MUrAL 16

32M X 3M (104’ X 10’), LEGION STREET

1884 cHINESE bULL gANG

Painted in 1984 by Ernest Marza,
Victoria, BC

The Artist

Before emigrating to Canada in 1956, Ernest Marza had spent most of his working life as a painter and sculptor in eastern Europe. He pursued his chosen career once here, supplementing it with studies at the Kootenay School of Art in B.C. He then specialized in the art of restoration and conservation at San Miguel de Allende in Mexico and at Sanomo, California.

Marza now works as an artist, teacher and restorer in Victoria, where he has had a long association with the “Little Gallery”. His paintings can be found in private collections throughout Canada, the U.S. and Germany, as well as in the permanent collections of Gulf Oil, B.C. Hydro and other corporations.

The Art

Many Chinese people had been enticed to the west coast of Canada as labourers in the late 1800’s. A number settled in Chemainus with the promise of steady work in the lumber industry. In the painting, twenty-three men of the Chinese “Bull Gang” struggle to move a huge timber through the lumber yard to a sailing vessel. Planks laid in front of the wheels of the cart provided a smooth track. The mural is based on a photograph from the Victoria Lumber & Manufacturing Company at the turn of the century. Next Mural >