Artist Information
Artist
Cecil Augustus de Trafford Cunningham (1897-1973)Role
PainterDate made
1940Time Period
20th CenturyNotes
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Born in Wapella, Saskatchewan, Cecil Augustus de Trafford Cunningham served briefly in the 88th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in WWI. After being wounded in the 1916 Battle of the Somme and suffering severe pneumonia, he invalided out of the service, returned to Canada and later began to develop his career as a painter and artist in Nanaimo and Victoria.
He is known for his views of scenery and buildings in Victoria, across Vancouver Island (i.e. Deep Bay, Cameron Lake, Cowichan Bay, Lantzville and Nanaimo) and beyond, such as Banff. Of special note were his totems, buildings and scenes of village life of the Northwest Coast and First Nations people. Cunningham is reported to have won numerous awards and prizes for his watercolours. He exhibited his artwork with the Island Arts and Crafts Society, and also in the B.C. Artists Exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery from 1940 to 1949. He was also a member of the Victoria Sketch Club.
Cunningham died in Victoria in 1973. His son, Reverend Ray Cunningham, published a book on his father, “Through the Eyes of a Gentle Painter", showing many of the watercolours that were purchased by the B.C. Provincial Archives. A large body of his work is also held by Westminster Abbey, a community of Benedictine monks in Mission B.C.