Group of Painters (CGP) was a collective of 28 painters from across Canada who came together as a group in 1933. Formation The Canadian Group of Painters succeeded the disbanded Group of Seven, whose paintings of the Canadian wilde ...

. In 1936, Weston was elected an Associate of the

Royal Canadian Academy The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...

, then in 1938, was appointed to the

Royal Society of Artists Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

, London. He also was a founding member of the

Federation of Canadian Artists The Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) is an association of artists in Canada founded in Toronto in 1941. The FCA soon had chapters across the country, and was one of the main forces behind formation of the Canada Council in 1957. After this, the ...

in 1941. In 1948, he became a member of the Western Group of Painters. Weston's work is in public collections such as the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

, the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

, the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

Art Museum and the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

Publications

In 1924, Weston co-authored ''The Teacher’s Manual of Drawing and Design for Elementary and High Schools'', which he revised in 1933. These books became standard texts in Manitoba and British Columbia. Weston also revised the curriculum for British Columbia's Department of Education.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weston, W. P. 1879 births 1967 deaths Canadian male painters 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian landscape painters English emigrants to Canada Canadian art educators 20th-century Canadian male artists