Sold for: $55,250

PROVENANCE
Watson Art Galleries, Montreal
F.W. Carsely, Esq., Montreal
Mrs. Muriel G. Winter, Cleveland, Ohio
Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, Montreal
Mitzi and Mel Dobrin, Montreal
Canadian Art, an Outstanding Collection: The Property of a Prominent Montreal Collector, Fraser Bros., Montreal, October 23, 1986, lot 94
Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection, Toronto

LITERATURE
Marius Barbeau, Cornelius Krieghoff: Pioneer Painter of North America, 1934, listed page 136, titled Indian Returning from the Hunt
J. Russell Harper, Krieghoff, 1979, a similar work noted page 137, reproduced page 134, plate 124

Indian Returning from the Hunt (An Indian Encampment) is one of a series of paintings produced by Cornelius Krieghoff depicting a group of Indigenous hunters beside a large boulder popularly known as Big Rock. J. Russell Harper, former curator of Canadian art at the National Gallery of Canada, counts these as among Krieghoff’s greatest paintings for their brilliant colours and romanticism, and highlights a similar work in the collection of the Power Corporation of Canada.[1] Throughout the series, Big Rock functions as a stage backdrop for various tableaux, while details of the landscape and composition vary. This suggests that Krieghoff was not attempting to describe a specific place, but rather drawing upon his imagination to experiment with new compositional elements and perspectives, showcasing his unique gift for the expression of landscape.

Indian Returning from the Hunt presents a Huron hunter skinning a deer at the foot of Big Rock, while his companion rests on his rifle. A third figure stands apart, next to the canoe drawn up onto the riverbank. The scene is an idealization of traditional Indigenous life that was rapidly disappearing under colonization. Krieghoff’s frequent portrayal of Indigenous subjects hunting and trapping in the forests emphasizes their attachment to the land, recalling eighteenth-century European Enlightenment ideals of the so-called noble savage, uncorrupted by the vicissitudes of modern civilization. As Harper notes: “Not even Jean-Jacques Rousseau could have imagined a more idealistic relationship between man and nature. The best of the simplest of worlds bestows her most beneficent bounty on her children, man unspoiled by the complexities of artificial and unnatural civilization.”[2]

By 1860, Krieghoff was adept in the formal aspects of landscape painting, and his richly orchestrated setting clearly bears the influence of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish landscapes. The central framing device is a large, skilfully rendered tree in the foreground, with gnarled roots and twisting branches bearing golden leaves that provide shade to the hunters. Krieghoff’s composition guides the viewer across the canvas from left to right, through an Edenic paradise of autumn splendour to a clear blue river, fading into a distant vista that merges with the sky. The palette, too, begins in the shadows at left, with a rich interplay of light and dark as rays of sun slant through the tree canopy, while the centre of the canvas is dominated by sumptuous earth tones and verdant grasses as well as the vibrant red and yellow tunics worn by the hunters. The far right of the painting is cool in tone, all pale sky and water receding into dreamlike hills, saturated in blue. The textures Krieghoff achieves are almost palpable, from the shimmering reflective surface of the pool in the foreground to the stony earth along the shoreline and the soft grass carpeting Big Rock. Indian Returning from the Hunt represents Krieghoff at the height of his powers as an artist.

This canvas boasts exceptional provenance and was once held in the esteemed collection of Montreal philanthropists and art collectors Mitzi and Mel Dobrin. With their unerring eye for quality, the Dobrins assembled one of Canada’s finest private collections, containing masterworks by both Canadian and internationally renowned artists. A portion of their collection was sold through auction in 1986. This work was lot 94 in the sale and was acquired by the present private collection in Toronto.

1. J. Russell Harper, Krieghoff (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1979), 134 and 137.

2. Ibid., 137.

In Marius Barbeau's listing of Krieghoff's works, he describes this work as follows: "At portage, near great rock, river to right foreground. At foot of trail through the woods. An Indian skinning a deer, to left; another to right, with red tunic, calling between his hands. Third Indian standing in centre, hands on gun. Beautiful large tree, reddish. Yellow leaves of a birch."

All prices are in Canadian Dollars