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Page 6 WEST VANCOUVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY September 1998 By: Anne Vernon FEATURE PRESENTATION REPORT Mildred Valley Thornton: Her Life and Her Painting Our June meeting speaker, Reg Ashwell, was bom in Prince Rupert and educated in White Rock and Burnaby. In his teens he became stranded in wartime England where, in 1941 aged 19, he went to Canada House and joined the Canadian Army. A writer of note and a well known and honoured aficionado of the art of the North West Coast native, Reg founded “The Little Gallerynow known as the "Pegasus" in Saltspring Island. Now semi-retired, he still collects, writes and lectures on North West Coast art and artifacts. Reg began by telling us he considers Mildred Wl^ Thornton one of Canada’s great artists. Mildred lx)m in 1890 in Ontario, into an artistic £unily of painters and sculptors. From an early age she was &sdnated ^ the “Indians” who came into town to trade, many wearing ceremonial garments. Her £unily encouraged Mildred to study art and she trained under some well-known painters of the day. On moving to Regina Mildred met, fell in love ivith and married Mr Thornton, an English expatriate. She was always filled with tremendous energy and even after the birth of twin sons took every available opportunity to paint Prairie “Indians,” travelling much of the country in search of new subjects. Mouqt was scarce so travelling was difficult but Mildred could always find a way round that. Sometimes the RCMP would take her along on their trips into the back country where she painted feverishly taking every opportunity to put down on canvas her impressions of what was, in essence, a dying way of life. She built up a great trust among the tribes who obviously respected her and it must have been then that she began to amass her collection of native artifacts. Mildred was also esteemed for the quality of the many articles she wrote about the various tribes and their w^ of life. (At that period of tiine Canada’s native population were always referred to as “Indians”.) In 1934 the Thornton family came West to live in \^couver, setting up home at 1771 C^mox Street, and her passionate painting e?q>editions continued. One of the most important and, surely to her, the greatest honour, came about when she was invited to view the How How Dance of the Bella Coola Secret Society. She was allowed to sketch the dancers during their performances and even afterwards photograph the huge bird masks. At that time these dances were highly illegal so that she was invited to attend was a sign of the great trust which she had earned fix)m the tribes. In the &U of 1962 Reg Ashwell, a writer who was also caught iq) in stucfying the art of the North West Coast tribes, contacted Mildred who was by then an elderly lady living alone in the femily house. He had obviously heard tales of her obsessive painting of “Indians”, but nothing he had heard could possibly prepare him for what he eventually encountered. The door was opened to him \ty an attractive la^ who appeared to be about fifty years old. (Mildred was actualty in her seventies!) Had he come to the wrong house? No. A huge carved whale lived on the veranda beside the front door. The charming lady ushered him into a spacious hallway. To enter the main room (which had been created by amalgamflting the two ground floor rooms), one had to pass between two seven foot high totems, whose large round eyes seemed to carefiiUy scrutinise all visitors. Once inside, Reg must have stopped in wonder. Even today when he speaks of it you can see how the sight affected hiuL All the w^s were covered with large and small paintings, some being thirty or forty inches in size, both in landscapes and portraits. Large numbers of canvasses were stacked against the walls and all available space on chairs, tables and sideboards was covered by artifacts - rattles, masks, coffers, even clothing. It must have been a breathtaking sight Mildred showed Reg over the house and he saw at the bend in the stairs another large totem; the bedrooms and passages on the upper floor contained more of the same plus paddles, huge masks, even one of Pauline Johnson’s costumes! Mildred wore that when she gave country-wide lectures about her paintings, showing slides of her woric as much of it was too cumbersome to transport Thus began a friendship between Reg and Mildred which lasted until she died some five years later. During that time Reg drove Mildred wherever she wanted to go to paint - once over to the Island to paint the funous Nootka Chief Jimmy John, who was 102. She was nearly 75 then and felt they were both running out of time! The Chief had to be persuaded to “sit” for her and was eventually- agreeable but it proved almost impossible for him He kept moving around and even performed an incredible blanket dance for them, but as always Mildred worked at top speed and within 25 minutes had a fabulous likeness of him. She must have been exhausted but the painting is today accounted one of her tiest Her paintings eventually amounted to a collection of over one thousand major works and she hardly ever sold anything she considered of merit as she veiy much wanted either the Federal or Provincial governments to bity and exhibit it, using the gallery entrance proceeds to help her beloved “Indians”. However it was not to be, as no one was able or willing to raise the $100,000.00 she wanted. Her last months were unfortunately clouded with bitterness over this disappointment and her final will asked that the collection be bum^ but, thankfully for posterity, improper documentation meant that this wonderful body of work was preserved. Tod^ several of her paintings are in private hands, many in various museums throughout the country and the remainder with the funily. Her woik is highly prized by those fortunate to possess it and almost never comes onto the art market. . With slides loaned by her son, Reg and Tom Taylor gave us a twenty minute show of the paintings of Mildred Wley Thornton and what a twenty minutes it was! Reg had several times mentioned the latty’s incredible energy and that certainly came through loud amf clear in her works. Many of her See Mildred Valley Thornton, continued on page 7.