Cafe Clare St, Servan (Night Effect) , 1911

oil on board

signed and dated 1911 lower left

8.75 × 10.5 in (22.2 × 26.7 cm)

Auction Estimate:$10,000 - $15,000

Sale date:May 31, 2016

Price Realized

$17,250

(including Buyer's Premium)

Provenance

Private Collection, Toronto

Exhibited

“Royal Canadian Academy of Arts”, 1916 [under original title, “Leaving Port, St. Malo (Night Effect)”], cat. no. 186

Literature

“Albert H. Robinson: Retrospective Exhibition”, The Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1955, unpaginated Thomas Roche Lee and Albert H. Robinson: “The Painter's Painter”, Montreal, 1956 “Catalogue of the Thirty-fourth Annual Exhibition of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in the Victoria Memorial Museum, Ottawa, November the Twenty-eighth, 1912”, Ottawa, 1912, page 17

Known for bright and colourful scenes of Quebec villages and towns, this nighttime cafe scene is a unique subject for the artist. Using muted tones rather than his typical bright oil paints, Robinson creates a moody atmosphere while still maintaining the charm of the French cafe scene in St. Severn, a town situated in western France, two miles fro the ferry port of St. Malo. While studying at the Academie Julian in Paris, and later at the École des Beaux-Arts from 1903 until 1905, Robinson traveled France during and after his studies. The greys of the buildings and moody sky make for seemingly rainy or damp conditions of the street only highlighting the warm glow from the cafe. Red curtains in the cafe window contrast with the dreary exterior setting inviting prospective patrons, bundled and huddled outside the windows, into the cozy space. In an address given by Robert Wakeham Pilot at the opening of the retrospective exhibition of Robinson's work, held at the Art Gallery of Hamilton in 1955, Pilot explains, “we see in these canvases how well Mr. Robinson has solved this problem. The simplicity of their facture could be easily misunderstood...Ignoring the trivial, he shows us the essential.” Rather than deliver scenes rich in finite detail, Robinson creates works full of atmosphere and character, distinct to the subject matter. Simplicity and attention to capturing character through the essential elements of the scenes while using impressionistic colour palettes and painterly technique was his focus.