Sold for: $25,075

PROVENANCE
Dominion Gallery, Montreal
Private Collection, Ontario
Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, May 23, 2007, lot 192
Private Collection, British Columbia

J.E.H. MacDonald’s training as a designer consistently underpins his work. In his sketches, the precepts of design are a language that he speaks fluently, with eloquence and ease. This lush depiction of Gull River showcases his highly developed graphic skills. In the near ground, a lacy tree sits on the left of the work, its heavy boughs leading off the picture plane. In the distance, three rounded blue trees take our eye over the hill and into the grey-blue sky beyond, while in the middle ground, a still lake reflects yet another band of trees back from its glassy surface. All these trees differ in their form of growth, type of foliage and colour, providing interest and variety to the scene. MacDonald was a consummate sketcher—he knew how to limit his palette, how to capture the essence of the scene, and how to communicate the idea that first caught his eye when sitting down to paint, which, in this work, seems to be one of lush, bucolic verdancy.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars