Sold for: $16,250

PROVENANCE
Laing Galleries, Toronto
Sold sale of Canadian Art, Joyner Fine Art, November 15, 1996, lot 6
Private Collection, Ontario

LITERATURE
Joan Murray, The Last Buffalo: The Story of Frederick Arthur Verner, Painter of the Canadian West, 1984, page 56, a similar 1873 watercolour entitled Ojibway Camp, Northern Shore of Lake Huron, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, reproduced page 62

Frederick Verner’s paintings form an important record of early Canada, and as for Paul Kane, whose work he found inspiring, the portrayal of First Nations people formed a prominent part of his oeuvre. Verner explored the Ontario wilderness, making small graphite and watercolour sketches on the spot that he later developed into carefully composed and finely finished watercolours, such as this large and exceptional work. The Ojibway people, whom he first saw on a trip west in 1862, were of particular interest to Verner, and he studied them in depth. His paintings tell us much about the way they lived—how they dressed, their encampments with teepee dwellings, their family groups, their hunting and other pastimes, such as the gambling games they played. The birchbark canoes featured here were an essential mode of transport that the Ojibway used intensively. More than just a historical record, watercolours such as Ojibway Encampment on the Severn reveal Verner’s empathy for these people, whom he portrayed here as in harmony with nature. As Joan Murray wrote, “He regarded them with awe and sympathy.”

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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