Steam and Haze of Industry along Toronto’s Waterfront

Private Collection, Ontario

Often working simultaneously with landscape and urban scenes, both representations of the land were of equal importance to Bernice Martin. Creating texture with short staccato brush strokes, the layered sky of pale yellows, blues, violets, and roses evoke a light calm atmosphere giving balance to the busy harbour scene below. Impressionistic handling of the medium and the representation of light and shadow highlight the artist's fascination with capturing the spirit of the landscape. Here, water can be interpreted as the soul of the city, the machinery and harbour industry an extension of this, breathing life into Toronto and its success as an epicentre of industry within Canada.