Mildred Valley Thornton
A Retrospective Exhibition
Exhibition Details:
Online through Fall 2024
Online through Fall 2024
Westbridge Fine Art is pleased to present a selection of the artist’s powerful and dynamic landscapes, and her strong and sensitive portraits of Indigenous Chiefs and Elders painted over a career spanning more than 40 years.
Born in Dresden, Ontario, Thornton studied at the Ontario College of Art under J. W. Beatty and George A. Reid. A gifted landscape and portrait painter, who worked in both oil and watercolour, she was recognized nationally and internationally during her long and active career. Her extensive exposure as artist, lecturer, teacher, art critic and writer made her one of the most visible personalities in the Canadian art world during her lifetime.
Her family moved to Regina in 1913, and it was while she was there that she had her first encounter with the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, an encounter that was to take over her life. As she wrote, in her first book, Indian Lives and Legends, “I began to develop an uncontrollable urge to paint western Canadian Indians in all walks of life, recording everything I could with brush and paint.”
Thornton moved to Vancouver with her husband and twin boys in 1934 and very quickly immersed herself in the local arts community. Over the ensuing years she participated in several prominent exhibitions, including a solo show at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and would later become the art critic for the Vancouver Sun, a position she held for 15 years. A strong advocate for women’s rights, and issues affecting the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, she would undertake several nation-wide lecture tours championing their cause, and illustrating her lectures with slides of paintings on Indigenous themes.
Mildred Valley Thornton didn’t sell any of her Indigenous portraits during her lifetime, preferring instead to keep what she referred to as her “Collection” intact, in the hopes that it would be acquired by the nation for all to see and benefit from. This was not to be. Distraught, she added a codicil to her will stating that all her portraits should be destroyed upon her death. Fortunately, the will was not witnessed properly and the collection remained intact.
During her life Thornton achieved many honours and distinctions, including being made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London, England, and later president of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. However, what gave her the most satisfaction were the honorary names bestowed upon her by Indigenous people. The Kwakiutl made her a princess of the Clan Eagle and named her Ah-Ou-Mookht which means ‘the one who wears the blanket because she is of noble birth.’ The Cree called her Owas-Ka-Ta-Esk-Ean, meaning ‘putting your most ability for us Indians.’
Born in Dresden, Ontario, Thornton studied at the Ontario College of Art under J. W. Beatty and George A. Reid. A gifted landscape and portrait painter, who worked in both oil and watercolour, she was recognized nationally and internationally during her long and active career. Her extensive exposure as artist, lecturer, teacher, art critic and writer made her one of the most visible personalities in the Canadian art world during her lifetime.
Her family moved to Regina in 1913, and it was while she was there that she had her first encounter with the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, an encounter that was to take over her life. As she wrote, in her first book, Indian Lives and Legends, “I began to develop an uncontrollable urge to paint western Canadian Indians in all walks of life, recording everything I could with brush and paint.”
Thornton moved to Vancouver with her husband and twin boys in 1934 and very quickly immersed herself in the local arts community. Over the ensuing years she participated in several prominent exhibitions, including a solo show at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and would later become the art critic for the Vancouver Sun, a position she held for 15 years. A strong advocate for women’s rights, and issues affecting the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, she would undertake several nation-wide lecture tours championing their cause, and illustrating her lectures with slides of paintings on Indigenous themes.
Mildred Valley Thornton didn’t sell any of her Indigenous portraits during her lifetime, preferring instead to keep what she referred to as her “Collection” intact, in the hopes that it would be acquired by the nation for all to see and benefit from. This was not to be. Distraught, she added a codicil to her will stating that all her portraits should be destroyed upon her death. Fortunately, the will was not witnessed properly and the collection remained intact.
During her life Thornton achieved many honours and distinctions, including being made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London, England, and later president of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. However, what gave her the most satisfaction were the honorary names bestowed upon her by Indigenous people. The Kwakiutl made her a princess of the Clan Eagle and named her Ah-Ou-Mookht which means ‘the one who wears the blanket because she is of noble birth.’ The Cree called her Owas-Ka-Ta-Esk-Ean, meaning ‘putting your most ability for us Indians.’
For information on prices and availability of works in this exhibition, or other works by the artist,
please contact Westbridge Fine Art Ltd. at 604-736-1014 or email [email protected]
please contact Westbridge Fine Art Ltd. at 604-736-1014 or email [email protected]
Book Launch
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In conjunction with Thornton exhibition will be the book launch for Owas-Ka-Ta-Esk-Ean: Indigenous Portraits by Mildred Valley Thornton, FRSA (1890-1967): A Catalogue Raisonné. An important historical and artistic portfolio featuring more than 280 portraits of Indigenous Chiefs, Elders and others from over 30 communities across the Plains and British Columbia. The result of a lifetime’s passion and commitment, Mildred Valley Thornton’s “Collection” is a magnificent and powerful record of Indigenous peoples and their traditional ways of life.
160 pages, with over 300 illustrations, that include landscapes and historical subjects, a complete exhibition schedule from 1930 – 2024 and a selected index. $44.95 plus s&h. To see excerpts from the book, please visit our Publications Page. To order please contact Westbridge Fine Art at 604-736-1014 or email [email protected]. |