W. P. Weston (Canadian, b. England, 1879–1967) moved in 1909 to Vancouver, Canada, where he was employed as a high school art teacher until his retirement in 1946. The move to British Columbia marked more than a dramatic shift in his livelihood; Weston’s painting style also was transformed. The fierce, rugged splendor, the silence, and the solitude of the province’s scenery demanded a style of strength and vigor to express “its epic quality, its grandeur, its natural beauty.” Weston found the conservative English Romantic landscape tradition in which he was trained inadequate to the task, so he evolved a style influenced by Art Nouveau motifs, Art Deco trends, and Japanese patterns. By the 1920s his style had become more decorative; compositions were simplified, detail was reduced, and solidly molded forms were introduced. The four paintings displayed in this notecard set are the result of Weston’s passionate drive to know every inch of the mountainous and coastal landscape that surrounded him.

Contains five each of the following notecards:

• Autumn in the Rockies, 1958
• Stormy Sky, 1929
• Gleneagles, 1936
• Old Pine, 1954