Sold for: $85,250

PROVENANCE
Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1960

LITERATURE
Naomi Jackson Groves, A.Y.’s Canada, 1968, pages 222 and 225
Aliyah Shamsher et al., Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia: Permanent Collection, 1948 – 2008, 2008, reproduced, unpaginated

EXHIBITED
Penticton Art Gallery, Students Collect: University of British Columbia Alma Mater Society Student Art Collection: 1948 - 1968, July 11 - September 7, 2008

In 1948, the University of British Columbia’s Alma Mater Society Art Collection launched as the Brock Hall Art Collection with its inaugural purchase of E.J. Hughes’s Abandoned Village, Rivers Inlet, BC. This acquisition, which cost $150 at the time and sold at Heffel for $1.8 million on May 25, 2023, marked the beginning of what would be become a diverse, modern collection of exceptional quality. From 1955 to 1968, driven by the energy and vision of artist and professor B.C. Binning and AMS vice-president Ronald Longstaffe, the collection grew to include influential artists such as Lawren Harris, Jack Shadbolt and Gordon Smith. Throughout the 1970s, the collection expanded to include contemporary works by Iain Baxter, Gathie Falk and Jack Chambers. In 1960, the Alma Mater Society acquired the striking canvas South of Coppermine from Group of Seven founding member A.Y. Jackson.

From his first visit to the Great Bear Lake region, in the Northwest Territories, Jackson was captivated by the unique landscape of the Far North. He was an avid explorer who delighted in his camping adventures in this remote area—rambling across the rocky terrain, eating caribou, and having the odd encounter with a wolverine. He returned often, noting, “Every chance I get I go by plane up into the tundra, into the Barren Lands.… I’m perfectly happy to be put down with my pack up among these rivers and lakes, perhaps two or three hundred miles from the nearest human being.”

Jackson returned to the North in September 1959, camping at Lac Rouvière and Bathurst Inlet, south of the Dismal Lakes and the Coppermine River, which flows through the tundra into the Arctic Ocean. In this 1960 canvas, Jackson evokes the sublime vastness and vitality of the land. Subtle slopes of moss-laden earth entwine with tufts of crimson flora in a rich autumnal tapestry, while stunted spruce trees and iridescent pools of snowmelt recede into the expansive vista. Jackson’s dynamic composition translates the vibrant, abundant energy rooted in the remarkable ecosystem of the Far North. With his signature fluid brush-strokes, he deftly conveys the inherent rhythm of the landscape, mirroring the knolls and ridges of the rolling hillside in the soft cloudscape above. As Arthur Lismer wrote in 1953 of the many locales painted by Jackson:

A topographical map of Canada would be dotted as with a rash marking the spots where he has painted—where he scraped his palette on the rocks—or cleaned his brushes on a pine log.… His trails cross and recross like the pattern of ski tracks on the fresh snow of a winter hillside. In all of these widely separated places where A.Y. has painted he has revealed their unique identity. In his hands and through his eyes they take on a new significance. They become integrated into our national consciousness.

South of Coppermine is a beautiful distillation of Jackson’s well-honed skill, singular vision, and enduring reverence for the Canadian wilderness in all its diversity.

For more information on the Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver from Spring 2023 in PDF format, please click here.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars