W. P. Weston

W. P. Weston (November30, 1879 December12, 1967), also known as William Percival (Percy) Weston, was a painter and printmaker, best known for his landscapes of British Columbia, and as a teacher.

Career Weston was born in Battersea, London, England and trained as a teacher at the Battersea Pupil-Teacher Centre and the Borough Teacher Training College in London, England and as an artist at the Putney School of Art in London. He immigrated to Canada in 1909 and settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. He accepted the position of art teacher at King Edward High School in 1909 and in 1914, was appointed Art Master of the Provincial Normal School. He taught until 1946 when he retired and devoted himself to painting full-time. Throughout all his teaching positions, he emphasized the importance of drawing and on his frequent sketching trips to coastal British Columbia applied his knowledge.

In the 1920s, Weston began to paint landscape in a linear, decorative style and simplified his composition, reducing detail, and introducing solidly molded and sculptural form, influenced possibly by Japanese art and the Group of Seven. An exhibition of his work was held at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1946 and a retrospective titled Fifty Years of Painting in B.C., marking the 50th anniversary of Weston's arrival in British Columbia, in 1959,

He was an important member of the local art community and an admirer of Emily Carr with whom he corresponded. In 1936, Weston was elected an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, then in 1938, was appointed to the Royal Society of Artists, London.