PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Toronto

BIBLIOGRAPHIE
Ian M. Thom and Andrew Hunter, Gordon Smith: The Act of Painting, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1997, pages 1 and 49

Gordon Smith stated, “My feelings and themes are largely derived from nature, the sea, rocks, trees; the things I live with...Painting should be a re-creation of an experience rather than an illustration of an experience.” This brilliant painting, while abstracted, resembles an azure summer seascape, with a strong vertical form in the foreground that could read as bleached driftwood. Its mood is dreamy, and the palette of greens and blues is rich and full of light. As important as the physical origin of the subject of this painting is Smith’s manipulation of paint – the intent of which he describes as “welding the image with paint, so the paint becomes the image and the image becomes the paint.” Expressionist brush-strokes softly define planes and forms, and the transparent veil of white in the upper part of the work gives the impression of drifting clouds. Physicality of place and of paint meld into one, as Smith’s masterly treatment of the abstract qualities of space, colour, mood and light clearly shows why he is considered an important early Canadian modernist.

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