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Peter Whyte, “Athabasca Glacier,” 1940-1950

oil on canvas, 25” x 30”

In the late 1920s, Catharine Robb, daughter of an upper class Massachusetts family, and Peter Whyte, an Alberta mountain-bred lad, met as young students at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. They married in 1930 and settled in a log house near the Bow River in Banff.

Accomplished painters, the Whytes were soon taking their easels into the rugged mountains in all seasons. They were not alone in this pursuit. Banff had already lured American artists like Belmore Browne and Carl Rungius, as well as J.E.H. MacDonald, a name better known to Canadians, and more would follow.

Over the decades, the Whytes created about 1,000 paintings and drawings, while nurturing friendships with guides, skiers, visiting artists and the Indigenous people of the Stoney Nakoda lands in the foothills east of Banff. Catharine was even friendly with Pierre and Margaret Trudeau.

Some 140 of their works are now gathered in a magnificent show, Artistry Revealed: Peter Whyte, Catharine Robb Whyte and Their Contemporaries, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. On view until Oct. 21, the show also includes 29 works by other artists in the museum’s collection. It’s accompanied by a sumptuous large-format book of the same title.

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Peter Whyte, “Bow Lake, Crowfoot Glacier,” 1945-1950

oil on canvas, 25” x 30”

The show includes landscapes and portraits. Peter’s Bow Lake, Crowfoot Glacier is a panoramic view across sloping greenery toward the lake and the distant mountains. A winding stream trails through the trees and grasses from the central foreground, drawing the eye into the painting. Peter’s outstanding Athabasca Glacier was chosen for the show’s title wall and the book’s cover. It shows a Group of Seven influence, although it’s distinctive in its own right.

Catharine’s portrait of Chief David Bearspaw, with braids, stylish hat and direct gaze, portrays a trusting subject and is respectfully and exquisitely rendered. In her landscapes, the mountain larches are a vivid golden-yellow and seem to dance.

Anne Ewen, the museum’s curator, says it’s a pity their art is not better known.

“Peter and Catharine were excellent painters,” she says. “They were quite prolific. It’s a shame that their work wasn’t more in the marketplace.”

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Peter and Catharine Whyte outside their home in Banff about 1932 or 1933. (courtesy the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff)

Despite respect from their contemporaries – Lawren Harris, for instance, encouraged them to relocate to New York or perhaps Toronto, where their work would get better known – they chose to stay in Banff and put no effort into marketing their work.

By 1958, the couple had begun to dream of a centre for art, history and community in Banff. They set up a foundation. Most likely, Catharine’s wealth was the basis. Their friend, Stoney band chief Walking Buffalo, gave the foundation its name, Wa-Che-Yo-Cha-Pa, interpreted by Catharine to mean, “Where the good, the wise and the beautiful come together in harmony.”

Sadly, Peter died in 1966 and did not see the dream manifested. In 1967, Catharine broke the ground and, in 1968, the first Whyte Museum structure was built to house an art gallery, library and archive. She died in 1979, but the museum has continued to expand.

Today, with year-round exhibitions and other activities, the Whyte remains central to Banff’s cultural life. It holds more than 6,000 paintings and drawings, some 1,300 motion pictures, 1,100 sound recordings, 5,500 books and about half a million photographs. Its heritage items are diverse – First Nations moccasins and buckskin jackets, as well as Canadian Pacific Railway dishes, and even a helicopter that transported skiers to the high slopes in the 1960s.

The accompanying book has more than 100 full-colour plates – Peter and Catharine’s paintings and sketches along with work by their peers, and a smattering of historic photographs. It includes essays by Monique Westra, a Calgary art historian and independent curator, and fellow Calgarian, Lisa Christensen, a curator and writer. ■

Artistry Revealed: Peter Whyte, Catharine Robb Whyte and Their Contemporaries is on view at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies from June 17 to Oct. 21, 2018.