William Percival Weston (November 30, 1879 – December 12, 1967), known as W.P. Weston, was a British-born Canadian painter, printmaker, and influential art educator celebrated for his distinctive depictions of the mountains, forests, and coastal landscapes of British Columbia. His work, characterised by bold design, rhythmic structure, and sculptural form, helped define early 20th-century West Coast modernism in Canadian art.
W.P. Weston; Driftwood, Garrow Bay, 1935
Born in Battersea, London, Weston trained as both a teacher and an artist at the Battersea Pupil-Teacher Centre, the Borough Teacher Training College, and the Putney School of Art. In 1909, he immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, accepting a teaching post at King Edward High School. By 1914, he had been appointed Art Master at the Provincial Normal School, where he taught until his retirement in 1946. His commitment to art education was profound—he co-authored The Teacher’s Manual of Drawing and Design (1924) with Charles H. Scott and S.P. Judge, followed by his solo volume A Teacher’s Manual of Drawing (1932), both of which became standard texts across British Columbia and Manitoba. Weston also helped reform art curricula for the province’s Department of Education and taught at summer schools for teachers in Victoria for over two decades.
William Percy Weston; Capilano Reservation
Weston’s early landscape work evolved dramatically after his arrival in Canada. Finding the restrained English Romantic tradition inadequate to express the grandeur of British Columbia’s environment, he developed a distinctive modern style that incorporated elements of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Japanese design. His paintings simplified form and line, emphasising pattern, balance, and rhythm to convey the immense scale of the Pacific Coast mountains, trees, and skies. Often sketching en plein air during hiking and sailing excursions, Weston transformed these studies into monumental compositions that celebrated the power and spirituality of nature. His subjects—such as wind-swept pines, snow-covered peaks, and cloud-laden skies—echo the spirit of the Group of Seven, though his work retained a uniquely west-coast sensibility.
A contemporary and correspondent of Emily Carr, Weston shared her passion for the expressive potential of landscape and the search for a distinctly Canadian artistic identity. His influence extended through generations of students, including artists such as Gordon Smith and Margaret Shelton, who continued his emphasis on disciplined drawing and direct engagement with nature.
W.P. Weston; The Fraser at Hope BC, 1953
Weston held numerous leadership positions within Canada’s art institutions. He was twice President of the British Columbia Society of Fine Arts (1922–1926; 1931–1937), later becoming a Life Member. He was a charter member of the Canadian Group of Painters (1933), a founding member of the Federation of Canadian Artists (1941), and a member of the Western Group of Painters (1948). In recognition of his artistic achievement, he was elected an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1936) and appointed to the Royal Society of Artists, London (1938). The National Gallery of Canada purchased his painting Canada’s Western Ramparts in 1931 and later acquired his drawing The Summit.
Weston exhibited widely during his career. He was among the first British Columbia artists—after Emily Carr and Thomas Fripp—to have a solo exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery (1934). Major retrospectives followed in 1946 and in 1959 (Fifty Years of Painting in B.C.), and later at the Richmond Art Gallery (Silence and Solitude: The Art of W.P. Weston, 1993). His work is represented in major public collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario, University of British Columbia, and Hart House at the University of Toronto, as well as numerous private collections across Canada.
W.P Weston; Kootenay Valley at Waldo, BC, 1962
Though Weston never sought commercial fame—often giving away paintings and relying on teaching for income—his art remains deeply valued for its strength, clarity, and reverence for nature. His legacy endures as one of the defining interpreters of British Columbia’s landscape, bridging the early modernist vision of the Group of Seven with the distinctive regional identity of West Coast Canadian art.