PROVENANCE
Estate of Franklin Carmichael
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
The Collection of Torben V. Kristiansen, Vancouver

Franklin Carmichael and his wife Ada moved to Lansing, now part of Toronto, in 1919. At that time the region, then on the outskirts of the city, was largely devoted to farming. Carmichael has highlighted this rural aspect of his home in his sketch Elms, Lansing, likely executed in the early 1920s. The foreground highlights several piles of hay that have recently been harvested from the field. These small haystacks and the field itself define the foreground space. In the middle distance, a handsome row of elm trees provides a windbreak for the field and farm buildings. The rough silhouettes of these trees are seen against a wide, clouded sky. To the right is a road that disappears into the distance, helping to provide depth to the image. The whole composition is broadly lit from the right side, with shadows appearing on the left edges of the haystacks.

An accomplished work, Elms, Lansing suggests the confidence that Carmichael felt in painting this scene. His training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, prior to the First World War, had given Carmichael all the tools necessary to convincingly portray his subject.

This work has a Carmichael Estate stamp on the verso, lower right corner. It is likely that the title (also on the verso) was written by Ada Carmichael.

For the biography on Torben V. Kristiansen in PDF format, please click here.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars