Victoria

David Mattison is a librarian with the Provincial Archives and Records
Service Library in Victoria.

Robert Amos is Victoria artist and critic, well known locally. This book
collects watercolors and pen sketches of Victoria scenes accompanied by
his own text. The book is divided into several sections, detailing
Amos’s interest in certain Victoria topographies. He begins with an
overall history of Victoria and with scenes around the Inner Harbour,
then devotes several pages to the Empress Hotel and Government Street.
Next comes Amos’s favorite haunt, Chinatown, where he maintained a
studio for some time. Then he shifts to Johnson Street, a thoroughfare
lined with colorful buildings from the 1890s. Finally, Amos depicts the
charms of Cook Street Village, where he currrently resides.

Amos’s style varies widely but tracing the development of his
technique is not possible since most of the artwork is undated. As art,
some of the works hold up better than others. Still, for those who are
curious, this is an excellent sampler of Amos’s art. The work also
deserves notice as an unconventinal guidebook to Victoria; it emphasizes
Victoria as a tourist destination, an image Amos gladly celebrates.