Paul Kane, Artist

A.T.J. Cairns was Associate Professor of English at the University of Calgary.

This is a book to be described and recommended rather than criticized or, really, “evaluated.” The second volume in a series collectively titled “Following Historic Trails,” it consists primarily of excerpts from the journal kept by the pioneer Western Canadian artist Paul Kane during his 1846-48 expedition from Fort Carlton (near Saskatoon) to Fort Edmonton, then through the Rockies to Fort Victoria and back again. There are lucid, concise summaries of Kane’s life before and after this expedition (he lived until 1871); but, suitably, the bulk of the printed portion of the book consists of selections and summaries from the painter’s journal. These are done with great skill and discrimination, giving us a picture of both the artist and a countryside and its ways of life that would soon be altered beyond recall.

Kane — who had been inspired by the work of the American painter George Caitlin, which he had seen while studying in Europe — was deeply sympathetic toward the Indian peoples and totally aware that their way of life, however unfairly, was at the end of its time. He was determined to make as complete a visual record of this, and of the peoples themselves, as he could manage.

Though he made only this one western journey, the ultimate result was a collection of one hundred canvases: scenes of Indian life, portraits, and landscapes of the still-pristine western territories. A half-dozen of these are reproduced here in colour (too few; but economic factors undoubtedly intervened) and a number of others in black and white. Kane was a capable, often evocative painter, and these are quite enough to encourage the reader to look up further reproductions and to read the entire journal.

All in all, this volume, within its necessary limitations, is a model of its kind. Bruce Haig and the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation deserve congratulations for making it available to us.