Provenance: Masters Gallery, Calgary, AB (label verso)
Over his long and accomplished career, A. Y. Jackson travelled more widely than any other member of the Group of Seven, often braving harsh conditions and venturing to remote locations to document the Canadian landscape. Nevertheless, his heart remained in Quebec and, inevitably, his painting excursions included regular sketching trips where he extensively explored the Quebec countryside. Nowhere was Jackson more at home than in Quebec, and this intimacy and fondness for his subject matter are integral to his ability to so effectively capture the character and essence of rural Quebec.
Jackson began to explore the rural “French” part of Quebec in 1921, when he heard of a farm on the south shore that accepted boarders. He explored the area on snowshoes, later writing of the experience:
“At first, in my painting, I was interested in the old farm houses, in the barns and the trees. Later it was the snow that captured my attention: the sun and the wind continually changed its colour and texture. Towards spring there was slush and pools of water, and finally the furrowed fields appeared through the slush.”
That first season, he invited artist Albert Robinson to join him and, for many years to come, he sketched here with others (including Frederick Banting, Edwin Holgate and Clarence Gagnon). During these trips, they often boarded with locals or stayed at small hotels, spending time visiting with villagers, at times sharing tales of the big cities. Jackson bemusedly observed that “people were suspicious of us at first”, and “could not understand whey we painted old houses and barns”.
A. Y. Jackson would paint in this picturesque “Christmas card country” for almost 30 years and it is the scenes of the Quebec villages and countryside that have come to define his contribution to Canadian art and comprise his most celebrated work. Moreover, as the villages changed, with the barns and farmhouses disappearing over time, Jackson realized that these paintings also served the unintended role of preserving an important part of Quebec’s history and heritage.
Reference: “A Painter’s Country, The Autobiography of A. Y. Jackson” (Clarke, Irwin & Co. Ltd.; 1958)
