BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Vancouver Province February 3 1934

See Vancouver As Our Artists Love It

By Lyn Tallman

     Not a little unkempt, but lovely, languid, the Gypsy Queen of the Coast leans chin in hand as she dreams. She dreams ... but not of the stock exchange. Her dreams are enigmatic, for she has lived for a long time, has much to remember and, filled with lassitude, feels the sea wind like a caress. Her thoughts sometimes are as simple and unhurried as cloud shadows crossing the mountains, sometimes as complex as her rainbow-mantillaed (sic) tiers of peaks.
     Why bother to think? Thousands of gulls whiten overhead. As many rooks pattern black wings against white like shadows fugitive. Suddenly the sun remembers a date in China - makes himself magnificent for it.
     Half a million lights spring to life on the slopes of the city; mist-veiled stars twinkle competitively; ferries crossing the Inlet are dragons of a Chinese festival with bright, peeping eyes; the city by night, more mischievous and aware.
     In quarry-built cities inland, waking, sleeping, practical considerations are the wearisome albatross of most people's existence. In Vancouver, brick and stucco, a trifle rococo (sic) but less so than its lavish setting, the seagulls "fly loose."
     "Vancouver citizens' steps lag, even on Granville street," comments a newcomer - a hint that we are a bit lazy; then he asks: "Are those white peaks up there The Lions?" His steps lag. A plopping sound is heard ... the old albatross ... fallen to the concrete.
     "In this environment," the visitor concludes, "folk might well work only in order to have time to play."
     And this year Vancouver has been especially herself, a beauty with moods unaccountable but sweetly distrait, mist-haunted, red-leaf dazzling. Winter's touch has been reluctant and kind. Let the artists, more moved by beauty that the rest of us, perhaps, set their thoughts before readers. Some of Vancouver's landscape artists have taken mental compasses and drawn circles around places in the city which they think have an especial appeal; none of them but can be reached on foot or by motor.

* * *
     Mr. John Innis, (sic) distinguished painter of historical pictures for Canada's large government and educational institutions, takes us first to Lynn Valley, where, as in his poem:
     On time-worn rocks within the forest's shade
     We site and see fantastic shadows sprawl
     Athwart the scarred face of the canyon wall.

     "How would you describe the atmosphere of Vancouver, Mr. Innis?"
     Mr. Innis: "Come over a pass from inland, strike the Coast side ... you will find everything soused, dipped in color. Everything we look at, due to the misty atmosphere, has this opalescence. We see it as we would see objects looking through a glass of water. This crossing of the mountains is like a journey of the imagination, from a commonplace to a lovelier world."
     "Mr. Innis, did you notice one color more in evidence in Vancouver than others, one 'dominant' color?"
     "About us, always, there is a veritable rainbow of colors; but, yes, I think I do see one color more than others ... violet. It's everywhere ... in the shadows."
     During our talk, Mr. Innis, of the old school, stands pipe in hand. There! The interview finished, he lights up with alacrity, illuminating a fine face known to most Canadians.
     Mrs. Statira Frame conducts us to the foot of Blenheim street on the Fraser River. Built about a cannery here is a Japanese settlement. We find ourselves surrounded by sloe-eyed Japanese children. Three were asked to pose today in this vine-hung doorway. Nine turn up, combed and polished. There are too many little sitters and all want to indicate where and how their eyes and noses should go in the picture; but while all are very helpful they are greedy for the all-day suckers that are to be passed around. Mrs. Frame is too kind to disappoint them and gives up painting for today.
     "Another place I find interesting is Coal Harbor," the artists mentions; :the small boats in disarray ... all the interesting disorder of the waterfront."

