Unvarnished

Culled from the hand-written pages in old-fashioned scribblers and almost-forgotten typescripts amid drafts for her published stories, Unvarnished features among the last unpublished and highly personal writings of the iconic Canadian author and artist Emily Carr.This highly readable manuscript—edited by Royal BC Museum curator emerita Kathryn Bridge and illustrated with sketches and photographs from the BC Archives—spans nearly four decades, from 1899 to 1944. In an almost stream-of-consciousness outpouring of stories, Carr chronicles her early years as an art student in England, her life-altering sojourn in France and subsequent travels to Indigenous villages along the coast, her encounters with the Group of Seven, conversations with artist Lawren Harris, and her sketching trips in the “Elephant” caravan in the company of a quirky menagerie. Also included are stories written in hospital recovering from a stroke, a particularly vulnerable time in her life.Emily Carr’s books have remained in nearly continuous print since the 1940s. Unvarnished is a fresh addition to her enduring oeuvre, to be enjoyed as a complement to her other writings or as a jewel in its own right.

"Kathryn Bridge has done us all a great service, bringing a more fully realized Emily Carr to life; here she is, unvarnished and alive." --Colin Browne, The BC Review

Beloved Canadian artist and writer Emily Carr (13 December 1871 to 2 March 1945) was born in Victoria, British Columbia. She studied art in the USA, England and France until 1911, when she moved back to British Columbia. Carr was most heavily influenced by the landscapes and First Nations cultures of British Columbia and Alaska. In the 1920s she came into contact with members of the Group of Seven and was later invited to submit her works for inclusion in a Group of Seven exhibition. They named her The Mother of Modern Arts about five years later. Kathryn Bridge is an archivist and historian who lives in Victoria, BC. She has written several books about pioneers in British Columbia, including By Snowshoe, Buckboard and Steamer (winner of the 1998 Lieutenant-Governor's Medal for Historical Writing)and Phyllis Munday: Mountaineer (a finalist at the Banff Mountain Book Festival and a runner-up for the Van City Book Prize). Over the years she and her family have explored, camped and boated in many of the coastal areas of Vancouver Island.