Frederick Simpson Coburn

Heffel Auction House Biography and Notes

After traditional training in Germany and Belgium, Frederick Coburn was exposed to the innovative approach of the Impressionists in Paris. Back in Canada, Maurice Cullen, a well-known Impressionist pioneer in the Canadian scene, encouraged him to expand his colour palette to reflect the vibrant atmosphere and light of Quebec's landscape. Coburn discovered the central theme in his work while painting during winter in his Melbourne studio. Through his window he saw a team of horses hauling logs on a sledge, and the sight was a moment of gestalt. It was a scene that came to represent what was unique about habitant life in rural Quebec: self-sufficient, hard-working, yet full of joie de vivre. Early in Coburn's career, the prejudice of Canadian collectors for dark, European work had to be overcome. The work of artists such as Coburn, Cullen and James Wilson Morrice was ground-breaking and, like the Group of Seven, they created art that was formative to our Canadian identity. Cutting Logs is a superb example of Coburn's work - a classic subject of lumbermen at work on a bright winter's day, with interesting effects of light through the trees, splashes of pastel highlights and luscious, painterly brush-strokes.