PROVENANCE
G. Blair Laing Limited, Toronto
Acquired from the above by a Private Collector, Toronto, 1969
Private Collection, Toronto

The exposed, harsh beauty of the landscape of the Canadian Shield has attracted artists since they began to work in Canada. Paul Kane painted the La Cloche Hills in 1845, and it is a beloved painting destination today. Now set aside in Ontario’s Killarney Provincial Park, the La Cloche Hills and McGregor Bay were a favoured destination for several members of the Group of Seven – Franklin Carmichael, Arthur Lismer and A.Y. Jackson all worked there. Jackson favoured trees and brush, Lismer the lakes, and Carmichael the bare skeleton of the landscape – the exposed rock of the Canadian Shield. Here in the silver-grey light of the La Cloche Hills, Carmichael explores the medium of watercolour, of which he was a master, in subtle shades of blue and grey. A founding member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, Carmichael had abilities with this delicate medium that are astounding. In this work, he has used the rough texture of the watercolour paper to its maximum advantage, working with saturated paint in a near-drybrush method in the sky, and allowing us to see much of his pencil drawing in the final work. The result is stark and clean, an unadorned depiction of land, water and sky.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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