When Lisa Christensen was working at Calgary’s Glenbow Museum in the early 1990s, she saw a Lawren Harris painting that depicted a spot in the Rocky Mountains where she had camped the previous weekend.
“I thought: ‘That’s cool ... I wonder where he slept, if he climbed, how he got there?’” says Christensen, a curator and writer.
Over the next few years, she carried photocopies of mountain paintings on her outdoor adventures and would “poke around the region until I found the matching vista.”
A friend suggested her project would make a great book.
This year, Christensen published Truth and Beauty in the Canadian Rockies: An Explorer’s Guide to the Art of Walter J. Phillips, the fourth in a unique series of books that combines her passion for art with her love of hiking in the Rockies.
Walter J. Phillips, “Seven Sisters Falls, Lake O’Hara,” 1936
watercolour on paper, 11.5” x 14” (courtesy of Loch Gallery, Calgary)
Her first book, A Hiker’s Guide to Art of the Canadian Rockies, was published in 1999. It won several awards, including the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize and the Writer’s Guild of Alberta’s Best First Book.
A Hiker’s Guide to the Rocky Mountain Art of Lawren Harris followed in 2000. Then, in 2003, it was The Lake O’Hara Art of J. E. H. MacDonald and Hiker’s Guide.
In her latest book, Christensen leads us through Phillips’ birth in England in 1884 and his immigration to Canada via Winnipeg, and, in 1940, to what is now the Banff Centre, where he would paint and teach. More importantly, the book presents his watercolours of the magnificent Rockies, along with his woodcut prints. Elucidations of his techniques are edifying.
Walter J. Phillips, “Skiers at Sunshine,” 1947
watercolour on paper, 15” x 17” (courtesy of Loch Gallery, Calgary)
The book’s structure follows that of the previous ones, whose ingredients are prismatic and distinctive. The formula includes excerpts from artists’ diaries, jottings and interviews, quotations from other artists and explorers, and the artworks themselves, including views of Mount Rundle, Lake O’Hara and Victoria Glacier. There are no maps or photographs of locations, but there are verbal descriptions of how to get to some locations.
In all, the Phillips book contains 67 colour and black-and-white plates, plus archival photographs. Adding essential knowledge is Christensen’s engaging and informative narrative.
Her description of Phillips’ painting, Johnson’s Creek, Near Banff, 1947, is memorable.
“He captures not only the motion of the water, but the clouds of mist and vapour created by its pommelling action,” she writes. “He depicts the ceaseless motion of the fall, giving us the feeling of being there, of hearing the water pounding, and feeling the cold spray on our faces. These are truly remarkable feats of watercolour.”
Walter J. Phillips, “Lower Falls, Johnson’s Canyon,” circa 1945
watercolour on paper, 15.5” x 16.5” (courtesy of Loch Gallery, Calgary)
Also included is Phillips’ take on painting such scenes. “The artist who paints moving water successfully arranges his lines and masses rhythmically so that ripples and waves seem wet, limpid and lively,” Phillips says. “What he paints is not a replica of the scene before him – not a series of portraits of individual ripples, but a pattern representing an epitome of the whole movement.”
Walter J. Phillips, “Valley of the Ten Peaks,” 1930
wood engraving on paper, 4.5” x 6” (courtesy of Loch Gallery, Calgary)
The earlier books were small – 8.5 inches by 8.5 inches – and easy to tuck into a backpack. Truth and Beauty in the Canadian Rockies measures nine inches by 12 inches. The larger format allows the images to resonate and enables a greater appreciation of the artist’s skill.
Christensen says she wanted to show the works as close to their actual size as possible.
“This is increasingly important to me as we tend to look at the world on a two-inch screen,” she says.
“Books don’t often go on the trail anymore– it’s AllTrails, GPS and other apps.”
Many of the mountain locales were more remote in Phillips’ day. “Now there are roads to many of the locations,” she says. “So people can use a larger format book while in a vehicle.”
Christensen’s deep familiarity with both the sites and the artists of the Rockies make for engaging tours. She’s the perfect guide. ■
Truth and Beauty in the Canadian Rockies: An Explorer’s Guide to the Art of Walter J. Phillips by Lisa Christensen: Fifth House Publishers, Markham, Ont.
PS: Worried you missed something? See previous Galleries West stories here or sign up for our free biweekly newsletter.