Donation enhances gallery's northwest art collection

A UVic alumnus has donated nearly $70,000 worth of northwest coast art to the Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery.

The donor, Dr. Peter Smart, is a retired professor of mathematics from Royal Roads Military College and a friend of the late Kwakwaka'wakw artist Henry Hunt. The two met while Hunt was working as the master carver at the Royal B.C. Museum, a position he held from 1962 to 1974.

Over the years of their acquaintance, Smart collected many of the master carver's works. "I thought of selling the pieces," he says, "but I love them so much I'd like many other people to enjoy them as well." He felt the collection would be accessible to the largest number of viewers through the Maltwood.

The gift of five prints and 17 carvings represents a significant collection of Henry Hunt's early carving and print-making work. It will complement pieces of Henry Hunt's work already held by the university, including two totem poles that dominate the centre of campus, carved by Henry and his son Tony in the 1960s.

Henry Hunt received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from UVic in 1983. Another of his sons, the renowned carver Richard Hunt, will be awarded the same degree this June.