The Skipper’s Daughter, 1908

Paul Duval Acquired by the present Private Collection, circa 1970

“Twenty-Fifth Spring Exhibition”, Art Association of Montreal, 2-24 April 1909, no. 171 “Fortieth Annual Exhibition”, Ontario Society of Artists, Toronto, 9-30 March 1912, no. 66 “Impressionism in Canada: 1895–1935”, Art Gallery of Ontario; travelling to the Vancouver Art Gallery; Edmonton Art Gallery; Saskatoon Gallery and Conservatory Corporation; the Confederation Art Gallery and Museum, Charlottetown; The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 16 January 1974–5 January 1975, no. 61 “Collector’s Canada: Selections from a Toronto Private Collection,” Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; travelling to Musée du Québec, Quebec City; Vancouver Art Gallery; Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, 14 May 1988–7 May 1989, no. 29 “Home Truths”, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa; travelling to Mississauga Library Arts Centre; Rodman Hall, Saint Catharines, 4 September 1997–22 February 1998 “Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven”, Vancouver Art Gallery; travelling to the Glenbow Museum, Calgary; Art Gallery of Hamilton, 30 October 2015–25 September 2016 “Canadian Art: A Child’s World”, Galerie Eric Klinkhoff, Montreal, 28 October-11 November 2017, no. 4 “Canada and Impressionism: New Horizons 1880‒1930”, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; travelling to Kunsthalle der Hypo‒Kulturstiftung, Munich; Fondation de l’Hermitage, Lausanne; Musée Fabre, Montpellier, 19 July 2019‒3 July 2021, no. 56

Joan Murray, “Impressionism in Canada: 1895-1935,” Art Gallery of Ontario, 1974, no. 61, reproduced page 79 Dennis Reid, “Collector’s Canada: Selections from a Toronto Private Collection”, Toronto, 1978, no. 29, reproduced page 38 Paul Duval, “Canadian Impressionism”, Toronto/London, 1990, reproduced page 67 Norma Broude, “World Impressionism: The International Movement 1860-1920”, New York, 1990, no. 120, reproduced page 104 Joan Murray, “Home Truths”, Toronto, 1997, plate 60, reproduced page 85 Ian Thom, et al., “Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven”, Vancouver/London, 2015, reproduced page 80 A.K. Prakash, “Impressionism in Canada: A Journey of Rediscovery”, Stuttgart, 2015, plate 21.3, reproduced page 644 “Canadian Art: A Child’s World”, Galerie Eric Klinkhoff, Montreal, 2017, no. 4, reproduced Katerina Atanassova, “Canada and Impressionism: New Horizons 1880‒1930”, Ottawa, 2019, no. 56, reproduced page 182

“The Skipper’s Daughter” depicts a fashionably dressed young girl seated in a wooden chair. Behind her is a setting of a small body of water with two boats; the opposite shore shows hints of buildings. The sitter is said to be Lilias Torrance Newton, Robert Harris’ goddaughter, who would grow up to be an influential portrait artist herself and member of the influential Beaver Hall Group. She was dressed in formal white attire to attend a wedding that same day. “The Skipper’s Daughter” was completed in 1908, as Robert Harris turned to painting in an Impressionist‒influenced mode after purchasing the first book in English on the subject, “The French Impressionists (1860–1900)” by Camille Mauclair, published in 1903. He began to incorporate small touches of vibrant colour and the fluid brushwork of the Impressionists, while still maintaining the formal characteristics of academic portraiture. This painting displays a strong stylistic influence of Impressionism, with a pastel colour palette, loose brushstrokes, as well as a bright, warm light emanating from the canvas.