* * *
     With Mr. Charles H. Scott we proceed north on Kennedy bridge.
     "The part of False Creek we view here or from Granville bridge is, unquestionably, the most picturesque view to be seen in the city. The waters of False Creek with scattered and picturesque forms of various industrial plants edging the water, backed by the silhouette of the city, backed again by the mountains ... this aspect seen on a misty morning, summer or winter, or in the evening, as we proceed south on either bridge, gives a fine impression of Vancouver industrially and atmospherically.
     "Looking along the shores of Burrard Inlet from the C.P.R. pier to the Second Narrows Bridge is another interesting view.
     "The atmosphere here is essentially vaporous. Vancouver is a city Whistler would have delighted to paint.
     "Its 'color;? Blue-grey."
     It is a misty evening. We are - near the Ritz Apartments. Mixed with mist is smoke and rain. The street lights are coming up.
     "Street Scene," says Mr. H. Faulkner Smith. "Vancouver resembles London, England, now.
     "I'll tell you of a place you can go tomorrow if it's a nice day. It's on the bank on the Fraser, but the trees hide it from view when you are motoring on Marine Drive. You can go down Forty-first street to Marine drive, then reach it by a logging trail there or by the golf course. It is a very interesting little settlement. There is an old Indian church which the Indians about there attend. Behind this on the river bank in a Chinese truck garden where you may see Chinese at work in native costume. The faces of these workers bear the stamp of fine character, and there are interesting types among them.
     "The atmospheric 'impression' of the city is received from the agglomeration of the old and the new. The dominant color is mauve. You can see it in the mountains."
     Mr. W.P. Weston: "The two most picturesque views, in this city, equally fine, are, the view of the North Shore from Vancouver proper, and the view, looking up the Sound from Point Grey."
     Mr. Weston works in a place "high up," from which he can view the city from "outside" and "aloft," and he confided, "All I can see downtown is a pall of smoke. It seems to hang continuously about the business section of the city. For color, there is continuous variation of color here - much grey in winter."
     Mr. Otto Schellenberger indicates that Stanley Park is the part of the city he has been interested in lately as a sketching ground: "Off the beaten tracks, of course."
     "In the park, we find beauty every place." His vivid imagination finds interest in distorted shapes of trees. He sketches in black and white but will compete a picture in enhanced coloring of his own, later. "Artists are great liars."
     "I should like to paint the cluster of shacks opposite the B.C. Electric on West Hastings street, but there are always too many people about.
     "The atmospheric effect is of constantly changing color, combined often with some shade of grey."
     Mr. J.W.G. Macdonald conducts us down Cambie from Twelfth avenue toward the Cambie Street bridge.
     "This approach," Mr. Macdonald intimates quietly, "gives us the finest view of the city. It is a panoramic view of the skyline of Vancouver set against a mountain background."
     He whisks us off to a hill behind Hasting Park. "From this vantage, looking down into the city we see an arm of the sea, grain elevators, the variety of color in Grouse and Seymour range behind all.
     "The atmosphereic effect is too changeable here to describe in general, but I will mention my 'favorite' kind of day. It comes after the rains, when the west wind comes in and you have birth of color and action in the water and movement and color in the sky. It is like a rebirth of the wonder of the West Coast.
     "Color in Vancouver? Variety throughout the year. There are green days, gold days, russet days, silver days."

* * *
     Mr. Fred A. Amess: "In Vancouver proper the lanes and alleys seem to provide the best sketching ground apart from the False Creek area below the new Burrard bridge. From an artistic angle these spots seem of more interest that the more beautiful Stanley Park or Spanish Banks; the latter, however, is full of interesting forms.
     "The dominant color varies with the seasons. It is, at present, mostly grey, with splashes of rain. Brick colors and buffs seem to predominate.
     "The general atmosphere varies even more that color here, with the season and with the time of day.
     "The theme of Vancouver might be said to be one of buildings against misty mountains, a subject rarely painted."
     Mr. Harry Hood, who says that he likes to paint movement and form, takes us with him to False Creek. We walk past old shacks and a medley of boats on the shore.
     "Now, here, we see subtle coloring, interesting disarray. There is a fascination in the oily waters with delightful moving form and broken color.
     "The waterfront of Burrard inlet is also very interesting," Mr. Hood volunteers politely, "but the sound of motorboat exhausts in unsettling when one is sketching."
     "Vancouver's atmospheric quality is, in the wet season, one of subtle greys. In sunlight, there is a powerful contrast of foregrounds and backgrounds, of light and shade. The shadows are strong and luminous, the light, brilliant. The atmosphere here is luminous with constantly varying color."
     Mrs. Mary Riter Hamilton's soft voice induces us to take a look at the grain elevators on the North Shore from Second Narrows bridge.
     "Coal Harbor outlines remind me of Venice.
     "In no country have I seen as much beauty as we have in Vancouver. It is inspiring; and it changes so, blue sky; luminous clouds; lovely purples and blues."
     "Vancouver's 'color'," says Mrs. Hamilton, "is blue-grey."
     F.H. Varley bids you: "Stay at home." in order to see Vancouver. He says beauty comes to the beholder through influence of his own mood.
     "If you walk out and tire hourself all out, your impressions will be blurred by this effort. Stay on your doorstep! The beauty will come to you. You can look in any direction in Vancouver in the right mood and see a charming picture.
     "The atmosphere here? Opalescent. One can not but be impressed as one walks along that everything is seen peculiarly bathed in a sort of clarity - seen as if through a crystal or ice. The whole scene is filled with prismatic color.
     "That most in evidence? Silver light."
     Mixing the artists' choice of tints, if Vancouver has a color it appears to be a violet. The coastal mists that make the rains, make it so beautiful that it has been variously described by our distinguished guides as "luminous; prismatic; opalescent; rainbow filled, filled with constantly changing color."
     "Vancouver: A city Whistler would have delighted to paint." "Coal Harbor presents a Venetian silhouette."

* * *
     Some of the artists have shown us grand, sweeping views; others led us to secluded spots to show us beauties of form and color; others have suggested places we might visit and there meet with new human types, a dip into other lands. Mr. Varley says: "See Vancouver from your own doorstep."
     For one with whom we have looked at a beautiful scene or with whom we have shared the stars, we cherish a kindly feeling.
     To the artists: "Thank you for a most pleasant time."

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