Sold for: $91,250

PROVENANCE
Dominion Gallery, Montreal
The Estate of Dr. Max Stern, Montreal
Sold sale of Important Canadian Art, Sotheby's Canada in association with Ritchie's, February 25, 2002, lot 187
Private Collection, Toronto

LITERATURE
Ian M. Thom, E.J. Hughes, Vancouver Art Gallery, 2002, page 187
Jacques Barbeau, The E.J. Hughes Album: The Paintings, Volume 1, 1932— 1991, 2011, reproduced page 85
Robert Amos, E.J. Hughes Paints Vancouver Island, 2018, the 1986 graphite drawing reproduced page 68, and the canvas reproduced page 69

On verso, a letter from the artist attached to the work reads: "The "B.C." is in the title because there is another Cherry Point in the U.S., just south of the border. The pencil sketch from nature for this painting was produced in my car in a public parking area where there are sea views to the north, south, and east. This view is looking north. Cherry point is a few miles south of here (Duncan) on the east coast of Vancouver Island."

Ian Thom wrote that “By 1980, E.J. Hughes was the most important landscape painter working in British Columbia.” The Mouth of a Creek, Cherry Point, BC, a sensitive composition with meticulous use of detail and pattern, illustrates why. Hughes depicts one of his favourite locations near his home in Duncan, capturing its peaceful seaside atmosphere. He arrests our attention in the foreground with a screen of grasses, causing our eye to linger over the creek, which swirls down onto the beach, then forms rippling patterns before more gently flowing to the sea. The perfect visual device for Hughes, the creek reflects the evergreens and the overcast sky, bringing its light into the foreground. The forms of rocks on the beach are echoed in the round flowers in the bushes on the embankment. The soft hues of the sand are pleasing - taupe, grey and gold - and in the distance, driftwood is piled vertically in the kind of sculptural arrangements often seen on coastal beaches. In every way, Hughes, by his careful observation of his environment, compels us to take closer notice of our world.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars