Bon Echo Rock (Afternoon), 1921

Kaspar Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Calgary

Situated in south eastern Ontario on Lake Mazinaw, Mazinaw Rock, also known as Bon Echo, is part of Bon Echo Provincial Park. Throughout the early twentieth century until the 1930s, Lake Mazinaw was home to the Bon Echo Inn. Fashionable for families and individuals to vacation at lake resorts during this period, Bell-Smith often took sketching trips and holidays to the inn. With personal connections to the Denison family who owned the property, the artist visited often from 1911 until his death in 1923. Applying his technical training honed from his education in England at the South Kensington School of Art and under the tutelage of his artist father, Bell-Smith depicts the steep Bon Echo rock on a bright day. The artist’s technique in watercolour can been seen in this oil painting with light atmosphere created through the watery application of the paints. The weightlessness of the ethereal clouds and calm lake stands in contrast to the impressive cliff of Bon Echo and underscores the artist’s ability to capture picturesque landscapes. A similar watercolour entitled, “Bon Echo, Lake and Rock” can be found in the collection of the Museum London, in London, Ontario.