PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Vancouver
Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, May 27, 2004, lot 157
Private Collection, Vancouver

Frank Johnston participated in three of the four Group of Seven “boxcar” journeys to Algoma, including the 1918, 1919 and 1920 trips. These excursions are now the stuff of legend, with Lawren Harris arranging the use of an Algoma Central Railway boxcar as a mobile camp—specially outfitted with bunks, chairs, a water tank, a stove and bookshelves. The artists made themselves very much at home, decorating the car’s interior with the Latin motto Ars longa, vita brevis (“Art is long, life is short”). From their boxcar base, they ventured out on foot, and other times along the tracks by handcar, to find their preferred inspirations. Johnston was as enthusiastic a participant in the sketching forays into the remarkable surroundings as he was in the nighttime discussions about what each had produced that day. He also loved exploring the characteristics of various types of media, with this expressive sketch executed in tempera, providing its stylized and jewel-like character.

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