The Algoma region of Ontario, which this work depicts, is one of pivotal importance to Canadian Impressionism. The traumas suffered during World War I by the artists who would form the Group of Seven, compounded by the death of their friend Tom Thomson, affected them deeply. Following the War, Jackson had difficulty finding the desire to paint, and soon-to-be fellow Group members Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald sought their own means of existential recovery. A source of healing was found in the rich and deeply painterly beauty of Algoma, and there these artists began their journey back to balance.

The on-site oil sketch for this rare mid-sized canvas hangs in the Art Gallery of Algoma, titled Entrance to Puckasaw Bay, and dated 1960. Located in what is now Pukaskwa National Park, the bay faces out onto the expanse of Lake Superior, another centrally important Group of Seven subject. Both the date and the vitality of this work are a testament to a land that not only helped to heal Jackson’s soul, but would sustain him for a lifetime.