Sold for: $55,250

PROVENANCE
The Art Emporium, Vancouver, 1976
By descent to the present Private Collection, Vancouver

LITERATURE
Naomi Jackson Groves, A.Y.’s Canada, 1968, page 32
Pierre B. Landry, editor, Catalogue of the National Gallery of Canada, Canadian Art: Volume Two / G-K, 1994, a related 1936 drawing entitled Fox River, General View, catalogue #17869v, reproduced page 252

In spring of 1936, A.Y. Jackson headed to Fox River, in the picturesque eastern part of the Gaspé Peninsula, for his annual late winter / early spring sketching trip. Jackson found the weather so stormy, rainy and foggy that he could hardly paint outdoors, and so he produced mostly drawings, making this a rare oil sketch from that trip. He complained bitterly about the conditions in a letter, stating, “It’s been a lousy spring…still don’t know if I am going to get anything worthwhile.” The first visitor to the area, Jacques Cartier, over 400 years previous, also complained of “a contrary winde, with great fogges and stormes.”

Jackson depicts scenic elements such as a rowboat pulled up beside a house, woodpiles, and the iconic horse and sleigh. The church with its spire piercing the sky is at the heart of the village. Jackson’s brush-strokes are broad and rhythmic; there is a rollicking roll to the piles of snow, the Laurentian hills in the background and the layers of clouds overhead. Jackson shows his affinity for Impressionism in his rich and varied tints in the snow: mauve, blue, green and pink with touches of coral and yellow. Not only did Jackson get something “worthwhile,” he surpassed that—Fox River, Gaspé is exceptional.

This fine oil sketch has been in the collection of the same family for almost 50 years.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars