A.Y. Jackson first painted in Alberta in 1937, and he was captivated by the province’s expansive prairies and rolling foothills. When a teaching position opened at the Banff School of Fine Arts in 1943, he leapt at the opportunity. Jackson taught summer sessions in Banff for over six years and often extended his stays into the fall, capturing the landscape’s transformation from lush greens and vivid canola to subtle gradations of ochre and straw.

Alberta became a central focus of Jackson’s work in the mid to late 1940s, and this vibrant oil sketch, Exshaw, Alberta, exemplifies the richness and immediacy of the painter’s Alberta works. At the centre of the panel is Exshaw’s main street, Portland Avenue. Once a focal point of the town, the street was partially demolished in the mid-1970s. St. Bernard’s Church and other colourful structures sit nestled within the grassy valley, while the barren peak of Mount Fable rises prominently beside the snowy ridges of the Fairholme Range. Heavy purple clouds loom behind the mountains, their fluid shapes accentuating the jagged ridgeline. Exshaw, Alberta is a rich and evocative oil sketch, in which Jackson captures the rugged intrigue of Alberta and its landscape.

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