Fire Down on the Labrador, 1980

Private Collection, British Columbia

David Blackwood was born in Wesleyville, on the coast of Bonavista Bay, in Newfoundland. Following his studies at the Ontario College of Art, Blackwood launched his decades-long career. The National Gallery of Canada purchased etchings by the artist when he was only 23 years old. Awarded the Order of Canada in 1993, Blackwood is now celebrated as one of the country’s most acclaimed printmakers. Blackwood’s most famous etching “Fire Down on the Labrador” depicts a terrifying maritime disaster, with a ship aflame and the crew fleeing aboard a small lifeboat. However the picture is utterly dominated by the enormous whale submerged in the icy waters and visible to the viewer but not to the fishermen. Here, the human scene is dwarfed by immense, unfathomable forces of nature. Blackwood has based this work on a narrative with personal roots. Raised in a seafaring Newfoundland family, both the artist’s father and grandfather were ship captains. Blackwood was very aware of the grave threat to every mariner presented by the risk of a grease fire in the gallery of a schooner. The crew could be faced with the worst possible scenario, being forced to abandon ship, and left to the cold isolation of a brutal environment.