Jack Shadbolt’s family moved from England to British Columbia in 1912, eventually settling in Victoria. In the late 1920s, after studying at the Victoria College and Normal School, Shadbolt met Emily Carr, who would become a lifelong influence. Shadbolt drew from many sources of inspiration, including Cubism, Surrealism, American Regionalism and Northwest Coast Native American art. He drew on these various sources to help him express his deep affinity for nature and its cultural representation. In the 1930s, his paintings focused on what he called the "dark, satanic mills" of the industrial landscape. “Winter Barns” demonstrates Shadbolt’s influences of his recent academic training, with strong attention to line and shading; as well as Regionalism, due to the interest in scenes of small-town Canada during the 1930s.
