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WALTER JOSEPH PHILLIPS, R.C.A.THE HOH-HOK HOUSEPOSTS AT KARLUKWEESwatercolour, laid down on boardsigned 20.5 ins x 16 ins; 52.1 cms x 40.6 cms Provenance:Private Collection, United KingdomPrivate Collection, British ColumbiaLiterature:Duncan Campbell Scott, Walter J. Phillips (Canadian Art Series), The Ryerson Press, Toronto, n.d., pages 23-24. Nancy Green, Kate Rutherford and Toni Tomlinson, Walter J. Phillips, Pomegranate, Portland, Oregon, 2013, pages 19-21.Note:While W.J. Phillips is widely known for his masterful woodcuts, his watercolours rarely appear on the market and are both rare and remarkable. In his early work on Phillips for the Canadian Art Series, Campbell quotes foremost watercolourist of the day, Fred Brigden, who after rhapsodizing at great length about Phillips' long inventory of skill and acumen, eventually places him "easily among the top ranking water color men in Canada or abroad." Brigden references Phillips' feeling for watercolor and his careful emphasis on design and form. He notes, Phillips, "like all great masters, restricted his palette to employ the fewest possible colours to obtain his effects." We know that in 1927, Phillips traveled to Alert Bay - northern Vancouver Island- to visit his sister. From there he travelled by boat with his brother-in-law to Mamalilicoola, Tsatsisnukomi and Karlukwees, the subject of this lot, where he recorded the "strange monuments" in the mist and the fog.Phillips described these first nations villages as "delectable sketching ground." This watercolour would be translated into the second wood engraving of Phillips' 1930 portfolio, An Essay in Woodcuts.