CAPTAIN GRAY HAS CHRISTMAS ON MEARES ISLAND–– 1791

 

'Christmas on Vancouver Island'
 
Painting by Seattle artist,
Parker McAllister
(1903-1970.)
An original painting
14" x 17.25" archived at 
The Seattle Library
Seattle Room Digital Collections 
The Seattle Public Library
Northwest Collection.

"This dramatized representation of a trading expedition lead by Robert Gray celebrating Christmas at Fort Defiance on Meares Island, British Columbia, while wintering over in Clayoquot Sound in 1791.

Sailors and Natives stand in the foreground in a clearing. Behind them, sailors decorate a docked ship's prow with evergreen boughs.

Parker McAllister, born in 1903 in Massachusetts, was a Seattle Times artist from 1924 to 1965. McAllister started his career as an illustrator at 14 for a Spokane publication; he joined the art staff at the Seattle Times in 1920. During McAllister's career, he created illustrations depicting 'local color' events and situations now routinely handled by photographers. As the technology improved, he expanded his repertoire – he illustrated articles, drew covers for special sections and The Weekly Seattle Sunday Times Magazine. Those amounted to ca. 1,000 paintings.

In 1956, an exhibition of his watercolor and oil paintings of Pacific Northwest scenes and historical incidents- including some paintings from the 'Discovery of the Pacific Northwest' series were exhibited at the Washington State Historical Society Museum in Tacoma. He was also a member of the Puget Sound Group of Men Painters. Mr. McAllister retired from the Seattle Times in 1965; he passed away in Arizona in 1970.

This painting is reported to have appeared on the front cover of the Times Magazine on 25 December 1956 with an article by Lucile McDonald and also later appeared in the book based on the series, Search for the Northwest Passage by Lucile McDonald. McAllister and McDonald also collaborated in a similar way to produce Washington's Yesterday's."