Artwork by Frank Shirley Panabaker,  Winter Logging Scene

Frank Panabaker
Winter Logging Scene

oil on canvas
signed lower left
22 x 28 ins ( 55.9 x 71.1 cms )

Auction Estimate: $4,000.00$3,000.00 - $4,000.00

Price Realized $2,950.00
Sale date: June 5th 2019

Provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
A master of the pastoral landscape, Panabaker deftly captures the light of a cold and crisp winter afternoon in this timeless logging scene. Rendered in loose, painterly strokes, there is an undeniable romance to the artist’s depiction of the simplicity of a day’s labour in the Canadian landscape. Perhaps drawing inspiration from rural surroundings near his home of Hamilton, Ontario, the artist evokes the nostalgia of a bygone era: guiding a horse-drawn sled across a snow-covered field toward the glowing late afternoon sun, a logger returns home after a long day, his red wool coat a bright spot against a blue horizon dotted with clouds. Drawing attention to the pair of horses at the centre of the canvas, the composition leaves the viewer with an indelible impression of the powerful animals pulling the sled; one can almost imagine the rustling of their harness and the satisfying crunch of their hooves against the snow.

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Frank Shirley Panabaker
(1904 - 1992) RCA

Frank Panabaker was born in Hespeler (now Cambridge), Ontario, in 1904. He lived in the Hamilton area for most of his life. His artistic career was launched during the summer of his 16th birthday when the artist McGillivray Knowles arrived in town to teach a sketching class. Recognizing his son's artistic talent, Frank's father encouraged him to take the class. Panabaker later studied at the Ontario College of Art, Grand Central School of Art and the Art Students League in New York City.

He spent his time in Southern Ontario on the shores of Georgian Bay, around the lakes of Haliburton, Muskoka and in Algonquin Park. He painted Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Alberta, Vermont and Nassau as well as local scenes from the Hamilton area. Frank Panabaker documented the life and times of the Steel City from the 1940s to through to the 1990s. He painted up until the last week of his life, dying in his 88th year in 1992.