signed with initials and dated 1912 lower left; signed, titled, dated 1912 and inscribed “Glenlake House” on the reverse
6.25 × 9.25 in (15.9 × 23.5 cm)
Auction Estimate:$12,000 - $15,000
Sale date:November 20, 2018
Price Realized
$14,160
(including Buyer's Premium)
Provenance
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
J.E.H. MacDonald organized the first show of his work at the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto in November 1911; Lawren Harris attended the exhibition and was particularly taken with MacDonald’s landscapes, so much that he asked if they could work together. Harris also convinced MacDonald to take up painting as a full-time career, which led him to resign from his position as a designer at Grip Ltd. in 1912. The two painters began to sketch scenes of Toronto and its environs together; MacDonald’s favourite locations to paint were the Humber Valley and High Park. “Backyard, West Toronto” (1912), an example of the artist’s Toronto scenes of this period, is painted in loose brushstrokes of pastel pigments, evoking MacDonald’s European impressionist influences. This transitionary period signals the drama and atmosphere of the Canadian landscape the artist sought to express in his later Group of Seven period works.
