ALC CGP G7 OSA RCA RSA
1882 - 1974
Canadian
Birches
oil on board
signed and on verso signed, titled, dated February 1921 and inscribed "Cacouna" and "12"
8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in, 21.6 x 26.7 cm
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD
Sold for: $55,250
Preview at:
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Toronto
LITERATURE
Ross King, Defiant Spirits, The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven, 2010, page 357
“His interest in his home province refreshed, early in February 1921 Jackson set off on a sketching expedition in what he called ‘The French part of Quebec.’ He went to the village of Cacouna, near Riviere-de-Loup, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, two hundred kilometers northeast of Quebec City. ‘A nice cool spot I expect,’ he wrote to Catherine Breithaupt before departing, ‘but if Canadians can live there, Canadians can paint there.’”
-- Ross King - Defiant Spirits
This fascinating oil sketch was created at a key moment of the Group of Seven, and showcases Jackson’s exploration of their new Canadian aesthetic. It was produced in deep winter on a return to his native Quebec following his move to Toronto in 1913, and his time as both an infantryman and official war artist in WW1. In it, Jackson explores a daring minimalism, successfully reducing the composition to the rhythms of the bare birches paired with their undulating shadows. Texture, here, is also paramount, with Jackson’s gestural handling of the paint evoking a palpable, tactile volume in the drifted snow. This same year would mark the Group’s second official exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto, and their on-going redefinitions of Canadian art.
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