Edward John Hughes CM OBC RCA (February 17, 1913 – January 5, 2007) was a Canadian painter, known for his images of the land and sea in British Columbia.

One of his teachers was Frederick Varley of the Group of Seven, and another member, Lawren Harris, recommended him for the inaugural Emily Carr Scholarship in 1947.

[4] Hughes traveled to England, Wales, Alaska and Kiska Island where he depicted ordinary men caught up in this worldwide event.

[6] After being discharged from the military in 1946, he returned to the west coast of Canada with his wife Fern and settled in Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island, at first concentrated on waterfront subjects near his home.

Hughes spent much of the remainder of his life living on Vancouver Island where he pursued a lifelong study of the province and its landscape as a professional artist.

In the 1950s, Hughes' reputation grew, especially after he signed an exclusive contract to sell all his work to Dr. Max Stern, the owner of the Dominion Gallery in Montreal in 1951.

The Vancouver Art Gallery has the most extensive holding of Hughes' work in public hands and mounted a major retrospective exhibition in 2003, curated by Ian M.