A retrospective representing 80 years of work by Canadian artist W.H. Buchanan is on display at The Old School House Arts Centre (TOSH) in Qualicum Beach.
Curating eight decades of paintings was not easy for W.H.’s daughter Leigh Buchanan, considering there were hundreds of works to choose from.
The collection includes a wide range of styles and media. Buchanan enjoys experimenting with his art, Leigh said.
“I tried to include some from each decade, which there are, other than the ’90s,” she said. “I think at that time he focused on videography and writing. He loved to do both of those as well.”
Buchanan, a veteran of the Second World War, was born in 1925 and began his career creating portraits for locals at just 14 years old, according to his biography on TOSH’s website.
After graduating from the Nova Scotia College of Art in 1950, he worked as a graphic artist and technical illustrator at the Department of National Defense and National Research Council in Ottawa.
“He enjoyed the process and he trusted the process,” Leigh said. “As he worked he allowed the image to kind of speak to him on a level.”
One theme of Buchanan’s early works is humans in a big landscape, shown in this exhibition through ‘Splendour in the Trees’ (1971) and ‘Duet’ (1968).
“He enjoyed that kind of tension of small figures and large world,” Leigh said.
‘Duet’ is one of her favourites, “it really kind of speaks to me, in that you’re always connected to nature, even if you may feel insignificant.”
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Another painting that stands out is for Leigh is ‘Shipwreck’ (1968).
“This is like a beating heart in a ribcage. It’s a very lonely piece,” she said. “It has many different layers of meaning. It means a lot to me.”
‘The Birds are Best that Fly the Best’ and ‘That’s the Way to Go’ (1982) is a good example of Buchanan’s quirky sense of humour, Leigh said.
The painting shows two figures enjoying a day at the beach — they’ve evidently climbed up on a step ladder and cut out a piece of the sky.
Other works are a comment on different social issues, such as the environment, injustice and abuse.
“Quite a few of them are provocative,” Leigh said. “‘Dead Model Walking’ of course addresses image expectations leading to eating disorders etc in the modelling industry.”
‘Late Night’ (2013) is a comment on media addiction, and shows a face engrossed in a screen, perhaps a television or a smartphone.
Around 2009, Buchanan went through an abstract painting phase.
“Most of these geometric and other abstracts are from that time,” Leigh said. “I believe he produced so many paintings and saw art in everything.”
The most recent piece in the collection is from 2019, painted when he was 94 years old.
Buchanan turns 99 this year and still paints to this day at his home in Ottawa.
“And they’re wonderful,” said Leigh, who is also a painter. “Very amorphous, richly coloured landscapes.”
Buchanan described himself in his biography as a versatile artist, not unlike an actor or a writer.
“Life is never the same day by day,” he said. “I’ve been working for a long time, so with experience over the years the paintings certainly continue to change. I admire all creative endeavors. Art is all-embracing and necessary to evoke time and place.”
He entrusted Leigh with curating his work for the exhibition at TOSH, which is just a fraction of what he created over the decades.
“I’m so proud of him for having this purpose his whole life and staying really true to himself,” Leigh said. “I just love that he created all his time.”
W.H. Buchanan: a Retrospective will be at TOSH (122 Fern Rd. W) until March 2.