2019 December | Hodgins Art Auctions

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signed, titled, dated & editioned in pencil
Provenance: Paul Kuhn Fine Arts, Calgary AB

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signed, titled, dated & editioned in pencil
Note: This work is illustrated on pages 14-15 of “David Blackwood: Master Printmaker” (William Gough; Firefly Books, 2001).

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signed lower right; titled & dated on the artist’s label verso
BA-506
Literature: “A Cree Life, The Art of Allen Sapp” (Thecla Warner & John Bradshaw; J. J. Douglas Ltd., 1977); “I Heard the Drums” (Allen Sapp; Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd., 1996); Two Spirits Soar” (W. P. Kinsella; Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd., 1990).

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signed, titled, dated & editioned in pencil; with remarque lower right

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signed lower right
Provenance: Canadian Art Galleries, Calgary AB

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signed lower right

Note: This work was selected by Rous & Mann Press Ltd. (Toronto), the year following Pilot’s death, to illustrate a 1968 winter desktop calendar. A copy of the calendar accompanies this painting.

As a young man, Robert Pilot’s first exposure to art was through his step-father, artist Maurice Cullen, in whose studio he assisted, and with whom he often travelled and sketched. Pilot continued his art education at the RCA and the Art Association of Montreal, under the tutelage of William Brymner. After serving in the First World War, Pilot accepted an invitation to exhibit at the first Group of Seven show in 1920, as one of only three invited guests (the others were Albert Robinson and Randolph Hewton). Afterwards, with the generous assistance of an arts patron, Pilot travelled to Paris to further his studies. He trained at the Academie Julian, painted at Concarneau the following year, and exhibited at the Paris Salon, becoming elected to the Salon National des Beaux-Arts. Upon his return to Canada, early success continued with the purchase of a work by the National Gallery of Canada, a solo exhibition at the Watson Galleries, and.election into the RCA. Pilot was a decorated artist during his carrer, and in 1968, following his death, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts honoured Robert Pilot by organizing a retrospective exhibition of his work, which also travelled to The National Gallery in Ottawa and the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

Robert Pilot is one of Canada’s most important painters working in the Impressionist tradition. He is particularly renowned for scenes of Quebec City, and of ferries crossing the St. Lawrence. This ethereal work depicts a distant ferry in a misty, atmospheric landscape. It exemplifies the mastery of technique that led art critic Paul Duval to refer to Pilot as “a pictorial poet of twilight”. Here, PiIot’s use of soft colour, brush work, and subtle tones adeptly captures the mood, the season and that time of day where the vestiges of daylight cede to the blues and pinks of evening.

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inscribed verso “To: Tom McDonough from Fred Banting M. D.” / “Painted at Jasper Park Lodge 1925”

Frederick Banting, the youngest of six children, was born on his family farm just outside of Alliston, Ontario. Widely known as the co-discoverer of insulin and co-recipient of the 1923 Nobel Prize in Medicine, Banting was also an accomplished artist, having taken up painting in 1920. Painting became Banting’s preferred means of escape and relaxation, particularly when the world of science and research became too stressful and demanding. This was particularly so after the 1923 Nobel win, when fame, and the expectation that he could cure more diseases weighed heavily on him.

In 1925, Banting joined the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, a favoured meeting spot for many artists of the day. It was through the Club that Banting became acquainted with A.Y. Jackson, one of the founding members of the Group of Seven. The two forged a friendship and travelled on numerous sketching trips together over the years, painting in Georgian Bay, rural Quebec, the St. Lawrence and the Eastern Arctic. Banting continued to develop his own personal style, though he was influenced by the Group, and likely inspired by Jackson, an avid traveller, to explore the landscape of the country through art. It is uncertain when, or if, Banting and Jackson painted together in the Rockies, but it seems very likely that sketches of the Rockies or tales of the area, by Jackson or another artist at the Club, prompted Banting’s sketching trip to Jasper. In fact, Jackson, along with fellow Group member Lawren Harris, had travelled and painted together in 1924, spending August and early September of that year in Jasper. This work by Banting, was completed the following year.

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signed lower left; titled faintly on the stretcher verso
Provenance: Loch & Mayberry Fine Art, Winnipeg MB

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signed & dated lower left; signed, titled & dated on the stretcher verso; remnants of an old Ottawa gallery label on the stretcher verso

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signed & dated lower left; titled on the old backing verso