signed lower centre; signed, titled & dated verso
Provenance: Former collection of Donald W. Buchanan [1908-1966], author of “The Growth of Canadian Painting”, first editor of “Canadian Art Magazine”, and Associate Director of the National Gallery of Canada from 1956-60, and later member of the Board of Trustees; Masters Gallery, Calgary AB
As early as 1914, A.Y. Jackson began a series of trips to Alberta to visit his elder brother Ernest, then a judge living in Lethbridge. In the fall of 1937, Jackson embarked on his first major trip to the area, to concentrate on painting southwestern Alberta.
In “A Painter’s Country, The Autobiography of A. Y. Jackson” (Clarke, Irwin & Co. Ltd.; 1958), Jackson writes: “In recent years the cowboy has almost disappeared, and the West has become completely mechanized. However, the foothills of Alberta, with the mountains as a background, afford the artist endless material” (page 146). Jackson stayed in the Pincher Creek area several times, often hosted by the Harland family:
“I have visited Pincher many times and also the Harland ranch farther south. Here, a range of mountains rises right out of the foothills which form a wonderful grazing land for cattle.” Jackson was impressed by the visual wealth that had emerged from the drought-ravaged land he had known in the thirties: “Hills rose from the prairies, range after range of them, and then the mountains rose abruptly from the hills. Valleys and shallow streams at the bottom cut through the hills. (pages 148-149)
In 1943 A.Y. Jackson accepted a summer teaching post at the Banff School of Fine Arts, a position he would hold until 1949. This afforded him a regular opportunity to paint the Alberta landscape, and his work from this period includes depictions of foothills, ranchlands, mountains and small towns.
