Sold for: $451,250

PROVENANCE
Messrs. P. & D. Colnaghi and Obach, London, 1914
Watson Art Galleries, Montreal, 1926
Harold Braff
Private Collection, Ontario
By descent to the present Private Collection, Ontario

LITERATURE
A.K. Prakash, Impressionism in Canada: A Journey of Rediscovery, 2015, page 576, Evening Glow, Laurentians reproduced in a photograph of the 1913 Galerie A.M. Reitlinger exhibition (Musée des beaux-art de Montréal archives, Montreal) and page 577, the verso of this photograph, showing a diagram of the layout of the exhibition, sketched in ink by the artist, this work is titled as Dernières lueurs and indicated as catalogue #84

EXHIBITED
Galerie A.M. Reitlinger, Paris, Exposition Clarence A. Gagnon. Paysage d’hiver dans les montagnes des Laurentides au Canada, November 27 – December 16, 1913, catalogue #84

From the time he moved to Paris in 1904, Clarence Gagnon dreamed of having his own solo exhibition in the “City of Light.” The 23-year-old painter believed this was the only way for an artist to truly connect with the public. It would take less than a decade for that dream to come true. After regular showings at Paris’s annual art fairs, where his prints and paintings attracted the attention of critics and collectors, the Canadian artist was invited to display his work at art dealer Adrien M. Reitlinger’s Montparnasse gallery.

An invitation of this kind from someone so well connected in the Paris art world was an incredible opportunity. Moreover, the exhibition, Clarence A. Gagnon. Paysage d’hiver dans les montagnes des Laurentides au Canada (1913), was a first in the history of Canadian art in Paris.[1] The “Reitlinger event” would also prove to be the painter’s first and only major solo exhibition—one in which he was, as per his wishes, recognized as a painter rather than an engraver.

Evening Glow, Laurentians (Dernières lueurs) is one of 75 paintings and pochades shown at Reitlinger’s famous exhibition, and is one of the great winter scenes that earned Gagnon enthusiastic reviews in Parisian newspapers. Critics found him to be a sensitive observer and skilled draftsman, noting the harmony of his compositions and colours and the invigorating effect of his works. “A breath of fresh air that clears the mind, fills the lungs, and inspires strength and courage,” wrote one.[2] More than a century later, the effect that charmed Parisian critics is still palpable in Evening Glow, Laurentians. Indeed, the intensity of the glow in this magnificent composition has not faded. Blues, pinks and purples marble the dazzling white snow at the end of a winter’s day in Charlevoix. The bright light of day still clings to a few snow-covered shapes, such as the barn roof and gently sloping hills, but the approaching dusk has already cast blue shadows over the land and will soon turn to evening twilight. For all these reasons, Evening Glow, Laurentians stands as a magnificent work of Canadian Impressionism.

It is known that Gagnon did not paint his winter scenes in situ. During his two stays in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, between 1908 and 1913, he made numerous pochades and sketches and took photographs that served as the models for medium- and large-scale works completed in his Paris studio. How fascinating that, sitting in the middle of Paris, Gagnon so successfully conveyed the feeling of winter in his distant homeland, right down to the fresh air. A spontaneity in the application of colour is evident in his quick, sharp brush-strokes. He also leaves part of the ground layer visible, revealing its whiteness and texture in the foreground of the composition on the right.

To our knowledge, the exhibition history of Evening Glow, Laurentians starts and ends with this single showing at A.M. Reitlinger’s gallery. Its resurgence on the art market, a century after its first and only public appearance, is an event in itself. The absence of a date or any indications on the back of the painting added some mystery to the provenance before it was identified in a photograph from the period (figures 1 and 2). Following the exhibition, the work went to London dealers Colnaghi and Obach in 1914, before being sent to Watson Art Galleries in Montreal, where it was sold to a certain Harold Braff sometime after 1926. The pochade believed to have served as a model for this composition has yet to be found.

We thank Michèle Grandbois, co-author of Clarence Gagnon, 1881 – 1942: Dreaming the Landscape, for contributing the above essay (translated from the French).

1. At the time, only one other Canadian had been honoured with a solo show in Paris: Blair Bruce, a native of Hamilton, Ontario. But the 1907 exhibition at the Georges Petit gallery was a posthumous affair.

2. François Thiébault-Sisson, “Neiges et forêts du Canada. L’exposition Clarence Gagnon,” Le Temps (Paris), December 10, 1913. Quoted by Hélène Sicotte in Clarence Gagnon, 1881 – 1942: Dreaming the Landscape (Quebec City: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, 2006), 115.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars