Sold for: $52,490

PROVENANCE
Sold sale of Canadian Art, Sotheby's Canada, May 27, 1985, lot 822
Collection of Chris Haney, Toronto, circa 1985
By descent to the present Private Collection, California

LITERATURE
Dennis Reid, Alberta Rhythm: The Later Work of A.Y. Jackson, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1982, a similar 1965 oil sketch entitled Mount Asgard, Baffin Island reproduced page 89

In July of 1965, A.Y. Jackson went on his third and last trip to the Arctic. He accompanied a mountain climbing group from McGill University with the Alpine Club of Canada. Also on the trip were his niece Geneva and a doctor and artist from Montreal, Jim MacDougall (as recorded on verso, MacDougall acquired the sketch for this work). This expedition was a dream come true for Jackson – they flew to Baffin Island and camped at Pangnirtung Pass. While the others climbed, Jackson painted. Dennis Reid wrote of his work there, “The authenticity of mood and atmosphere – the sense of the climate, of the sharp air and smudges of floating fog or cloud – is overwhelming, a triumph.” Mount Asgard’s unique flat-top peak caps a stunning composition by Jackson that depicts a mountain range, a glacier and boulders tumbled on the shore of a lake. Jackson’s depiction of the bones of this rugged land is boldly sculptural. The horizontal flow of the glacier contrasts the verticality of the mountains, and the pointed shapes of boulders echo the mountains above. The name Asgard, from Old Norse, refers to one of the nine worlds in Scandinavian mythology, and in this painting, it feels as though Jackson has captured the realm of the gods.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars