Two Jigsaws Victorian River Boat Scenes

"A penetrating study based on unique archival material and a deep analysis into hundreds of wartime works of art." —Tim Cook, author of The Fight for History: 75 Years of Forgetting, Remembering, and Remaking of Canada’s Second World War The third volume of this award-winning series showcases paintings and drawings E. J. Hughes created during the artist’s war service in Ottawa, England, Wales, and Alaska. In this, the third volume of an award-winning series on artist E. J. Hughes (1913–2007), Robert Amos turns his focus to Hughes’s service in the Second World War. The narrative begins with Hughes’s cadet days with the Seaforth Highlanders in Vancouver, followed by his enlistment at the Work Point Barracks in Esquimalt in 1939. Named the first “service artist” in 1941, he spent two winters in Ottawa before being posted to London where he was attached to different regiments in England and Wales. His paintings of camp life and convoys reflect his keen attention to the details of vehicles, artillery, and uniforms. In 1943 on the Alaskan island of Kiska, he transformed sub-zero weather and howling gales into a powerful document of this remote theatre of war. He returned to Ottawa where he worked until 1946—Canada’s first, last, and longest-serving War Artist of the Second World War. He was also the most prolific. The book features seventy artworks from the Canadian War Museum’s holdings, expanded with many personal photos and sketches from the artist’s papers. The narrative situates Hughes’s wartime work within the broader context of his life and his development as an artist. With the care and knowledge of a fellow artist, Amos draws the reader into this important chapter in the life of E. J. Hughes and Canadian art.

The follow-up to Eve Lazarus's successful 'At Home with History: The Untold Secrets of Greater Vancouver's Heritage Homes', 'Sensational Victoria' gives us a glimpse into aspects of Victoria rarely talked about in the tourist brochures or flowery garden guidebooks. 'Sensational Victoria' covers legendary women, including Emily Carr, Nellie McClung, Gwen Cash, Sylvia Holland, and Myfanwy Pavelic; prominent madams and their brothels; murders in the capital-five ranging from 1898 to 1992; and, the homes of limners (painters of ornamental decoration), writers, and entertainers, including Herbert Siebner, Elza Mayhew, Pat Martin Bates, Robin Skelton, Carole Sabiston, Bruce Hutchison, Alice Munro, David Foster, Spoony Sundher, and Nell Shipman. Lavishly illustrated throughout with archival and contemporary photographs, 'Sensational Victoria' is a must-read for both history buffs and regular visitors to The Garden City."This has already been a stellar year for books about localhistory. If you're still looking for a gift, there are more than a dozen top-quality choices on the shelves, from books on Victoria City Hall and the University of Victoria to ones on the Japanese community and Government Street. This late arrival, 'Sensational Victoria', is one of the year's best."- 'Times Colonist (Victoria)'