signed with initials and dated 1911 lower left; inscribed “J.E.H. MacDonald”, titled, dated and certified by Thoreau MacDonald on the reverse
7 × 5 in (17.8 × 12.7 cm)
Auction Estimate:$15,000 - $20,000
Sale date:December 1, 2022
Price Realized
$18,000
(including Buyer's Premium)
Provenance
Libby’s of Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
Consignor Canadian Fine Art, auction, Toronto, 29 May 2018, lot 1
Private Collection, Ontario
Exhibited
“Eight Members of the Group of Seven”, Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, 19 - 22 May 2009
Literature
Paul Duval, “The Tangled Garden: The Art of J.E.H. MacDonald”, Scarborough, 1978, pages 21-26
A favourite location for the artist, High Park provided J.E.H. MacDonald an endless amount of layered landscapes and vistas while conveniently located closeby to his young family on Quebec Avenue. Depicted during a dusky sunset, the soft rose hues of the sky attracted the artist to capture the effects of light and atmosphere during this transitionary period of the day.
Within the park, MacDonald was afforded both sweeping open spaces and more secluded lush areas of the park to explore impressionistic painting. Inspired by the French and Dutch Impressionist masters, MacDonald developed his distinctive loose and fluid application of paint to articulate the rolling textured layers of a landscape, capturing the natural drama of the terrain. Here, the bright emerald foreground is punctuated with ribbons of burgundy outlining the organic tousles of long grass and foliage. Points of bright reds and yellows leave a trace of the season transitioning into cooler weather, transforming fresh green leaves of the background trees into fiery shades, offsetting the shadowy treeline. Favouring tight but dramatic landscapes, MacDonald sought to explore the effects of light and weather in these early compositions upon returning from London, England.
