Unpublished draft #3
This post is third in a line of unpublished drafts I never got around to posting. In particular, I always meant to highlight the fact that the New Westminster Museum and Archives in the Anvil Centre has paid a very nice tribute to John Innes,
a former resident of New West. A large reproduction of one of John Innes’ paintings is prominently displayed as soon as you walk into the New Westminster Museum Gallery on the second floor.
The reproduction, which I’ve photographed above in situ, is very similar to the lost Spencer’s mural depicting Simon Fraser’s Canoes Descending the Fraser River. But upon closer examination, the scene is similar, but the painting does not match precisely the Spencer’s commission, as seen in the VanArchives photograph below.
What you are looking at is a similar painting from the series called “The Epic of Western Canada”, and the particular painting is actually called “Pioneers’ Highway”. The 1929 copyright catalog describes the painting as a “Group of men in canoe in foreground, followed by another canoe, paddling through rocky gorge”. The copyright date was registered as May 23, 1929, though the paintings themselves were unveiled in September of 1928. This was just one year following the Spencer’s mural commission of 1927. Innes had a number of scenes and themes that he enjoyed painting over again, not unlike Van Gogh’s sunflowers. This second version of the canoes traversing the Fraser River was probably favoured by Innes, as it gave him a chance to improve upon his Spencer’s commission which was produced under tight time constraints. This particular image was also used in one of his popular postcard series.
This isn’t the only Innes painting now on display at the New West Museum. There’s another reproduction which you can see as you exit the gallery, showing the Discovery of Gold at Williams Creek, 1861. This particular reproduction was from his 1925 series commissioned by the Native Sons of BC, and these are the murals that are now in the SFU permanent collection. I’ve added a reproduction of this image above, as well as the black and white image from his souvenir booklet. While John Innes may not have struck a fortune in his own journey west (there was a rapid decline in benefactors who commissioned paintings during the 1930s), he certainly enjoyed painting romantic scenes from our province’s rich history. Bravo, John Innes! You’re once again on display in your former hometown, New West!