Through the Rocky Mountains, a Pass on the Canadian Highway
101.6 cms x 69.9 cms (40 ins x 27.5 ins)
Signed and dated 1887 lower right
made in 1887
Lot offered for sale by Cowley Abbott, Toronto at the auction event "An Important Private Collection of Canadian Art (Session 2)" held on Thu, Jun 8, 2023.
Lot 42541
Lot 42541
Estimate: CAD $15,000 - $20,000
Realised: CAD $72,000
Realised: CAD $72,000
Lot description - from the online catalogue*
Provenance:
The Artist, until at least 1893
Mrs. J. Home Cameron, Toronto, by May 1959
McMichael Canadian Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario
McCready Gallery, Toronto
Acquired by the present Private Collection, circa 1972
Exhibitions:
Possibly "Eighth Annual Exhibition of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts", Art Association of Montreal, from 20 April 1887, no. 117 Dudley Gallery Art Society, London, England, January‒February 1888, no. 1
"Fine Art Exhibition", Bewick Club, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, 1888, no. 1
"A Selection of Twenty-seven Water Colour Drawings, Illustrating Scenery in ‘The Rocky Mountains’ and ‘Pacific Coast’ British Columbia. By L.R. O’Brien, Esq. President of the Royal Canadian Academy", Thomas McLean’s Gallery, London, from 22 June 1889, no. 1
"Lucius R. O’Brien", W. Scott & Sons, Montreal, from 12 March 1892, no. 2 as "A Pass on the Canadian Highway" at $350
"The Palette Club", Lucius O’Brien’s Studio, Toronto, 10‒11 February 1893, no. 22 as "The Kicking Horse Pass" at $350
"Lucius R. O’Brien", Matthews Bros, Toronto, from 12 December 1893, no. 1 as "A Pass on the Canadian Highway" $350
"Our Own Country Canada", National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; travelling to Winnipeg Art Gallery; Vancouver Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 24 November 1978‒19 August 1979, no. 125
"Historische Maleriei Kanadas, in OKANADA", Akademie der Künste, Berlin, travelling to Instituts für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart, 5 December 1982‒20 March 1983, no. 23
"Collector’s Canada: Selections from a Toronto Private Collection", Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; travelling to Musée du Québec, Quebec City; Vancouver Art Gallery; Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, 14 May 1988‒7 May 1989, no. 20
"Lucius R. O’Brien: Visions of Victorian Canada", Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, travelling to the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Vancouver Art Gallery; Musée du Québec, 28 September 1990‒14 July 1991, no. 57
"Plain Truth", Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, travelling to the Glenbow, Calgary; MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, 13 March‒21 November 1998, no. 249
"Vistas: Artists on the C.P.R.", Glenbow Museum, Calgary, 20 June‒20 September 2009
"Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven", Vancouver Art Gallery, travelling to the Glenbow Museum, Calgary; Art Gallery of Hamilton, 30 October 2015‒25 September 2016
"Highlights from ‘Embracing Canada’", Galerie Eric Klinkhoff, Montreal, 22 October‒5 November 2016, no. 9
Literature:
‘The Art Exhibition. Some Notices of the Pictures Displayed’, "The Herald" (Montreal), 21 April 1887, as "The New Route to the East – a Pass on the Canadian Railway"
‘Art and Artists’, "Toronto Saturday Night", VI:13 (18 February 1893), page 15, as "The Kicking Horse Pass"
‘Saturday Art Supplement’, "Daily Mail" (Toronto), 13 May 1893, reproduced as "Through the Rocky Mountains. A pass of the Canadian Pacific Railway"
Dennis Reid, "'Our Own Country Canada': Being an Account of the National Aspirations of the Principal Landscape Artists in Montreal and Toronto 1860-1890", National Gallery of Canada Journal 31 (24 November 1978), reproduced page 8
John Bentley Mays, ‘Black and white in color’, "Maclean’s" (15 January 1979), reproduced page 47
Dennis Reid, "‘Our Own Country Canada’: Being an Account of the National Aspirations of the Principal Landscape Artists in Montreal and Toronto 1860-1890", Ottawa, 1979, pages 397-400, 414-415, reproduced page 415, as painted from O’Brien’s 1887 trip to the Rockies
