By-ward Market, circa 1916

Private Collection, Arizona, USA Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, Montreal Acquired by the present Private Collection, April 2010

“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

Ian Thom, et al., “Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven”, Vancouver/London, 2015, reproduced page 4 A.K. Prakash, Impressionism in Canada: A Journey of Rediscovery, Stuttgart, 2015, pages 401 and 403

Internationally trained in the United States and France, Franklin Brownell’s work “followed strict Academic standards in the French tradition – drawing, composition, colour harmony, and expression‒ perfecting the union of content and form in his work.” Before settling in Ottawa in 1887 to become headmaster of the Ottawa School of Art, the painter spent four years abroad “immersing himself in the figurative style and genre painting of French Academicism.” Brownell held the position at the school until its closure in 1899. From 1900 until the school was revived in the early 1920s, he taught under the auspices of the Women's Art Association of Ottawa. Brownell rapidly established himself in Canadian art circles, becoming an associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1895, and a full member in 1895. He was also a founding member of the Canadian Art Club in Toronto in 1907. Through the club, he became friendly with Maurice Cullen and James Wilson Morrice. As a result, his palette began to lighten. “By-ward Market”, painted in 1916, displays a similar impressionistic depiction of a Canadian winter scene to those of Cullen and Morrice. Thick snowflakes scatter across the buildings, horses and figures as they fall to the white ground in the centre of the street. The ByWard Market was founded in 1826, and today, it is one of Canada’s oldest public markets. Brownell would have witnessed the steady expansion of the market throughout his life. In this painting, horses are transporting straw and market goods, surrounded by vendors and other staff. Though celebrated as an Impressionist, Brownell also created social realist depictions of the city, demonstrating a sensitivity to urban concerns that was rare among his contemporaries. The market buildings portrayed in Brownell’s paintings are no longer standing today, as they would have been destroyed in a major 1926 fire, before the ByWard Market was rebuilt with the present‒day building.