Another important Canadian Art Auction is coming up on November 20 2006. This fall finds an interesting pairing of an A.Y. Jackson and a Lawren Harris. Harris and Jackson, both members of the famed Group of 7 stood side by side to paint the exact same scene. The two paintings which had been 'lost' for decades are now together again.
Here is the blurb from Ritchies Catalogue:
AUTUMN, LAKE SUPERIOR
A. Y. Jackson
signed; titled and dated "1922" on a typed gallery label on the reverse
oil on panel
21.5 by 26.6 cm.
8 1/2 by 10 1/2 in.
PROVENANCE:
Presented as a gift from the artist to Anne Savage and passed down through the family, Montreal
Klinkhoff Gallery, Montreal
Art Emporium, Vancouver
Private Collection, Toronto
Estimate: $50000 - $70000
Rarely do two artists sit (or stand) at their easels, practically side by side, to paint the same subject and vie with each other to produce a master work; but in the case of these two paintings, Lawren Harris and A.Y. Jackson did exactly that. They had shared a studio in Toronto earlier, and they were comfortable friends who enjoyed each other's company.
The scene is near Pic Island on Lake Superior's northern shore, between Marathon and Rossport, an area to which Harris led his friends and colleagues in 1921. After the varied and alluring terrain of Algoma, which had been their favourite painting locale for three years from 1918 to 1920, the key members of the Group of Seven moved on westward until they found this rugged and austere landscape that gave all of them fresh inspiration. For Harris especially, this region held him in thrall for six years. Here cliffs plunged into the lake, great barren rock hilltops provided contrast with the primal forests, and huge vistas abounded in all directions, including out into the lake with its off-shore islands.
While Harris's oil sketch is slightly larger, as was normal for him, and while it is related in subject matter to a major canvas, Autumn Lake Superior , now in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Jackson's work was never, so far as we know, 'worked up' to canvas size. He gave it to a very special friend of his, the Montreal painter Anne Savage, an astute judge, in whose possession it remained until her death, when it passed on to her descendants. Jackson's view is drawn back slightly from that of Harris's. He includes much more in the way of detail. Harris narrows his focus more, and paints more broadly than Jackson. They each catch the same details of leafless and conifer trees, but Harris generalizes more, simplifies, and finds more interest in the sky. Jackson cleverly uses a foreground element that pushes up into the composition and creates a winsome, affecting work. Harris creates power with his sharp definitions, selected elements, and his greater atmospheric clarity. You feel Jackson's painting but have to think your way around Harris's.
The two paintings were together the day they were painted and then separated.
This happy conjunction of them once again now is a rare opportunity for collectors of
the Group of Seven's artists.
LAKE SUPERIOR SKETCH XCIX
LAWREN STEWART HARRIS (1885-1970)
signed and titled on a label on the reverse
oil on panel
26.6 by 34.9 cm.
10 1/2 by 13 3/4 in.
PROVENANCE:
Dominion Gallery, Montreal
Roberts Gallery Limited, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal
The Art Emporium, Vancouver
Private Collection, Toronto
Estimate: $200000 - $250000