The Lake O'Hara Art of JEH MacDonald and Hiker's Guide

Kathy E. Zimon is a fine arts librarian (emerita) at the University of
Calgary. She is the author of Alberta Society of Artists: The First 70
Years and co-editor of Art Documentation Bulletin of the Art Libraries
Society of North America.

With this third book, art historian and intrepid hiker Lisa Christensen
can lay claim to creating a small, but delightful, one-person cottage
industry retracing the steps and identifying the views that artists
painted in the Rocky Mountains. Her first, multi-award-winning book was
A Hiker’s Guide to Art of the Canadian Rockies and included work by
artists like Carl Rungius, Belmore Browne, and A.C. Leighton, as well as
by the Group of Seven. Her second book, A Hiker’s Guide to the Rocky
Mountain Art of Lawren Harris, and this one on J.E.H. MacDonald,
concentrate on two prominent members of the Group who had a particular
affinity for the west and its spectacular mountain scenery.

MacDonald made his first trip to Lake O’Hara in 1924, and during the
seven times he returned until 1930 when illness curtailed his travel to
the west, he painted more than 100 small oil sketches of the area. These
often served as notes for larger studio works, and most were still in
his possession when he died. The main text is devoted to detailed
discussion of some of these works, with each keyed to a numbered vantage
point on a map of the area around Lake O’Hara. The concentration of
vantage points indicates that MacDonald’s favoured locations and views
were mostly on the northwest side of the lake, within an easy distance
of Lake O’Hara Lodge. Added features, often highlighted, are a history
of Lake O’Hara; advice on hiking in a protected area; relevant
selections from MacDonald’s journal; informative asides on watercolour
painting outdoors, oil sketches, and the role of design in the
artist’s repertoire; and brief quotes from books and other writings by
and about MacDonald.

Like the others, this is a square-format, 136-page, glossy, softcover
volume with some 60 colour reproductions and several archival
photographs. The layout is more traditional than the earlier books, but
equally attractive. This title, along with the first two, is not only a
valuable addition to the literature, but an addictive habit worth
indulging.