Sold for: $128,700

PROVENANCE
James Wilson & Co., England
Acquired from the above by C. Jackson Booth Esq., (1863 - 1947), Ottawa
C. Rowley Booth (1915 - 1960), Ottawa
By descent to the present Private Collection, Ontario

LITERATURE
Marius Barbeau, Cornelius Krieghoff, Pioneer Painter of North America, 1934, listed on page 141

EXHIBITED
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Exhibition of Paintings by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1815 - 1872, February 15 - March 1934, traveling in 1934 to the Art Association of Montreal

Indians on a Hunting Expedition is a Cornelius Krieghoff painting of a particular pedigree. It was owned by James Wilson & Co., England, and then by the Booth family of Canadian lumber and railway fame. John Rudolphus Booth owned vast areas of timber rights in Ontario in the 1800s. He built the railways in regions where he had harvesting rights, including Georgian Bay and Algonquin Park, and was awarded the contract to supply lumber for the new Canadian Parliament Buildings in 1858. In addition to being owned by several generations of the Booth family, this work was listed in the catalogue raisonné of Krieghoff’s work compiled by Marius Barbeau in 1934. It was exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada and at the Art Association of Montreal in 1934. It is a beautiful winter scene, accented with colour and full of engaging detail.

In the vicinity of Krieghoff’s Montreal studio, he found endless subjects to fill his canvases. He focused a great deal of his attention on the First Nations people of Canada, in particular the Iroquois of Caughnawaga, who settled along the banks of the St. Lawrence River on the outskirts of Montreal. In both summer and winter, the people of this village traveled into the city to sell baskets, hides, moccasins and gloves, trading their wares for rifles, cookware and European clothing, which they readily mixed in with their own traditional attire. In Indians on a Hunting Expedition, Krieghoff depicts two Caughnawaga Iroquois heading towards a beautifully rendered forest on a winter expedition, loaded down with their gear. Farther away on the frozen river, other hunters head in the same direction, while beyond the river Mount Royal is visible. Krieghoff was a master of winter scenes, and his subtle treatment of the various shades of white in the snow and the cloud-filled sky attest to this. As well, the figures are rendered in fine detail. We can see the stitching on their moccasins and the seams on their pants. One man pulls a fine bentwood toboggan, leaning forward and using a chest strap to help him move the heavy load. Blanket rolls and other supplies are strapped to the toboggan, including a large cast-iron pot. The second figure also leans forward under the weight of his load, this time carried in a head strap pack, a traditional method of hauling used in early Canada (which would later be patented as the Duluth Pack in the United States by a French Canadian). He toils under his heavy load, which includes a rifle, and everything about him, from his patched Hudson’s Bay blanket coat to his obvious strength, speaks of a life of hard work. In a charming Krieghoff moment of humour, he glances at us. In this moment of arresting engagement between him and us as passive observers, it is as if there is a quiet communication. It seems as if he wishes we would either give him some help, or mind our own business and let him be as he toils through the snow. Moments like this - when the figures engage with the viewer as if we are participating in the scene, are part of the delight of Krieghoff’s paintings, and one of the reasons for his enduring appeal. He peppered his paintings with little moments of humanity: jealousy, mirth, annoyance and humour. These moments, such as the meeting of eyes - and minds - with the hunter here, give Krieghoff’s figures their warm character. In this regard, and as a portraitist of early Canada, Krieghoff was absolutely without equal.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars