Lake O'Hara and Cathedral Mountain, Rockies
86.3 cms x 114.3 cms (34 ins x 45 ins)
Signed
Lot offered for sale by Heffel, Vancouver at the auction event "Fine Canadian Art Fall 2005 Live auction" held on Thu, Nov 24, 2005.
Lot 126
Lot 126
Estimate: CAD $400,000 - $600,000
Realised: CAD $977,500
Realised: CAD $977,500
Lot description - from the online catalogue*
Provenance:
Sir William Hamilton Fyfe, British High Commissioner to Canada
By descent to his widow Lady Fyfe, Ottawa
Private Collection, Vancouver
Exhibitions:
Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, 1928, catalogue #368
Ontario Society of Artists, Annual Exhibition, 1928, catalogue #91
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Annual Exhibition, 1929, catalogue #102
The Art Gallery of Toronto, Memorial Exhibition of the Work of J.E.H. MacDonald, January 1933, catalogue #137
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Memorial Exhibition of the Work of J.E.H. MacDonald, RCA, February 1933, catalogue #32
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings by Members of the Group of Seven 1919 - 1933, March to May 1936, traveling to The Art Gallery of Toronto and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, catalogue #137
The Art Gallery of Toronto, J.E.H. MacDonald, RCA, 1873 - 1932, November 13, 1965, traveling to the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1966, catalogue #44
Glenbow Museum, The Group of Seven in Western Canada, 2002, traveling from 2002 to 2004 to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Winnipeg Art Gallery and Art Gallery of Victoria
Literature:
J.E.H. MacDonald, R.C.A., 1873 - 1932, The Art Gallery of Toronto, 1965, reproduced page 43
Lisa Christensen, A Hiker's Guide to Art of the Canadian Rockies, Glenbow Museum, 1996, the oil sketch (in the McMichael Canadian Art Collection) for the canvas reproduced page 70
Catherine M. Mastin, The Group of Seven in Western Canada, Glenbow Museum, 2002, reproduced page 53
Notes:
Like several other members of the Group of Seven, J.E.H. MacDonald came west to the Rockies in the early 1920s looking for new scenery to inspire him in his explorations of Canada's visual topography. He went to the Lake O'Hara region of Yoho National Park, British Columbia, settling into the Alpine Meadows Cabin Camp, built there in 1911 by the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was completely smitten with the scenery, and after he saw the mountains, according to his son Thoreau, he never wanted to work anywhere else. He would travel to the region to sketch for seven consecutive seasons from 1924 until 1930, when his health began to fail and his doctor cautioned him against travel to the cold Rockies.
Lake O'Hara is a term which describes a region of some 160 square kilometres within Yoho Park, and is also the name of the lake at the region's centre, although there are many other small lakes there. Over the seasons he visited, MacDonald would explore every valley and lake, and paint over one hundred on-the-spot sketches. He worked out-of-doors in all kinds of weather, and with his rucksack on his back and his painting kit on his chest, he would hike, dressed in a suit, up the creekbeds to reach the hanging valleys and the high alpine slopes above the treeline. He was particularly fond of working on the Opabin Plateau, roughly a five-kilometre hike up from the Lake O'Hara shore. The Opabin Plateau is a lush meadow on a high rocky bluff, somewhat protected by steep mountains on one side, with small lakelets and streams nestled below an alpine pass. The other side of the plateau provides an expansive view of numerous peaks in the region and looks out across the turquoise waters of Lake O'Hara to Cathedral Mountain, a dominating peak in the region and the subject of this canvas. The canvas is among a handful that came from the mountain sketching trips, as MacDonald's teaching demands were heavy and once back in Toronto he had little time to paint in the studio. Sadly, the majority of the sketches he completed at Lake O'Hara never made the transformation to a larger studio canvas. For this reason alone, the work is rather rare. Additionally, the canvases that we do know are somewhat unusual in their compositions, depicting lesser-known vistas at Lake O'Hara - strange corners, not the places typically selected for a picture. Lichened Rocks, Mountain Majesty, 1928 (University of Toronto Art Center) is an example of this. Although stylistically similar to Lake O'Hara and Cathedral Mountain, Rockies with its interest in clouds and pattern, Lichened Rocks, Mountain Majesty is certainly an unusual composition. Lake O'Hara and Cathedral Mountain, Rockies, is an exception to this, with its classic, stunning view depicting the smooth waters of the lake, half in shadow half in sunlight, the soaring mountain with its forested slopes below where the alpine meadow camp would have been, and the distinctive pattern of the clouds blown into lines in the high winds above the peaks. This canvas is based on the sketch Cathedral Peak and Lake O'Hara, 1927 (McMichael Canadian Art Collection).
MacDonald's canvases have the touch of a designer in them everywhere, and differ from the sketches in this respect. This work is an also an excellent example of MacDonald working as a designer, with the linear patterns of rock and forest and sky repeating back on themselves as they move around the composition. The placid waters of the lake are a marked contrast to the movement that swirls through the scene. The bordering trees are painted with a staccato, calligraphic brush. Lake O'Hara would also inspire MacDonald to write poetry; his epic poem My High Horse was inspired by his misadventures getting to the alpine camp by packhorse. The 1920s were a remarkable time at Lake O'Hara. Arthur Lismer, Lawren Harris, and Walter Phillips, to name a few in addition to MacDonald, would paint there. It was a destination for American climber Georgia Engelhard, and a destination for wealthy American travellers primarily from the east coast. MacDonald's fascination with the region contributes to its reputation as a mecca for mountain painters.
We thank Lisa Christensen (Curator of Art, The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies and author of "The Lake O'Hara Art of J.E.H. MacDonald and Hiker's Guide") for contributing the above essay.
Sir William Hamilton Fyfe, British High Commissioner to Canada
By descent to his widow Lady Fyfe, Ottawa
Private Collection, Vancouver
Exhibitions:
Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, 1928, catalogue #368
Ontario Society of Artists, Annual Exhibition, 1928, catalogue #91
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Annual Exhibition, 1929, catalogue #102
The Art Gallery of Toronto, Memorial Exhibition of the Work of J.E.H. MacDonald, January 1933, catalogue #137
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Memorial Exhibition of the Work of J.E.H. MacDonald, RCA, February 1933, catalogue #32
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings by Members of the Group of Seven 1919 - 1933, March to May 1936, traveling to The Art Gallery of Toronto and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, catalogue #137
The Art Gallery of Toronto, J.E.H. MacDonald, RCA, 1873 - 1932, November 13, 1965, traveling to the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1966, catalogue #44
Glenbow Museum, The Group of Seven in Western Canada, 2002, traveling from 2002 to 2004 to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Winnipeg Art Gallery and Art Gallery of Victoria
Literature:
J.E.H. MacDonald, R.C.A., 1873 - 1932, The Art Gallery of Toronto, 1965, reproduced page 43
Lisa Christensen, A Hiker's Guide to Art of the Canadian Rockies, Glenbow Museum, 1996, the oil sketch (in the McMichael Canadian Art Collection) for the canvas reproduced page 70
Catherine M. Mastin, The Group of Seven in Western Canada, Glenbow Museum, 2002, reproduced page 53
Notes:
Like several other members of the Group of Seven, J.E.H. MacDonald came west to the Rockies in the early 1920s looking for new scenery to inspire him in his explorations of Canada's visual topography. He went to the Lake O'Hara region of Yoho National Park, British Columbia, settling into the Alpine Meadows Cabin Camp, built there in 1911 by the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was completely smitten with the scenery, and after he saw the mountains, according to his son Thoreau, he never wanted to work anywhere else. He would travel to the region to sketch for seven consecutive seasons from 1924 until 1930, when his health began to fail and his doctor cautioned him against travel to the cold Rockies.
Lake O'Hara is a term which describes a region of some 160 square kilometres within Yoho Park, and is also the name of the lake at the region's centre, although there are many other small lakes there. Over the seasons he visited, MacDonald would explore every valley and lake, and paint over one hundred on-the-spot sketches. He worked out-of-doors in all kinds of weather, and with his rucksack on his back and his painting kit on his chest, he would hike, dressed in a suit, up the creekbeds to reach the hanging valleys and the high alpine slopes above the treeline. He was particularly fond of working on the Opabin Plateau, roughly a five-kilometre hike up from the Lake O'Hara shore. The Opabin Plateau is a lush meadow on a high rocky bluff, somewhat protected by steep mountains on one side, with small lakelets and streams nestled below an alpine pass. The other side of the plateau provides an expansive view of numerous peaks in the region and looks out across the turquoise waters of Lake O'Hara to Cathedral Mountain, a dominating peak in the region and the subject of this canvas. The canvas is among a handful that came from the mountain sketching trips, as MacDonald's teaching demands were heavy and once back in Toronto he had little time to paint in the studio. Sadly, the majority of the sketches he completed at Lake O'Hara never made the transformation to a larger studio canvas. For this reason alone, the work is rather rare. Additionally, the canvases that we do know are somewhat unusual in their compositions, depicting lesser-known vistas at Lake O'Hara - strange corners, not the places typically selected for a picture. Lichened Rocks, Mountain Majesty, 1928 (University of Toronto Art Center) is an example of this. Although stylistically similar to Lake O'Hara and Cathedral Mountain, Rockies with its interest in clouds and pattern, Lichened Rocks, Mountain Majesty is certainly an unusual composition. Lake O'Hara and Cathedral Mountain, Rockies, is an exception to this, with its classic, stunning view depicting the smooth waters of the lake, half in shadow half in sunlight, the soaring mountain with its forested slopes below where the alpine meadow camp would have been, and the distinctive pattern of the clouds blown into lines in the high winds above the peaks. This canvas is based on the sketch Cathedral Peak and Lake O'Hara, 1927 (McMichael Canadian Art Collection).
MacDonald's canvases have the touch of a designer in them everywhere, and differ from the sketches in this respect. This work is an also an excellent example of MacDonald working as a designer, with the linear patterns of rock and forest and sky repeating back on themselves as they move around the composition. The placid waters of the lake are a marked contrast to the movement that swirls through the scene. The bordering trees are painted with a staccato, calligraphic brush. Lake O'Hara would also inspire MacDonald to write poetry; his epic poem My High Horse was inspired by his misadventures getting to the alpine camp by packhorse. The 1920s were a remarkable time at Lake O'Hara. Arthur Lismer, Lawren Harris, and Walter Phillips, to name a few in addition to MacDonald, would paint there. It was a destination for American climber Georgia Engelhard, and a destination for wealthy American travellers primarily from the east coast. MacDonald's fascination with the region contributes to its reputation as a mecca for mountain painters.
We thank Lisa Christensen (Curator of Art, The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies and author of "The Lake O'Hara Art of J.E.H. MacDonald and Hiker's Guide") 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.