The Canadian Pacific menus today and in the next three days were all issued in 1937 and all have paintings whose artists are identified on the covers. Of them, W.J. (for Walter Joseph) Phillips (1884-1963) was probably the most famous. He did watercolors but also popularized the art of color woodcuts, in which he cut eight or more woodblocks — more than a dozen in one case — one for each color in the print. He also did the mural in the lounge of the Canadian Pacific observation car Strathcona Park, which is still in use today although VIA removed the murals in 1986.
Click image to download a 1.4-MB PDF of this menu.
The Muskoka District is a region of Ontario that has more than 1,600 lakes. Born in Britain, Phillips moved to Canada in 1913 and did a lot of paintings and woodcuts in Ontario in the 1920s, which is probably when he did this one. Later, he moved to Banff, where he did many prints in the Canadian Rockies including a 1933 engraving of the Banff Springs Hotel that Canadian Pacific used on menus and in its advertising.
Phillips’ engraving of the Banff Springs Hotel used on a CP menu cover.
This particular menu was used for breakfast on the Mountaineer. Although the menu isn’t dated, someone pencilled “June 1937” on the cover, which I Photoshopped out. I wasn’t patient enough to Photoshop out many of the other age marks, but I hope they don’t detract from the menu too much.