Franklin Carmichael
CSPWC G7 OSA RCA
1890 - 1945
Canadian
Snow Clouds
oil on board, circa 1928
signed
10 x 12 in, 25.4 x 30.5 cm
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
Contemporary and Canadian Art, Maynards, May 14, 2014, lot 62
Private Collection, British Columbia
LITERATURE
Roger Boulet, A Legacy of Canadian Art from Kelowna Collections, Kelowna Art Gallery, 2017, reproduced page 42
EXHIBITED
Art Gallery of Toronto, The Exhibitions of the Group of Seven and Painting, Sculpture and Wood Carving of French Canada, May 8 – 31, 1926, the related 1926 canvas Snow Clouds, catalogue #2
Kelowna Art Gallery, A Legacy of Canadian Art from Kelowna Collections, July 1 – October 15, 2017
In 1925, 1926 and 1928, Frank Carmichael made three sketching trips to the northern Canadian shores of Lake Superior. The Group of Seven’s de facto leader Lawren Harris was the organizer for all three excursions. A.Y. Jackson joined them in 1925; Harris and Carmichael were on their own in 1926; and A.J. Casson joined Harris, Jackson and Carmichael in 1928. The artists were challenged by the cool October weather, including frequent snow squalls. Carmichael’s working media on the Lake Superior trips included drawing, watercolour and oil, but drawing formed the one constant on all three trips because of its portability and expediency during inclement weather.
The drawing Port Coldwell, 1928 (collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, figure 1) may have served as the plein air work on which this oil sketch was based, its composition very close in structure. Port Coldwell was located about 24 kilometres west of Marathon, and Carmichael had been interested in it since 1925. It was then that he made the sketches for his well-known canvas Snow Clouds, 1926 (in the Hart House Permanent Collection, figure 2), a large oil painting first exhibited in the 1926 Group of Seven exhibition held at the Art Gallery of Toronto.[1]
Usually an oil sketch precedes the studio painting, but Carmichael had experienced such lousy weather during his last Lake Superior sojourn that some of his painted sketches were done afterwards. Lake Superior, 1929 (collection of the National Gallery of Canada, acc. #6665) was painted a year afterwards, for example. Carmichael explained his difficulties to National Gallery director Eric Brown when he wrote on January 2, 1929: “The demand for sketches and small pictures has been more than double of any previous year and I am sadly behind in numbers, having had two years of extremely bad weather when on holidays + my time being more or less limited for sketching, I have been left high and dry.”[2]
As there are no known Lake Superior oil sketches dated by Carmichael from 1925 or 1926, it seems his commitment to sketching in oil was made in 1928, the probable date for this sketch. That year, Carmichael produced a significant cluster of dated oil sketches, including the Port Coldwell I – IV series in the National Gallery of Canada collection (acc. #38407 – 38410).
This sketch was among several to demonstrate Carmichael’s commitment to painting Port Coldwell subjects well into the 1930s. A dynamic sky, and the twisting channel meandering through cliffs out to the shores of Lake Superior, provided backdrops against which to contour the steep hills, burnt umber fall colours, remnants of summer greenery and evergreens. Unlike Harris, Carmichael was more engaged by the geology of the rocks and ephemeral effects of light and weather. These various moments of natural wonder, including storms such as seen in this sketch, were constant sources of inspiration.
Carmichael later became an art instructor at his alma mater, the Ontario College of Art. In 1933, he advised students in a lecture on theory that “Nature is the painter’s storehouse.” A “good picture,” he explained, was not a “literal imitation of nature” but rather it is “a decorative panel which conveys its message to us primarily by the visible attractiveness of its pattern.” Yet, he argued, it must also have significance, because “Significance is the parent of Decoration—The Decorative aspect of any picture arises from the subject matter.”[3] In this sketch, the oscillating bands of greens and umbers used to articulate the trees and hills, and the lights and darks of the sky and hills, form such a decorative pattern of significance.
We thank Catharine M. Mastin, PhD, an independent scholar, writer and curator of Canadian art, for contributing the above essay.
1. See also two related works in the collection of the National Gallery: Port Coldwell, 1925, graphite on paper, acc. #39430; and Untitled (Pines, Lake Superior), 1925, watercolour, acc. #37157.
2. Exhibition of Canadian Art, 1929 file, NGC Library & Archives, Ottawa.
3. Carmichael Papers, Library & Archives Canada, Ottawa. Listen Stop
Estimate: $80,000 - $100,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.
CSPWC G7 OSA RCA
1890 - 1945
Canadian
Snow Clouds
oil on board, circa 1928
signed
10 x 12 in, 25.4 x 30.5 cm
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
Contemporary and Canadian Art, Maynards, May 14, 2014, lot 62
Private Collection, British Columbia
LITERATURE
Roger Boulet, A Legacy of Canadian Art from Kelowna Collections, Kelowna Art Gallery, 2017, reproduced page 42
EXHIBITED
Art Gallery of Toronto, The Exhibitions of the Group of Seven and Painting, Sculpture and Wood Carving of French Canada, May 8 – 31, 1926, the related 1926 canvas Snow Clouds, catalogue #2
Kelowna Art Gallery, A Legacy of Canadian Art from Kelowna Collections, July 1 – October 15, 2017
In 1925, 1926 and 1928, Frank Carmichael made three sketching trips to the northern Canadian shores of Lake Superior. The Group of Seven’s de facto leader Lawren Harris was the organizer for all three excursions. A.Y. Jackson joined them in 1925; Harris and Carmichael were on their own in 1926; and A.J. Casson joined Harris, Jackson and Carmichael in 1928. The artists were challenged by the cool October weather, including frequent snow squalls. Carmichael’s working media on the Lake Superior trips included drawing, watercolour and oil, but drawing formed the one constant on all three trips because of its portability and expediency during inclement weather.
The drawing Port Coldwell, 1928 (collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, figure 1) may have served as the plein air work on which this oil sketch was based, its composition very close in structure. Port Coldwell was located about 24 kilometres west of Marathon, and Carmichael had been interested in it since 1925. It was then that he made the sketches for his well-known canvas Snow Clouds, 1926 (in the Hart House Permanent Collection, figure 2), a large oil painting first exhibited in the 1926 Group of Seven exhibition held at the Art Gallery of Toronto.[1]
Usually an oil sketch precedes the studio painting, but Carmichael had experienced such lousy weather during his last Lake Superior sojourn that some of his painted sketches were done afterwards. Lake Superior, 1929 (collection of the National Gallery of Canada, acc. #6665) was painted a year afterwards, for example. Carmichael explained his difficulties to National Gallery director Eric Brown when he wrote on January 2, 1929: “The demand for sketches and small pictures has been more than double of any previous year and I am sadly behind in numbers, having had two years of extremely bad weather when on holidays + my time being more or less limited for sketching, I have been left high and dry.”[2]
As there are no known Lake Superior oil sketches dated by Carmichael from 1925 or 1926, it seems his commitment to sketching in oil was made in 1928, the probable date for this sketch. That year, Carmichael produced a significant cluster of dated oil sketches, including the Port Coldwell I – IV series in the National Gallery of Canada collection (acc. #38407 – 38410).
This sketch was among several to demonstrate Carmichael’s commitment to painting Port Coldwell subjects well into the 1930s. A dynamic sky, and the twisting channel meandering through cliffs out to the shores of Lake Superior, provided backdrops against which to contour the steep hills, burnt umber fall colours, remnants of summer greenery and evergreens. Unlike Harris, Carmichael was more engaged by the geology of the rocks and ephemeral effects of light and weather. These various moments of natural wonder, including storms such as seen in this sketch, were constant sources of inspiration.
Carmichael later became an art instructor at his alma mater, the Ontario College of Art. In 1933, he advised students in a lecture on theory that “Nature is the painter’s storehouse.” A “good picture,” he explained, was not a “literal imitation of nature” but rather it is “a decorative panel which conveys its message to us primarily by the visible attractiveness of its pattern.” Yet, he argued, it must also have significance, because “Significance is the parent of Decoration—The Decorative aspect of any picture arises from the subject matter.”[3] In this sketch, the oscillating bands of greens and umbers used to articulate the trees and hills, and the lights and darks of the sky and hills, form such a decorative pattern of significance.
We thank Catharine M. Mastin, PhD, an independent scholar, writer and curator of Canadian art, for contributing the above essay.
1. See also two related works in the collection of the National Gallery: Port Coldwell, 1925, graphite on paper, acc. #39430; and Untitled (Pines, Lake Superior), 1925, watercolour, acc. #37157.
2. Exhibition of Canadian Art, 1929 file, NGC Library & Archives, Ottawa.
3. Carmichael Papers, Library & Archives Canada, Ottawa. Listen Stop
Estimate: $80,000 - $100,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.
