PROVENANCE
Watson Art Galleries, Montreal
Private Collection, Florida

LITERATURE
Joan Murray, Impressionism in Canada, 1895 - 1935, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1973, page 18

Known and revered in his lifetime as “Canada’s painter of nature,” Maurice Cullen turned to landscape scenes soon after returning to Montreal from Paris in the late nineteenth century. Adopting a modified Impressionist style, he often painted views of the St. Lawrence River and was particularly fond of snowscapes. As noted by Joan Murray, “the subtle play of light on snow and the many complementary colours and reflected tones Cullen found in this subject preoccupied him.”

Cullen, who had studied French Impressionist techniques at the École des beaux-arts and the Académie Julian, became renowned for his ability to depict atmosphere and light. He had an important influence on the next generation of Canadian artists, especially the Group of Seven. Montreal gallerist William Watson began to represent Cullen from the early 1920s, and the artist is said to have focused on Laurentian landscape themes after 1923.

The North River Near St. Margaret’s beautifully demonstrates Cullen’s keen sensitivity and skill in rendering the Laurentian landscape in winter. The textured snowy ground, with undertones of pink, has a softness where it meets the dark evergreens that suggests a slight layer of atmospheric fog. Cullen brings depth, contrast and colour into this captivating composition. Pale turquoise tones in the shelf of ice fringing the shore complement coral-pink highlights on the distant hillside, lit by the setting sun, with these pinks subtly reflected in the smooth, still water. Bright autumn leaves that cling to a small tree mid-ground add a further flame of colour to this classic winter scene by Cullen.

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