Near Amiens
50.2 cms x 61 cms (19.75 ins x 24 ins)
Signed and on verso inscribed in graphite on the stretcher "12f" and stamped dominion gallery 1448 st. catherine west montreal, que telephone harbour 7471
made in 7471
Lot offered for sale by Heffel, Vancouver at the auction event "Spring 2008 Live auction" held on Thu, May 22, 2008.
Lot 019
Lot 019
Estimate: CAD $100,000 - $150,000
Realised: CAD $575,000
Realised: CAD $575,000
Lot description - from the online catalogue*
Provenance:
Dominion Gallery, Montreal
Property of a Collection, Decatur, Illinois
Exhibitions:
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Edwin Holgate, 2005, catalogue #17
Literature:
Dennis Reid, Edwin Holgate: Canadian Artist's Series 4, 1976, the 1918 oil sketch for this painting entitled Le Poilu reproduced page 29
Rosalind Pepall and Brian Foss, Edwin Holgate, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2005, page 104, reproduced page 104 and listed page 171
Notes:
Art deals with emotions, which we sometimes forget, because we are so often exposed to conceptual or theoretical art. But if we see a beautiful movie or, in the words of Giordana Bruno, "an (e)motion picture", this becomes clear again. In the seventeenth century, the court painter Charles Le Brun thought he could even catalogue emotions - at the time, they referred to them as passions - by facial expressions. There was a physiognomy for fear, one for anger or one for admiration. He proposed a catalogue of these expressions, thinking it could be useful to painters.
This Holgate painting - a rare and unique masterpiece - deals with emotions. On the back of a panel study for this painting, the painter inscribed when and why it was done: "Painted March 1918 - Station at or near Amiens during last German drive - March 29th. I was returning from Paris leave." Two years before, Holgate had enrolled in the Canadian army and was sent with the 4th Artillery Division, first to England and later to France. But in March 1918, the Germans succeeded in breaking the English lines and the situation turned dangerous for our troops. For instance, near Arras, soldiers were crammed in shallow trenches and were subjected to heavy bombardment; many lives were lost. It was only on August 8, 1918 that the Allies won the war at the famous battle of Amiens.
On his way to the front, Holgate witnessed a scene that summarizes this war and all wars. We are in France, as the small French flag on the wall indicates. A tired soldier sits near a woman and her child who are trying to escape from their village with all their belongings. Their paths cross, but in opposite directions.
What is amazing in this painting is the economy of means used by Holgate to convey his message. The faces of the people are reduced to minimal notations, without being unexpressive. On the contrary, the drama of the situation is conveyed by the resignation of the soldier and the anxiety of the woman looking in the opposite direction. The child knows that he has to be quiet. There is in this simple opposition the essence of the drama of war, where neither the soldiers nor the civilian population have any choice in what will happen to them. When one looks at the faces of the characters depicted here, one thinks almost of poster art (an important means of propaganda during the First World War), where so much of the facial expressions is reduced to the essential. It is rather in the subtle colour of the wall behind them, with the play of shadows, that Holgate affirms himself as a painter. In this, one feels the influence of William Brymner and Maurice Cullen, under whom Holgate had studied at the Montreal Art Association in 1910 and in 1912. They had introduced him to a cautious form of Impressionism, where divisionism was tempered by a taste for nuance and light effects. Later, in 1913, he studied in Paris under Lucien Simon (1861 - 1945) and Émile-René Ménard (1862 - 1930) at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, who encouraged him to detach himself from Impressionism, and to adopt a more classical, a more structural approach to painting.
It could be said that Near Amiens is the perfect synthesis of these two sets of influences. With time, Holgate would detach himself even further from Impressionism, and become a master of form and composition. It is remarkable, then, that in this early painting he has already established that direction.
In 1943, Holgate became an official war artist for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Canada had created the Canadian Forces Artists Program in the belief that painters could convey the war experience in a convincing and complex way. The Program still exists, and Canadian artists are now sent to Afghanistan. They have in Holgate both a model and an inspiration.
We thank François-Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
Dominion Gallery, Montreal
Property of a Collection, Decatur, Illinois
Exhibitions:
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Edwin Holgate, 2005, catalogue #17
Literature:
Dennis Reid, Edwin Holgate: Canadian Artist's Series 4, 1976, the 1918 oil sketch for this painting entitled Le Poilu reproduced page 29
Rosalind Pepall and Brian Foss, Edwin Holgate, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2005, page 104, reproduced page 104 and listed page 171
Notes:
Art deals with emotions, which we sometimes forget, because we are so often exposed to conceptual or theoretical art. But if we see a beautiful movie or, in the words of Giordana Bruno, "an (e)motion picture", this becomes clear again. In the seventeenth century, the court painter Charles Le Brun thought he could even catalogue emotions - at the time, they referred to them as passions - by facial expressions. There was a physiognomy for fear, one for anger or one for admiration. He proposed a catalogue of these expressions, thinking it could be useful to painters.
This Holgate painting - a rare and unique masterpiece - deals with emotions. On the back of a panel study for this painting, the painter inscribed when and why it was done: "Painted March 1918 - Station at or near Amiens during last German drive - March 29th. I was returning from Paris leave." Two years before, Holgate had enrolled in the Canadian army and was sent with the 4th Artillery Division, first to England and later to France. But in March 1918, the Germans succeeded in breaking the English lines and the situation turned dangerous for our troops. For instance, near Arras, soldiers were crammed in shallow trenches and were subjected to heavy bombardment; many lives were lost. It was only on August 8, 1918 that the Allies won the war at the famous battle of Amiens.
On his way to the front, Holgate witnessed a scene that summarizes this war and all wars. We are in France, as the small French flag on the wall indicates. A tired soldier sits near a woman and her child who are trying to escape from their village with all their belongings. Their paths cross, but in opposite directions.
What is amazing in this painting is the economy of means used by Holgate to convey his message. The faces of the people are reduced to minimal notations, without being unexpressive. On the contrary, the drama of the situation is conveyed by the resignation of the soldier and the anxiety of the woman looking in the opposite direction. The child knows that he has to be quiet. There is in this simple opposition the essence of the drama of war, where neither the soldiers nor the civilian population have any choice in what will happen to them. When one looks at the faces of the characters depicted here, one thinks almost of poster art (an important means of propaganda during the First World War), where so much of the facial expressions is reduced to the essential. It is rather in the subtle colour of the wall behind them, with the play of shadows, that Holgate affirms himself as a painter. In this, one feels the influence of William Brymner and Maurice Cullen, under whom Holgate had studied at the Montreal Art Association in 1910 and in 1912. They had introduced him to a cautious form of Impressionism, where divisionism was tempered by a taste for nuance and light effects. Later, in 1913, he studied in Paris under Lucien Simon (1861 - 1945) and Émile-René Ménard (1862 - 1930) at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, who encouraged him to detach himself from Impressionism, and to adopt a more classical, a more structural approach to painting.
It could be said that Near Amiens is the perfect synthesis of these two sets of influences. With time, Holgate would detach himself even further from Impressionism, and become a master of form and composition. It is remarkable, then, that in this early painting he has already established that direction.
In 1943, Holgate became an official war artist for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Canada had created the Canadian Forces Artists Program in the belief that painters could convey the war experience in a convincing and complex way. The Program still exists, and Canadian artists are now sent to Afghanistan. They have in Holgate both a model and an inspiration.
We thank François-Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
Most realised prices include the Buyer's Premium of 18-25%, but not the HST/GST Tax.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.