Yarmouth Light, 1931

Gift of the artist (1931) Private Collection, Hamburg, Germany

Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, 1931, no. 608

“Catalogue of the Arts”, Canadian National Exhibition, 1931, listed page 94, cat. no. 608 “A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume I: A-F”, compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Ottawa, 1977

Working for Brigden’s Limited in Winnipeg, Charles Comfort was transferred to the Toronto branch of the graphic design firm in 1925. The artist then joined the Arts and Letters Club, Toronto, and began taking art classes where he continued to meet and socialize with members of the Group and their compatriots. In 1929, one of his paintings was featured in Bertram Brooker’s “Yearbook of The Arts in Canada” with the following caption, “...Mr. Comfort is a Winnipeg artist who came to Toronto a few years ago and has contributed both oils and water colours to exhibitions in many galleries where their refreshing viewpoint has been widely noted.” The economic downturn of the early 1930s made it nearly impossible for Charles Comfort to pursue fine arts as a lucrative career. As a result, he partnered with his friend and fellow artist, Will Ogilvie, and a third artist named Ayres. Their combined skills of advertising layout, architectural decoration, and magazine illustration provided enough income for each to devote some time to painting. Comfort also used some of his spare time to travel to the Saguenay region of Quebec as well as to Nova Scotia. During this 1931 trip he painted “Yarmouth Light”, a vivid and modernist oil on board. Many layers of perspective make up the work: the fence flanked by the two buildings in the foreground, followed by the road and ledge, leading the eye up the hill to the house and lighthouse. Despite these elements, the artwork maintains a flattened, reductive compositional structure. As the title suggests, the piercing blue sky illuminates the entire scene, forming an original rendition of the historic Nova Scotian port town. “Yarmouth Light” demonstrates the “refreshing viewpoint” that Charles Comfort brought to Canadian painting, as described by Brooker. A copy of the 1931 Canadian National Exhibition catalogue accompanies this lot.