Dennis Reid, ‘Lucius O’Brien’, in "OKANADA, Akademie der Künste", Berlin, 1982, reproduced page 52; original texts for German-language catalogue, page 51
Allan Pringle, "Artists of the Canadian Pacific Railway", (M.A. thesis, Concordia University, Montreal, 1983), pages 55-60, 85, 121, 144, as "Bridge‒Kicking Horse Pass‒Second Crossing", reproduced illustration 2
Sid Marty, "A Grand and Fabulous Notion: The First Century of Canada’s National Parks", Toronto, 1984, reproduced page 50
Allan Pringle, "William Cornelius Van Horne: Art Director, Canadian Pacific Railway," The Journal of Canadian Art History, 8 (1984), pages 63-66, 77 note 65, as "Bridge‒Kicking Horse Pass‒Second Crossing"
Craig Brown, editor, "The Illustrated History of Canada", Toronto, 1987 (and 1990), reproduced page 360
Dennis Reid, "Collector’s Canada: Selections from a Toronto Private Collection", Toronto, 1988, reproduced pages 28‒29
Dennis R. Reid, "Lucius R. O’Brien: Visions of Victorian Canada", Toronto, 1990, pages 79‒80, 92 notes 51, 53, reproduced page 163 Dennis Reid, ‘O’Brien, Lucius Richard’, in "Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. XII", Toronto, 1990, page 795
Lynda Jessup, "Canadian Artists, Railways, The State and ‘The Business of Becoming a Nation’" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto, 1992), pages 190, 205‒206, 214-215, reproduced figure 59
Roger Boulet, "Vistas: Artists on the Canadian Pacific Railway", Calgary, 2009, pages 61‒65, [70?], reproduced page 108
Nancy Townshend, "Art Inspired by the Canadian Rockies, Purcell Mountains and Selkirk Mountains 1809-2012", Calgary, 2012, page 10, reproduced insert 5
"Infrastructure Canada: Daniel Young and Christian Giroux", Oakville, 2012, page 251, reproduced page 249
Notes:
Lucius O'Brien was born in 1832 in Shanty Bay, Ontario. He studied at Upper Canada College and worked as a civil engineer until 1872 at which time he devoted himself to painting. O'Brien excelled at landscape painting, both in oil and watercolour, and his subject matter spans locations across the country. O'Brien served as vice-president to the Ontario Society of Artists, was the founding president of the Royal Canadian Academy (1880), and contributed a large number of drawings to Picturesque Canada (1882) of which he was the editor.
The Artist, until at least 1893
Mrs. J. Home Cameron, Toronto, by May 1959
McMichael Canadian Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario
McCready Gallery, Toronto
Acquired by the present Private Collection, circa 1972
Exhibitions:
Possibly "Eighth Annual Exhibition of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts", Art Association of Montreal, from 20 April 1887, no. 117 Dudley Gallery Art Society, London, England, January‒February 1888, no. 1
"Fine Art Exhibition", Bewick Club, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, 1888, no. 1
"A Selection of Twenty-seven Water Colour Drawings, Illustrating Scenery in ‘The Rocky Mountains’ and ‘Pacific Coast’ British Columbia. By L.R. O’Brien, Esq. President of the Royal Canadian Academy", Thomas McLean’s Gallery, London, from 22 June 1889, no. 1
"Lucius R. O’Brien", W. Scott & Sons, Montreal, from 12 March 1892, no. 2 as "A Pass on the Canadian Highway" at $350
"The Palette Club", Lucius O’Brien’s Studio, Toronto, 10‒11 February 1893, no. 22 as "The Kicking Horse Pass" at $350
"Lucius R. O’Brien", Matthews Bros, Toronto, from 12 December 1893, no. 1 as "A Pass on the Canadian Highway" $350
"Our Own Country Canada", National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; travelling to Winnipeg Art Gallery; Vancouver Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 24 November 1978‒19 August 1979, no. 125
"Historische Maleriei Kanadas, in OKANADA", Akademie der Künste, Berlin, travelling to Instituts für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart, 5 December 1982‒20 March 1983, no. 23
"Collector’s Canada: Selections from a Toronto Private Collection", Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; travelling to Musée du Québec, Quebec City; Vancouver Art Gallery; Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, 14 May 1988‒7 May 1989, no. 20
"Lucius R. O’Brien: Visions of Victorian Canada", Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, travelling to the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Vancouver Art Gallery; Musée du Québec, 28 September 1990‒14 July 1991, no. 57
"Plain Truth", Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, travelling to the Glenbow, Calgary; MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, 13 March‒21 November 1998, no. 249
"Vistas: Artists on the C.P.R.", Glenbow Museum, Calgary, 20 June‒20 September 2009
"Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven", Vancouver Art Gallery, travelling to the Glenbow Museum, Calgary; Art Gallery of Hamilton, 30 October 2015‒25 September 2016
"Highlights from ‘Embracing Canada’", Galerie Eric Klinkhoff, Montreal, 22 October‒5 November 2016, no. 9
Literature:
‘The Art Exhibition. Some Notices of the Pictures Displayed’, "The Herald" (Montreal), 21 April 1887, as "The New Route to the East – a Pass on the Canadian Railway"
‘Art and Artists’, "Toronto Saturday Night", VI:13 (18 February 1893), page 15, as "The Kicking Horse Pass"
‘Saturday Art Supplement’, "Daily Mail" (Toronto), 13 May 1893, reproduced as "Through the Rocky Mountains. A pass of the Canadian Pacific Railway"
Dennis Reid, "'Our Own Country Canada': Being an Account of the National Aspirations of the Principal Landscape Artists in Montreal and Toronto 1860-1890", National Gallery of Canada Journal 31 (24 November 1978), reproduced page 8
John Bentley Mays, ‘Black and white in color’, "Maclean’s" (15 January 1979), reproduced page 47
Dennis Reid, "‘Our Own Country Canada’: Being an Account of the National Aspirations of the Principal Landscape Artists in Montreal and Toronto 1860-1890", Ottawa, 1979, pages 397-400, 414-415, reproduced page 415, as painted from O’Brien’s 1887 trip to the Rockies
Dennis Reid, ‘Lucius O’Brien’, in "OKANADA, Akademie der Künste", Berlin, 1982, reproduced page 52; original texts for German-language catalogue, page 51
Allan Pringle, "Artists of the Canadian Pacific Railway", (M.A. thesis, Concordia University, Montreal, 1983), pages 55-60, 85, 121, 144, as "Bridge‒Kicking Horse Pass‒Second Crossing", reproduced illustration 2
Sid Marty, "A Grand and Fabulous Notion: The First Century of Canada’s National Parks", Toronto, 1984, reproduced page 50
Allan Pringle, "William Cornelius Van Horne: Art Director, Canadian Pacific Railway," The Journal of Canadian Art History, 8 (1984), pages 63-66, 77 note 65, as "Bridge‒Kicking Horse Pass‒Second Crossing"
Craig Brown, editor, "The Illustrated History of Canada", Toronto, 1987 (and 1990), reproduced page 360
Dennis Reid, "Collector’s Canada: Selections from a Toronto Private Collection", Toronto, 1988, reproduced pages 28‒29
Dennis R. Reid, "Lucius R. O’Brien: Visions of Victorian Canada", Toronto, 1990, pages 79‒80, 92 notes 51, 53, reproduced page 163 Dennis Reid, ‘O’Brien, Lucius Richard’, in "Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. XII", Toronto, 1990, page 795
Lynda Jessup, "Canadian Artists, Railways, The State and ‘The Business of Becoming a Nation’" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto, 1992), pages 190, 205‒206, 214-215, reproduced figure 59
Roger Boulet, "Vistas: Artists on the Canadian Pacific Railway", Calgary, 2009, pages 61‒65, [70?], reproduced page 108
Nancy Townshend, "Art Inspired by the Canadian Rockies, Purcell Mountains and Selkirk Mountains 1809-2012", Calgary, 2012, page 10, reproduced insert 5
"Infrastructure Canada: Daniel Young and Christian Giroux", Oakville, 2012, page 251, reproduced page 249
Notes:
Lucius O'Brien was born in 1832 in Shanty Bay, Ontario. He studied at Upper Canada College and worked as a civil engineer until 1872 at which time he devoted himself to painting. O'Brien excelled at landscape painting, both in oil and watercolour, and his subject matter spans locations across the country. O'Brien served as vice-president to the Ontario Society of Artists, was the founding president of the Royal Canadian Academy (1880), and contributed a large number of drawings to Picturesque Canada (1882) of which he was the editor.
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 Cowley Abbott auction house for permission to use.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Cowley Abbott auction house for permission to use.