2024 December | Hodgins Art Auctions

Notes:

signed lower left; signed, titled and dated on the stretcher verso

Provenance: Heffel Gallery, Vancouver BC (label verso)

Notes:

signed and dated “February 2004” lower right; titled on the original gallery label verso

Provenance: Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto ON; Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton AB (labels verso)

Christopher Pratt was a beloved Canadian painter, celebrated for his high realist, evocative depictions of the Atlantic Canadian landscape. Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and mentored early in his career by fellow Atlantic artist Alex Colville, Pratt spent his career exploring his home province, capturing the landscapes and architecture around him.

Depicted in “White Winter Road” is the snowy Trans-Canada Highway, quiet and ominous, and lit only by headlights as it winds through the forest around Georges Lake in West Newfoundland. Road trips across Newfoundland became a critical part of Pratt’s practice, and from the 1990s onward, roadscapes became more prominent subject matter in his work. Pratt documented these travels in his journals and sketches, reflecting on the environment and his personal interpretations.

“My work is essentially autobiographical,” he noted in 2004, “[it] essentially comes from my environment, but you have to take a very broad view of the term environment. It’s also the environment of things that I have read and encountered subsequently. [The] bottom line really is that my work is the response to my life.”

Pratt was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1973 and became a Companion in 1983. In 1980, he was commissioned by the province of Newfoundland and Labrador to design the provincial flag, and his works can be found in the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and other important collections across the country. Pratt continued to work up until his death at the age of 86, in June 2022.

Notes:

signed, titled, dated and editioned in pencil

Notes:

signed, titled, dated and editioned in pencil

Note: This work is illustrated on pages 72-73 of “David Blackwood: Master Printmaker” (William Gough; Firefly Books; 2001).

Celebrated Newfoundland printmaker David Blackwood spent much of his early childhood visiting his maternal grandparents on Bragg’s Island, a remote island on the northern side of Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland. Close to the artist’s hometown of Wesleyville, Bragg’s Island measures just over one mile long and was originally settled in the late 1850s, with the fishing industry largely supporting the community. Blackwood’s grandparents were extremely important to the artist, instilling in him a deep love for the island’s stories, people, and history.

In 1951, when Blackwood was 10 years old, the Newfoundland Government began a resettlement program, relocating small communities like Bragg’s Island to mainland “growth centres” – larger towns with access to better services and economic opportunities. This initiative aimed to consolidate resources and stimulate economic growth, but its impact on tight-knit communities was profound. Blackwood’s grandfather was deeply opposed to leaving his home, and the experience would haunt him forever. As Blackwood noted, “They didn’t shift the house, you know. They took it down. And my grandfather locked himself in his shed and wouldn’t come out. So his own son started to take the house down; piece by piece, he took apart the house.” (1.)

Blackwood’s 1983 etching, “Resettlement,” is a poignant reflection of this traumatic event. The piece depicts a group of Bragg’s Island residents huddled together in boats as they leave behind the island, while a lonely house floats eerily behind them in the water. Sombre and dreamlike, the home and the silhouetted figures are illuminated against the darkness of the ocean. Works like “Resettlement” not only serve as important documents of the history of Bragg’s Island, but also represent the deep connection Blackwood had to the people who lived there and the community they formed.

1. “David Blackwood: Master Printmaker” (William Gough; Firefly Books; 2001), p. 59

Notes:

signed, titled and editioned in pencil; monogrammed in the block (MBL80)

Note: This work is illustrated on page 76 of “The Tranquility and the Turbulence: The Life and Work of Walter J. Phillips” (Roger Boulet; M. B. Loates Publishing; 1981).

Notes:

signed and titled lower left; titled on the artist’s label verso

Provenance: Roberts Gallery, Toronto ON (label verso); The Downstairs Gallery, Edmonton AB (stamp verso); Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton AB (label verso)

Notes:

signed and titled “Alert Bay” in pencil (MBL216)

Note: Produced as the Christmas greeting of 1936.

Notes:

signed and editioned in pencil; monogrammed in the block (MBL102)

Provenance: The Hett Gallery, Edmonton AB (label verso)

Note: This is the fifth print in the portfolio “Ten Canadian Colour Prints”. It is illustrated on page 275 of “Walter J. Phillips: The Complete Graphic Works” (Roger Boulet; M. B. Loates Publishing; 1981).

Notes:

signed, titled, dated and editioned in pencil

Note: Alternately titled “Rosebud Valley”.

Notes:

signed and dated lower right; titled verso