North Shore, Superior, Near Coldwell, 1923 by Alexander Young Jackson
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Cowley Abbott
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A.Y. Jackson
North Shore, Superior, Near Coldwell, 1923
oil on board
signed lower right; titled, dated 1923 and inscribed "North Shore, Superior", "Near Coldwell", "S. Walter Stewart", "with Lawren Harris 1923", "Wendy Stewart Birthday, 21 You Are a Woman [sic]!" and "37" on the reverse
8.25 x 10.5 in ( 21 x 26.7 cm )
Auction Estimate: $30,000.00 - $50,000.00
Collection of the Artist
S. Walter and Jane Stewart, Toronto
By descent to Wendy Stewart
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Calgary
A.Y. Jackson, "A Painter's Country: The Autobiography of A.Y. Jackson", Toronto/Vancouver, 1958, page 57
Wayne Larsen, "A.Y. Jackson, The Life of a Landscape Painter", Toronto, 2009, page 127
Lake Superior had clearly been important to Jackson who had this to say about it in his autobiography, "A Painter’s Country": “I know of no more impressive scenery in Canada for the landscape painter. There is a sublime order to it, the long curves of the beaches, the sweeping ranges of hills, and headlands that push out into the lake. Inland there are intimate little lakes, stretches of muskeg, outcrops of rock... In the autumn the whole country glows with colour. The huckleberry and pincherry turn crimson, the mountain ash is loaded with red berries, the poplar and the birch turn yellow and the tamarac greenish gold.”
Yet, despite Jackson’s enthusiasm for Lake Superior, he was very selective about producing sketches and enlarging studio paintings from them. An exhibition list from his solo show at Hart House, University of Toronto in 1926, suggests that he may have produced up to four major Lake Superior paintings, the best-known of which is "Lake Superior Country", 1924 in the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Unlike Harris and Carmichael, Jackson showed almost no Lake Superior work in the Group of Seven exhibitions, and close to no recent sketches in the annual Ontario Society of Artists "Small Pictures" exhibitions after 1921. Neither have his retrospective exhibitions of 1953 at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and of 1960 at the Art Gallery of Toronto and National Gallery of Canada aided a deeper appreciation for Jackson at Lake Superior, with only two canvases included in the former, and one sketch in the latter.
Jackson’s limited production of work from Lake Superior makes this sketch from his 1923 trip a rare and different one from that of his sketching and camping mate. Harris had already identified Pic Island to be an iconic subject in his sketching practices and it was with consideration that Jackson sought out a different option—the inland topography, rather than the spatial expanses extending out from the coastlines. This subject offered a continuation of Jackson’s interest in landscape scenes defined by rolling hills, one of his favourite themes. This sketch is remarkable for his use of blue, umber and orange, placed on the sketch board like alternating ribbons of colour to shape the distant hills on this bleak, overcast and no doubt cool October day.
It was collectors S. Walter and Jane Stewart who were the first owners of this sketch. Walter had met Jackson when he was a student at the University of Toronto writing an article on art for "The Varsity" student newspaper. After his marriage, and once settled in the insurance business, the Stewarts soon became earnest collectors of Jackson’s work. Accounts by both the artist and Robert McMichael (co-founder of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection) describe the Stewart home as having once been filled with Jackson paintings in virtually every room. It was from this collection that the McMichael received two major gifts in 1968 and 1980, including the sketch "October Lake Superior", 1923, and the renowned canvas, "Lake Superior Country", 1924. Some works, though, remained in the family and it was the twenty- first birthday of the Stewart’s youngest daughter, Wendy, that "North Shore, Superior, Near Coldwell" changed hands to become part of her collection.
We extend our thanks to Catharine Mastin, independent curator and writer, for contributing the preceding essay.
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Alexander Young Jackson
(1882 - 1974) Group of Seven, Canadian Group of Painters, OSA, RCA
Born in Montreal, Alexander Young Jackson left school at the age of twelve and began work at a Montreal printing firm. In 1906, he undertook art studies at the Art Institute in Chicago. The following year he enrolled at the Académie Julian where he studied under Jean Paul Laurens for six months, then he travelled to Italy with others where they visited galleries in Rome, Florence and Venice. They returned to France and Jackson went to the village of Episy with a fellow student named Porter with whom he had lived in Paris. Jackson found much to paint at Episy: old farms, rolling country, the canal where barges were towed by mules, and for the first time (in France) he lived with people close to the land.
He left France when his funds were low and returned to Canada in 1910 where the “clear crisp air and sharp shadows” of Sweetsburg, Quebec, became the subject of his canvas “Edge of the Maple Wood”. During this period his painting was strongly influenced by the Impressionists. Then the work of Canadian artists Cullen and Morrice led him further in the discoveries of snow and other elements of Canadian subject matter which were to become an integral part of his work throughout his life. After his return to Canada, Jackson took up residence in Montreal and made many sketching trips to the surrounding countryside. While at Emileville he received a letter from a J.E.H. MacDonald of Toronto who wanted to purchase his “Edge of the Maple Wood” on behalf of a third party, Lawren Harris. Jackson sold the picture and later met MacDonald in Toronto. In Toronto he also met, through MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley and other members of the Arts and Letters Club who were employed by the Grip Engraving Company as commercial artists. Jackson later went to Georgian Bay to sketch and was visited there by Dr. James MacCallum, a friend of Lawren Harris. MacCallum, who had a summer home at the Bay, offered Jackson a place to work in the ‘Studio Building’ which MacCallum and Lawren Harris were having built for Canadian artists in Toronto. In the meantime Jackson was invited to stay at MacCallum’s summer home. Jackson’s production was good; he did many sketches and a number of canvases, one being the “Maple in the Pine Woods” which was later to bring a storm of criticism at a Group of Seven exhibition.
On his return to Toronto, Jackson stayed at Lawren Harris’ studio in Toronto until the Studio Building was completed. There one day he was introduced to Tom Thomson who had accompanied Dr. MacCallum on a visit. Thomson was also an employee of the Grip Engraving Company. The two moved into the Studio Building in January 1914 and shared a studio. Thomson had soon inspired Jackson to visit Algonquin Park in February and March of 1914. Jackson also sketched that year with J.E.H. MacDonald and J.W. Beatty. In 1915, Jackson enlisted as a private in the 60th Battalion and after being wounded, returned later to the front as Lieutenant with Canadian War Records. As a war artist he created one of the finest collections of war paintings our nation possesses.
In 1919 he went to Algoma with J.E.H. MacDonald, Lawren Harris and Franz Johnston, making use of a railway box car as a studio which Harris had arranged. During that year, Jackson became a full member of the Royal Canadian Academy. On May 7th, 1920, the first exhibition of the Group of Seven opened at the Art Gallery of Toronto. The Group continued to exhibit until 1931. Each exhibition of the Group was met with great protest. In July of 1927 Jackson and Dr. Frederick Banting went north on the steamer ‘Beothic’ which had been chartered by the government to deliver supplies to the RCMP posts and to carry relief constables to the posts. They sketched at Pond Inlet, Devon Island, Ellesmere Island and other arctic locations. Jackson’s arctic sketches were exhibited at the Art Gallery of Toronto.
Jackson's great sense of adventure carried him from the east coast across Canada to the Rocky Mountains of the west. He made regular sketching trips to Quebec every spring and travelled to the far regions of Canada during the summer, including the Canadian Arctic. In the fall he would return to the Studio Building in Toronto (where he lived until 1955), spending the winters painting canvases. He continued this active lifestyle until he was in his eighties.
Source: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume II”, compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1979
