Sketch for “Muskeg-Country” by Jack Leonard Shadbolt

Jack Shadbolt was a dominant figure in the Vancouver art scene beginning in the 1940s, alongside B.C. Binning. 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.

Shadbolt emigrated from England in 1912 and moved first to the BC interior before settling in Victoria in 1914. He met Emily Carr in 1930 while attending Victoria College, who left a strong impression on his life and work. Although their artistic styles varied considerably from one another, they were both inspired by the spiritual unity with nature apparent in Northwest Coast Native American art. Shadbolt was an official war artist in the Canadian Army during World War II. After the war, he resumed his post as a faculty member at the Vancouver School of Art, and in 1987 founded the Vancouver Institute for the Visual Arts with his wife Doris (now The Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation for the Visual Arts). Shadbolt studied at the Art Students' League in New York, London, and Paris, and with Group of Seven member Frederick Varley at the Vancouver School of Art. He received numerous accolades during his lifetime, including Officer of the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia.