"In the most intimate volume yet about prolific Canadian painter E. J. Hughes, the artist’s official biographer Robert Amos brings us Life at the Lake, capturing the years Hughes and his wife Fern spent at their home on Shawnigan Lake, Vancouver Island. Following Hughes’s service as a war artist, in 1946 he and Fern looked for a place to buy in Victoria. Then, in 1951, they spotted an ad for a property on Shawnigan Lake, about 40 kilometres north of the city. The quiet lakeside existence he and Fern established suited his temperament and artistic needs perfectly. In addition to reproductions of all of his Shawnigan-themed oils and watercolours, the book includes dozens of sketches, colour notes, local news clippings, letters, and illuminating excerpts from recorded interviews with Pat Salmon, Hughes’s longtime friend and assistant. With a keen appreciation for the quotidian, Amos captures lakeside life at Shawnigan, with Hughes’s observations on birds and trees, and trips to local shops and restaurants. He tells of an unusually snowy winter that slowed the delivery of finished paintings to the post office and, on a more sombre note, the gradual progression of Fern’s muscular dystrophy. The book shares insights into the relationships--with Fern, Pat, and agent Max Stern--that allowed Hughes to achieve great success as an artist while living a quiet existence at Shawnigan Lake. For the Hughes fan and anyone who enjoys learning about the everyday lives of artists, this latest addition to the Hughes pictorial canon is a must."-- Provided by publisher

119 pages : illustrations (chiefly colour), map ; 21 x 25 cm

"A retrospective on one of BC's most famous artists that features beautifully reproduced landscape paintings from all over mainland BC, and unveils new photographs, sketches, and ephemera from the artist's estate. E. J. Hughes (1913-2007) is British Columbia's best-loved landscape painter. His lavish, picturesque views of the province are appreciated by art professionals and the public alike. Following the success of his previous volume, E. J. Hughes Paints Vancouver Island, author and artist Robert Amos tracks the footsteps of Hughes as he travelled throughout mainland British Columbia, from Stanley Park to Savary Island, from the Fraser Valley to the Okanagan, and from the Kootenays to the Rockies between the 1930s and 1970s. Working the with Estate of E. J. Hughes, Amos has crafted a nuanced representation of the activities and life of this exceptionally talented and private man. Both biography and monograph, this book features full-page, full-colour reproductions of Hughes's finest paintings, many of them published here for the first time. Each painting is accompanied by supporting sketches, drawings, and photographs from Hughes's personal archive."-- Provided by publisher

ix, 189 pages : illustrations (some color), colour map ; 24 x 26 cm

From the moment Jacques Barbeau fell in love with his first E.J. Hughes painting in 1958, he never waivered in his certainty that Hughes would one day become an iconic figure on the Canadian art scene. Barbeau's voice, however, was in the minority and for many years he was one of only a handful of adventuresome collectors who sought out the artist's works. Eventually, the marketplace validated Barbeau's opinion and when Fishboats, Rivers Inlet (1946, oil on canvas) sold at auction for $920,000 in 2004, it served to solidify Hughes' place amongst the great artists of his time. Through the centuries, the passionate collector has always been central to the emergence of important artists. A Journey with E.J. Hughes provides an insightful look into the world of the collector, the artist and where their realms intersect. This very human story of art as master sheds important new light on Hughes and his work. Publisher's note

xi, 180 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 x 28 cm