PROVENANCE
By descent through generations to a Private Collection, New York
Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, November 24, 2011, lot 136
Private Collection, British Columbia

St-Tites-des-Caps, on Cap Tourmente, is 40 miles below Quebec, and was a favourite sketching place for artists. In 1923, on one of Albert Robinson’s almost yearly trips during the 1920s along the St. Lawrence, he sketched in St-Tite-des-Caps with Clarence Gagnon, Randolph Hewton and A.Y. Jackson. This village was in a hollow circled by hills, therefore the snow lingered there, and they could look down on it from several directions. Sketching directly from his subject outdoors was considered essential by Robinson to capture the truest light, colour and mood. His concentration was such that once, Jackson had to warn Robinson that the “road” he was painting on was a frozen river, and since ice cutters were working around him, he could soon float away! St-Tites-des-Caps is rich in pictorial detail, particularly the centrepoint of the church, surrounded by the town, by the meandering stream. Robinson’s light-filled palette is a symphony of pastel tones, both cool and warm, with the red side of the house packing a visual punch in the centre.

The provenance of this painting is quite fascinating. Prior to first coming to the market in 2011, this superb painting had been in the same New York family for many years. The previous owner’s grandmother inherited the painting and passed it down to the previous owner’s mother. The mother grew up in a wealthy New York family; her father was a lawyer and she subsequently married a lawyer. She eventually left her first husband, the lawyer, for a New York taxi driver. The couple lived a very modest lifestyle in New Rochelle, NY. The painting hung in their home for years but no one in the family was familiar with the artist. When the mother passed away, the painting was subsequently put in storage in a barn in the countryside of Massachusetts. The family was going through the boxes and researched A.H. Robinson on the Internet, discovering he was a famous Canadian artist. Thus this magnificent example of A.H. Robinson’s work was rediscovered.

Robinson produced a larger canvas version of the superb work titled Baie-Saint-Paul, now in a private collection.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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