MVT Landscape Gallery
A selection of landscapes by the artist.
While most recognised for her outstanding portraits of First Nations elders, a recognition that bred the accolade “the Indian painter” Mildred Valley Thornton was also an exceptional landscape artist. It was as a pupil of J. W. Beatty (1869-1941) that Thornton first became aware of the potential of landscape for extraordinary artistic expression. The break with the long tradition of “mellow representations of pastoral landscapes” are everywhere evident in her work. Her large canvases, even those painted in the early thirties, already showed a broad use of swaths of colour, and strong visual contrast both in colour and form. After her move to Vancouver in 1934 the possibilities for experimentation and expression became even more enhanced.
It is Thornton’s simple yet vivid, almost fauvist use of colour that has the most immediate and lasting impact on the viewer. As art critic, Shelia Robertson, of the Saskatchewan Star Phoenix observed, “Thornton’s gutsy use of colour, and her straight-forward, almost minimalist approach to her subjects give her paintings a very contemporary feel.”
Thornton herself was very aware of her bold, even brash use of colour. “I know the colours (I use) are stronger than in the actual scene, but I had to try to capture the compelling immensity of those mountains,” she once told a close friend. Even her watercolours display a wholly non-traditional use of brilliant colours and contrasts. As a result, they achieve a dynamism, at their best, which is generally found in the richer tones of oil colours. Working with a sure sense of colour allows her frequently to use patches of board, irregularities of surface or tone of background paper to work as structural elements in her landscapes, both oils and watercolours.
It is Thornton’s simple yet vivid, almost fauvist use of colour that has the most immediate and lasting impact on the viewer. As art critic, Shelia Robertson, of the Saskatchewan Star Phoenix observed, “Thornton’s gutsy use of colour, and her straight-forward, almost minimalist approach to her subjects give her paintings a very contemporary feel.”
Thornton herself was very aware of her bold, even brash use of colour. “I know the colours (I use) are stronger than in the actual scene, but I had to try to capture the compelling immensity of those mountains,” she once told a close friend. Even her watercolours display a wholly non-traditional use of brilliant colours and contrasts. As a result, they achieve a dynamism, at their best, which is generally found in the richer tones of oil colours. Working with a sure sense of colour allows her frequently to use patches of board, irregularities of surface or tone of background paper to work as structural elements in her landscapes, both oils and watercolours.
