CGP RCA
1881 - 1956
Canadian
Sketch No. 6, Farm at Knowlton
oil on board, circa 1920
signed and on verso signed, titled and inscribed "Property of my wife, A.H. Robinson" on the artist's labels
11 1/4 x 13 in, 28.6 x 33 cm
Estimate: $30,000 - $40,000 CAD
Sold for: $43,250
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
Mrs. A.H. Robinson, wife of the Artist
Muriel Bostwick
Mrs. G.W. Hendershot, Hamilton, Ontario
Mr. and Mrs. Tom MacDonald, Hamilton
Private Collection, Hamilton
Private Collection, Toronto
Private Collection, Ontario
Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, June 17, 2009, lot 131
Private Collection, Ontario
LITERATURE
Jennifer Watson, Albert H. Robinson: The Mature Years, 1982, titled as Laurentian Spring, reproduced page 44
EXHIBITED
Kitchener - Waterloo Art Gallery, Albert H. Robinson: The Mature Years, 1982, traveling to the Art Gallery of Windsor; the Edmonton Art Gallery; the Glenbow Museum, Calgary; the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston; the London Regional Art Gallery; the Art Gallery of Hamilton; and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, 1982 - 1983, catalogue #29
Around 1920, Albert Robinson was an associate of the Group of Seven, and he began taking yearly painting trips with A.Y. Jackson along the St. Lawrence River. Like Jackson he had a great affection for the traditional villages and farms of Quebec, and this oil sketch is a prime example of such subjects, in which he portrayed gaily painted farm buildings and houses in the Eastern Townships. Robinson painted his panels en plein air, resulting in a feeling of freshness and authenticity. Today these scenes carry an element of romantic nostalgia for this simpler rural past. The influence of Impressionism is strong in Robinson’s work; he trained in Paris at the Académie Julian, as had other important Canadian Impressionists such as Clarence Gagnon and Maurice Cullen, and these studies were pivotal to the development of his light-filled pastel palette. Robinson was a master colourist—he used white as a base, which produced a pervasive luminosity, and he struck a fine balance between warm and cool hues. Robinson’s career essentially ended in 1933 due to ill health, making works from his mature period such as this exceptional oil sketch rare.
Estimate: $30,000 - $40,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
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