MVT Portrait Archives
A selection of Indigenous Portraits by the artist.
“Her work is bold in design, rich and brilliant in colouring. Her paintings are representational but her style has a vigour, a directness and simplicity of statement which marks her as one of the Canadian School. No other painter has produced comparable work in this field in Canada. She has travelled thousands of miles in search of her material and has brought back documents of rich social significance.”
- The Native Voice
From the standpoint of First Nations portraiture in Canada, Mildred Valley Thornton stands in a league of her own. No other Canadian artist produced as many separate and distinct images of First Nations elders and dignitaries as this outstanding painter. In a career devoted and dedicated to preserving through her brush, her typewriter and her lectures the lives, customs and rituals of Canada’s aboriginal people, Mildred Valley Thornton began her life’s work in 1928 with her first native portraits. By the time of her death in 1967 she had amassed a collection of close to 300 powerful and poignant portraits of some of this country’s most celebrated First Nations chiefs, elders and recognised leaders and “celebrities.”
Thornton’s portraits fall into two distinct geographic identities; the Plains and West Coast. While many of her Plains portraits were created in the early part of her career whilst living in Regina, several were added later while living in Vancouver through visits to annual provincial exhibitions such as the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto and the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta. Most of her West Coast images came as a result of extensive travel to the far reaches of British Columbia, although she also enjoyed the relatively easy access to such prominent Vancouver groups as the Squamish and Sechelt Bands.
To celebrate the importance of her life’s work, and to complete her life’s mission to have her First Nation’s portraits available to be viewed by all Canadians, Westbridge Publications is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of “Owas-Ku-Esk-Ean: The Complete Catalogue Raisonné of First Nations Portraits by Mildred Valley Thornton, FRSA (1890-1967).” Covering a career of almost 50 years, and including close to 300 portraits of First Nations elders, many the only extant images of these remarkable individuals, the catalogue raisonne provides an important glimpse into, and historical record of, an emerging Nation that was in danger of losing touch with its cultural traditions and crafts. We believe that Mildred Valley Thornton’s vast First Nation’s portrait collection will become recognised as one of the most important historical fine art documents of the twentieth century in Canada.
- The Native Voice
From the standpoint of First Nations portraiture in Canada, Mildred Valley Thornton stands in a league of her own. No other Canadian artist produced as many separate and distinct images of First Nations elders and dignitaries as this outstanding painter. In a career devoted and dedicated to preserving through her brush, her typewriter and her lectures the lives, customs and rituals of Canada’s aboriginal people, Mildred Valley Thornton began her life’s work in 1928 with her first native portraits. By the time of her death in 1967 she had amassed a collection of close to 300 powerful and poignant portraits of some of this country’s most celebrated First Nations chiefs, elders and recognised leaders and “celebrities.”
Thornton’s portraits fall into two distinct geographic identities; the Plains and West Coast. While many of her Plains portraits were created in the early part of her career whilst living in Regina, several were added later while living in Vancouver through visits to annual provincial exhibitions such as the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto and the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta. Most of her West Coast images came as a result of extensive travel to the far reaches of British Columbia, although she also enjoyed the relatively easy access to such prominent Vancouver groups as the Squamish and Sechelt Bands.
To celebrate the importance of her life’s work, and to complete her life’s mission to have her First Nation’s portraits available to be viewed by all Canadians, Westbridge Publications is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of “Owas-Ku-Esk-Ean: The Complete Catalogue Raisonné of First Nations Portraits by Mildred Valley Thornton, FRSA (1890-1967).” Covering a career of almost 50 years, and including close to 300 portraits of First Nations elders, many the only extant images of these remarkable individuals, the catalogue raisonne provides an important glimpse into, and historical record of, an emerging Nation that was in danger of losing touch with its cultural traditions and crafts. We believe that Mildred Valley Thornton’s vast First Nation’s portrait collection will become recognised as one of the most important historical fine art documents of the twentieth century in Canada.