Old Farm Buildings, Quebec

A gift from the artist to F. Radford “Budge” Crawley, Quebec By descent to Private Collection, Ontario Heffel Fine Art, auction, Toronto, May 23, 2007, Lot 69 Private Collection, Vancouver

A.Y. Jackson and Edwin Holgate were the only two Group of Seven members native to Quebec, and both men frequently depicted the Quebec landscape, more than any other members. Returning to the small villages across the province throughout his life, A.Y. Jackson was continually drawn to “Christmas card country”, as he would describe the region to fellow Group member, J.E.H. MacDonald. “Old Farm Buildings, Quebec” exemplifies this ‘Christmas card’ setting, with its charming farmhouse and barns surrounded by a luminous blanket of snow. The composition demonstrates Jackson’s strong sense of both colour and composition through its fluid, rhythmic lines of the snowy terrain, roofs and hills, the rich hues of aqua in the sky and the colourful patterns created in the snow by sunlight and shadow. Jackson preferred to paint the Quebec landscape during the changing of seasons. Bare rooftops and the hints of earth peeking out beneath the snow signal hope that spring is on its way in a province known for its long winters.