MILDRED VALLEY THORNTON (Canadian 1890-1967)
'JERVIS INLET'
 
oil on lined canvas
signed lower left "Mildred Valley Thornton"
titled on label on reverse 
Size in inches: 30.5 h x 39 w (with frame 32" x 40 1/2")
 
The deepest fjord on the coast of British Columbia, Jervis Inlet 
stretches almost 90 km from the Straight of Georgia near Texada 
Island to the Skwakwa River. The three arms, Prince of Wales 
Reach, Princess Reach, and Queens Reach are the site of two of 
Canada’s highest waterfalls, James Bruce Falls (840 m) and Alfred 
Creek Falls (700 m). The best known inlet in the area is Princess 
Louisa Inlet which is accessed through Malibu Rapids. Princess 
Louisa Marine Provincial Park is the home of Chatterbox Falls and is 
one of BC’s hidden gems. This view most likely depicts Goliath Bay 
on the left with Mount Churchill in the distance.
 
Born in Dresden, Ontario in 1890, Mildred Valley Thornton received 
her early training at Olivet College (Michigan), the Ontario College of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. She spent many years working among the First Nations people of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, attempting to recapture on canvas their vanishing culture.  Her book Indian Lives and Legends, published in 1966, is an account of her experiences while painting the First Nations people of British Columbia. Settling in Vancouver in the early 1930s, she became the art critic for the Vancouver Sun, a position she held for 16 years.  
 
Thornton was a charter member of the Saskatchewan Woman’s Art 
Association; President of the Canadian Women’s Press Club; a 
member of the Native Sisterhood of B.C.; and a Fellow of the Royal 
Society of Arts, England for her contribution to the heritage and 
 
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