Canadian Geographic - The Group of Seven Special Edition
WEST COAST
The Pacific coast and its mountains were captured in swirls of colour
Not all members of the Group of Seven ventured out West, but Frederick Varley lived in Vancouver for a decade and became an important part of the art scene there. On arrival, the Sheffield-born painter marveled at his new surroundings in a letter: “British Columbia is heaven… it trembles within me and pains me with wonder as, when a child, I was first awakened to the song of the Earth.”
F.H. Varley
Dead Tree, Garibaldi Park 1927
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In 1926, Jackson travelled up the Skeena River to Hazleton, where industrial development posed an existential threat to the culture of the Gitxsan people living there. Jackson, while travelling with an ethnographer, recorded what he saw as an artist. Only five canvases inspired by this trip have been found, of which this is one.
F.H. Varley West Coast Inlet c. 1933
The psychedelic colours of this painting capture a memory of Vancouver. Varley suffered from depression which, with financial and personal troubles, drove him from Vancouver in 1936. Painted a year later, this picture captures a memory of the ferry crossing from the North Shore. This was effectively a self-portrait: the figure in the foreground is widely thought to be Varley.
F.H. Varley
Early Morning, Sphinx Mountain c.1928