Small
“This being a truthful account of a Journey made into a pleasant but ruff country by Barbaric and Barbaric Ace” was how Barbara Leighton’s honeymoon journal began. And so on June 4, 1931, she and her new husband, A.C., started into the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains on the first of many travels during their thirty five year marriage. Barbara and A.C. Leighton, both born in Britain, embraced their lives fully as Canadian citizens, making Alberta their home and leaving remarkable impressions on the people they encountered. After moving around the western world for the majority of their marriage, in 1955 the Leightons purchased land just south of Calgary, Alberta where they built what would be their final home. Here they could enjoy the inspiration of the Rocky Mountains everyday in the three hundred mile panorama visible from their windows.
According to her friends, everything about Barbara Leighton was big-especially her laugh. It is said that she held court in the little red school house where art and craft classes were held and if she invited you for tea in her atrium you were expected to attend-but never regretted it. Her immense personality left a positive effect on everyone who crossed her path; this influence is still felt today by people of all ages who make the journey to the Leighton Foundation Art Centre.
A.C. Leighton on the other hand was more introverted than his wife and preferred the solitude that his artistic career afforded. He was an adventurous spirit, spending much time in the rugged Canadian wilderness in search of the ideal subject matter for his painting. But no matter how serious about his art or how reclusive a personality, A.C. was down to earth and took the opinions of everyday people-whether the baker, the postman or even a young child-very seriously and would discard a piece of his art based on their judgment.
They were very different people. Nevertheless, as Barbara said-it worked for them, and very well. They travelled the world together in the pursuit of artistic inspiration. From England to Scotland and Ireland, the west coast of British Columbia, Oregon and California, and ultimately to the Rocky Mountains, the Leightons found inspiration and places to call home. Together they devoted themselves to art and, in so doing, their legacy has become art history in Alberta.
