Sold for: $97,250

PROVENANCE
Continental Galleries Inc., Montreal, 1978
By descent to the present Private Collection, Vancouver

LITERATURE
Michèle Grandbois, editor, Marc-Aurèle Fortin: The Experience of Colour, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, 2011, page 132

Marc-Aurèle Fortin was born in Sainte-Rose, and although he lived and worked in Montreal for many years, he returned to the family home in Sainte-Rose in 1933. Scenes of the town, such as this striking oil, were a strong part of his oeuvre. It is a fine example of a style Fortin developed that he called his “black manner,” in which he first laid down a background layer of black paint, then defined his image with overlayers of paint-strokes in bright colours that vibrated in contrast. Michèle Grandbois wrote, "He held that this style came to him while in Europe, where he saw an Oriental carpet with a black ground, on which colourful traditional motifs hummed." In Maison Camille Leclerc, Sainte Rose, the turquoise roofs and reddish-orange walls of the houses seem accentuated—even the ochre tones pop forward. Fortin also included a horse and sleigh—a classic icon of the Quebec countryside—and a towering tree. He had a great attraction to the huge elms of this area, which were part of the magical feeling of his home district.

This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist’s work, #H-1064.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars