Fall Ploughing, circa 1937

W. Scott & Sons, Montreal Private Collection, Toronto

Exhibition of Paintings by John Lyman, W. Scott & Sons, Montreal, February 6-20, 1937, no. 19

Dennis Reid, A Concise History of Canadian Painting, third edition, Toronto, 2012, page 212

John Lyman studied in France at the Académie Julian under Jean-Paul Laurens and in 1909 enrolled at the Académie Matisse. His time there was short due to illness, but he would still come under the influence of the Fauve master. Dennis Reid writes: “Matisse taught that painting was an art of sensation, of feeling response to the stimulus of colour and form, and that such sensation could be ordered to produce a rich, profound effect not unlike that of music. One strengthened the sensation by suppressing everything extraneous to it. Forms were to be simplified, made more massive, more significant; colour was to be chosen for aesthetic, not imitative reasons; and the composition was to achieve an intelligently economical fusion of these elements.” Lyman promoted European modernism through his column in “The Montrealer”, which he began in 1936. In 1939 he founded the Contemporary Art Society in Montreal, with a view to encourage a style of pure modern painting exemplified by the School of Paris. “Fall Ploughing” encapsulates Matisse’s thoughts on painting. Lyman has created a moody autumn landscape, utilizing refined line, colours and brushstrokes. A lone farmer and his horses are depicted ploughing an endless field with a few deliberate soft brushstrokes. The heaviness of the labour and the brooding fall day is further emphasized by Lyman’s handling of the imposing mountains and trees. His choice of palette and use of pure forms add to the sense of seasons changing, from the lightness of summer to the cool, dark days of fall.