signed lower right; signed on the reverse; signed and titled on the reverse of the framing
8.5 × 10.5 in (21.6 × 26.7 cm)
Auction Estimate:$25,000 - $35,000
Sale date:November 22, 2021
Price Realized
$55,200
(including Buyer's Premium)
Provenance
Private Collection, Montreal
By descent to present Private Collection, Quebec
Literature
A.Y. Jackson, “A Painter’s Country: The Autobiography of A.Y. Jackson”, Vancouver/Toronto, 1958, page 64
David P. Silcox, “The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson”, Toronto, 2003, pages 182-183
Nestled in a valley northeast of Quebec City, Saint-Tite-des-Caps overlooks a vast landscape of farm lots, grassy hills and forests - the picturesque scenes of nature that A.Y. Jackson and the Group of Seven were so interested in capturing. As he was familiar with the Quebec landscape, Jackson spent much of his career travelling throughout the province, visiting small villages along the St. Lawrence River. These small, rural towns attracted Jackson and his companions because they retained the traditional way of life during a time when society was becoming increasingly modernized and populous. In his autobiography, Jackson wrote that he loved to paint here because “the snow lingered there when it had gone in most other places.” This work illustrates what Jackson liked so much about the village - its distance from the rush of the city, providing him with a tranquil escape to record traditional life in Quebec. Two figures walk down a path away from the barns, dwarfed by the vast nature that surrounds them. “Morning, St. Tite des Caps” 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 luminous blanket of snow.
