Art
PEI Lighthouse
PEI Lighthouse
Title: Prince Edward Island Lighthouse
Artist: Peter Maxwell Ewart (1918-2001)
Image size: 5” x 7” (12.7 x 17.8 cm)
Description: Oil on panel. Unsigned. Unframed. Acquired from the Peter Ewart Online Auction, February 2020. The light depicted in the painting resembles the one at Covehead Harbour near Stanhope-by-the-Sea on the island’s north shore. The date of the work is unknown, but, according to the Ewart estate, the only other known PEI painting by artist is dated 1978.
In the summer of 1929, an eleven year old boy and his father boarded a train in Montreal. They were starting on a vacation trip which was to take them through the Canadian Rockies to Prince Rupert, by boat down the coast to Vancouver, then eastward again via the Central Interior. The boy was Peter Ewart, and little did he know then that, years later, he would become noted for his ability to capture in paint the scenic grandeur of the landscape that was making his eyes grow wide, and stirring his young heart during the course of those vacation days.
Peter Ewart was born on April 7, 1918, in Kisbey, Saskatchewan, but grew up in Montreal where his family moved when he was a small child. Upon completion of his formal education, he studied art in Montreal, and later in New York. World War II interrupted these studies, and it was during service with the R.C.A.F. that he was stationed for a time in British Columbia. He decided that after his discharge, he would return to live and work in the province which had so impressed him with the variety and beauty of its scenery.
His paintings have been exhibited by the Royal Academy (London England), the Royal Canadian Academy, the Canadian National Exhibition and the Mid-Century Exposition of Canadian Painting. He had over 40 one man exhibitions, and his paintings are represented in numerous corporate and private collections in Canada and abroad.
Commissions
Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian Pacific Airlines, Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto Dominion Bank, Imperial Oil Company, Home Oil Company, Shell Canada, Laing Construction (London, England), Westcoast Transmission, B.C. Telephone Company, B.C. Hydro, Kelly Douglas, Burns Fry Ltd., Expo '86, Calgary Olympic Winter Games, Ocean Cement, Douglas Lake Ranch (C.N. Woodward), Fletcher Challenge
Exhibitions
Alex Fraser Galleries, Royal Academy (London, England), Royal Canadian Academy, Canadian National Exhibition (Toronto), Mid-Century Expo of Canadian Painting, Calgary Stampede (1967), Alwin Galleries (London, England 1972)
Museum Collections
Quebec Provincial Museum, Glenbow Foundation, Charles M. Russell Museum (Montana), Peter Whyte Collection
Source: <http://www.petermaxwellewart.com/bio.php?ch=intro>