Remembering a forgotten artist
Works of Mildred Valley Thornton have drifted into obscurity, but they are worth another look
Mildred Valley Thornton’s art faded into obscurity after her death in 1967, but Mother Tongue Publishing remembers her contribution to the Vancouver art scene in a new book.
Canadian artist, Mildred Valley Thornton, in an article for the
Regina Leader- Post in 1930, wrote: “too often in art, distance lends enchantment and to say that a picture was European sometimes invested it with a glamour that far exceeded its real value while the genius of our own country was left to languish in obscurity.”
Thornton’s words foretold the future “obscurity” of her own art following her death in 1967. When publisher Mona Fertig collected names for Mother Tongue Publishing’s Unheralded Artists of B. C. series, Thornton’s name rose to the top of her list.
Author Sheryl Salloum quotes the reactions of many to Thornton’s skill as a painter. Artist Doris Shadbolt thought “she was an illustrator at best.” Brooks Joyner, director of the Vancouver Art Gallery ( VAG) in 1993, lauded “her lengthy career, the subject of her art and the remarkable contribution that she made to the Vancouver arts scene.”
Mildred Valley Stinson was born on May 7, 1890 near Rutherford, Ont. As a young woman, she attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto. One of her teachers, John William Beatty, inspired the vibrant landscapes Thornton painted in oil. The book is rich with full- colour images of oil paintings and watercolours. Many were reproduced from Kodachrome slides and digitally restored.
Thornton married John Henry Thornton in Regina in 1915 and gave birth to twin boys, John Milton ( Jack) and Walter Maitland, in 1926. Maitland died in 2010 and it is Jack who gave Salloum access to his mother’s paintings and unpublished writings. Jack remembers going on painting trips with her as a youngster and as he grew older, staying at home with his father and brother, eating bacon and eggs three times a day!
In 1928, Thornton began painting first nations people which became a “self- appointed mission of preserving” their images. Identified in her work are ancestors from twenty- four western first nations including, in British Columbia, the Cowichan, Chilcotin, Haida, Heiltsuk, Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuu- chah- nulth, Ktunaxa, Squamish, Sto: lo, Suknaqinx and Tsimshian.
Thornton is said to have painted quickly, often having only one opportunity to paint her subjects. She always paid them for their time.
As residential schools were eradicating first nations languages, traditions and ceremonies, Thornton was publishing articles, giving talks, showing slides of her work and sometimes playing recordings of first nations’ songs for numerous groups in Canada and as far away as England in 1959.
While Thornton’s aim may have been to eliminate “racial prejudice toward these noble people,” as Lara T. Evoy, Thornton’s great- greatniece points out: “her voice was heard over those of first nations people themselves.”
Deborah Jacobs, the Squamish Nation education director, says Thornton “was told a story in the moment ... not so she could write a book about it or pass it on.” ( Thornton’s Indian Lives
and Legends was published in 1966.) In 1934, the Thorntons settled in Vancouver on Comox Street, near English Bay. One of her subjects was her friend Isaac Jacobs whose greatgranddaughter, Deborah Jacobs, collected Thornton’s portraits of Squamish ancestors for an exhibition in 1999. The portraits led to the development of “a fairly extensive educational program and introduced stories or narratives from the families of their ancestor,” says Jacobs.
Salloum writes: “While Mildred’s depictions of aboriginal life and culture may not be completely ‘ pure’ or accurate, they are respectful and spirited.” There are many who would disagree; Thornton was recreating stories that weren’t hers to tell. ( One example is Kwakwaka’wakw Initiation Ceremony ( circa 1945), oil on board, in a private collection.)
As Vancouver Sun art critic from 1944 to 1959, Thornton reviewed amateur and professional art including Emily Carr’s last exhibition at the VAG in 1943. The review along with another Vancouver review led Carr to say she’d love to tip the Province’s reviewer “and Valley Thornton out of a boat into [ a] neck deep mud- puddle.”
Nearing her death, Thornton tried to find a buyer for her collection of approximately three hundred first nations portraits. She was in need of money and also wanted to leave a donation for a first nations educational fund. As no single buyer purchased her work, it has been dispersed in private, corporate, first nations, public gallery and museum collections.
Anthony Westbridge of Westbridge Fine Arts has represented Thornton’s estate since 1985. He ranks Thornton with Emily Carr and “certain members of the Beaver Hall Hill Group and the Emma Lake School.”
Mildred Valley Thornton’s paintings, particularly of first nations people and communities, will probably not be judged for their artistic merit by those seeking representations of their ancestors. Non- natives have learned a lot since Thornton’s day about befriending without exploitation and appropriation. We still have much to learn. This book opens the door to cross- cultural discussion.
In the words of one present- day first nations activist, Rose Henry: “Nothing about us should be said without us.”