Sold for: $10,000

PROVENANCE
Walter Klinkhoff Gallery, Montreal
Acquired from the above by Carl French, Toronto
By descent to the present Private Collection, Toronto

Carl French, the original owner of this work and Morning in the Gulch at Eldorado Radium Mine on Great Bear Lake in the N.W.T., lot 523 in this sale, worked directly with famed prospector Gilbert LaBine as Treasurer for Eldorado Gold Mines Ltd. LaBine was renowned in twentieth-century mining due in a large part to his mine in the Northwest Territories on the shores of Great Bear Lake. Its importance stems from LaBine’s 1930 discovery of a rich deposit of pitchblende, from which radium and uranium can be refined. LaBine’s successes at Eldorado and the pristine northern surroundings prompted him to welcome artists to the area to capture its rugged beauty. Most notably, these artists included Group of Seven members A.Y. Jackson and Franz Johnston.

The majority of Johnston’s work from this region of the North was produced around 1939, with this work being specifically dated to March of that year. Here, Johnston captures dazzling northern light dappled across buildings that likely housed members of Eldorado’s mining crew.

Carl French’s private collection of Johnston’s work from these journeys also included the striking Great Bear Lake, sold by Heffel in December of 2021.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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