Sold for: $91,250

PROVENANCE
N.D. Young
Christopher Varley, Toronto
Masters Gallery, Calgary
Loch Gallery, Calgary
Private Collection, Toronto

LITERATURE
Lisa Christensen, The Lake O’Hara Art of J.E.H. MacDonald and Hiker’s Guide, 2003, page 37, reproduced page 45 and the 1925 canvas Mount Goodsir, Yoho Park, in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, reproduced pages 36 and 37

J.E.H. MacDonald first traveled to the Rockies in 1924, and he returned every year until 1930. He had already become accustomed to wilderness hiking and camping with his fellow Group of Seven members, and in the Rockies he clambered up goat paths and rough tracks, loaded with his sketching gear, to capture stunning views such as this. In MacDonald’s journal entry on August 30, 1925, he describes this scene:

A beautiful day. Fine clear morning. Later a few cirrus and in afternoon small cumulus. The peaks all clear. Made sketch of Goodsir in morning light. Mountains beautifully clear and delicate in colour. Had lunch in lee of big rock on Odaray Bench, the snowflakes all round and a delightful warmth and freshness, thought at height of being and enjoyed everything completely.

In this powerful oil sketch, MacDonald captures the rough muscularity of rocky shelves, steep mountain flanks and soaring peaks. The scene is bathed in a clear light from a pale blue sky, in which cumulus clouds float behind the distinctive pointed tips of Mount Goodsir. MacDonald’s sharpened awareness of his subject and the elation he experienced in these mountains are fully present in this striking oil sketch.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars