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Lot # 157 Canadian, Impressionist & Modern Art Live auction John Geoffrey Caruthers Little ARCA 1928 - Canadian Patinoire à Québec d'autrefois oil on canvas signed and on verso signed, titled, dated 1981 and inscribed variously 24 x 30 in 61 x 76.2cm Provenance: Continental Galleries of Fine Art, Montreal Private Collection, Calgary After studying at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ school under Arthur Lismer and Goodridge Roberts, John Little began working as a draughtsman at his father’s architectural firm in 1951. By 1953, he had turned to painting full time, and he focused his work on Montreal’s historic neighbourhoods, sensitively capturing their unique architecture and their essential atmosphere. Little’s affection for the precincts of Quebec City and Montreal was so great that he keenly felt the loss of buildings and architectural detail due to the process of modernization. This is one of the artist’s quintessential scenes, which celebrates a typical urban working-class area, depicting its side-by-side houses with their dormer windows, steep wooden staircases and small sheds. In the centre of the work is a homemade ice rink with local children playing hockey, that most Canadian of games. Adding to the animation of the scene are the lines of washing that flutter above, hung out even in winter. Little shows his keen perception of atmosphere in the bluish glow of the snow and the steely light that illuminates the scene, communicating a palpable sense of winter’s chill.
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