Beginning in 1909, J.E.H. MacDonald made frequent short trips to Georgian Bay, and in September of 1931, he made his last trip to this painting place beloved by the Group of Seven. MacDonald was an admirer of poet Walt Whitman and author Henry David Thoreau and was influenced by their romantic responses to nature. MacDonald, who also wrote poetry, focused his fine sensibilities on expressing the moods he sensed in the landscape, and to him, Georgian Bay, with its windblown pines, rocky islets, temperamental weather and fresh atmosphere, was the essence of the raw Canadian landscape. In a 1929 lecture, MacDonald stated, “A poem is a perfect moment of time with a heightened sense of heart and pulsation in it. A picture is a perfected enclosure of space seen with heightened vision.” Rocky Shore, Sturgeon Bay (Georgian Bay Near Pointe-au-Baril), with its central pine clinging indomitably to the powerful rock formations of the Canadian Shield above the bay, is an outstanding expression of MacDonald’s vision and a classic Group of Seven image.

The National Gallery of Canada has a MacDonald oil sketch entitled Sturgeon Bay, Near Pointe-au-Baril in its collection.