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Winter Break Up, Montreal Harbour by Robert Wakeham Pilot

Artwork by Robert Wakeham Pilot, Winter Break Up, Montreal Harbour

Robert Pilot
Winter Break Up, Montreal Harbour

oil on canvas
signed lower right; signed, titled and dated 1950 on the reverse
19 x 24.25 ins ( 48.3 x 61.6 cms )

Auction Estimate: $10,000.00$8,000.00 - $10,000.00

Price Realized $15,600.00
Sale date: December 6th 2023

Provenance:
Laing Galleries, Toronto
Private Collection, Montreal
Literature:
A.K. Prakash, “Impressionism in Canada: A Journey of Rediscovery”, Stuttgart, 2015, pages 621, 632
Soon after Robert Pilot’s return to Canada following World War One, the Montreal painter was invited by A.Y. Jackson to include two of his works in the Group of Seven’s first exhibition in 1920. Following the exhibition, A.K. Prakash explains that Pilot declined “to formalize an association with these artists. Like Cullen, he differed philosophically from the group’s nationalistic approach to art. [Pilot] preferred to paint inhabited places rather than the untamed wilderness, so he differed philosophically from the group’s nationalist approach to art.”

“Winter Break Up, Montreal Harbour” is one of Pilot’s quintessential inhabited scenes of Quebec, depicting Montreal’s active industrial sphere. The warmth and gentle brushstrokes of “Winter Break Up, Montreal Harbour” are synonymous with the celebrated painter’s ability to depict the Quebec landscape with great charm and artistry. The monochromatic palette of pastel greys and mauve speak to Pilot’s influence of the European Impressionists; however, Pilot has applied these methods to a wintry subject that remains quintessentially Canadian.

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Robert Wakeham Pilot
(1898 - 1967) PRCA

Current SalesHighlightsWatch Artist

Born in St. John's, Newfoundland, Robert Pilot moved to Montreal in 1910 when his widowed mother married well-known Canadian artist Maurice Cullen. Pilot found he was attracted to the artistic life as he helped his stepfather with chores in the studio and began sketching. He studied figure drawing at the Royal Canadian Academy and learned landscape painting with Cullen. As a student at the Art Association of Montreal, he was recognized as a gifted pupil by instructor William Brymner, who offered instruction to the penniless young artist free of charge on the condition that he would pay the fees when he was able.

After serving overseas in WWI he returned to Montreal and was invited to participate in the first Group of Seven exhibition in 1920. For a time he concentrated on the etching medium, with the desire to develop his own style apart from that of his stepfather. He was given the opportunity to study in Paris with the help of a generous patron and travelled to Paris in 1920. There he studied at the Academie Julian and exhibited in the Paris Salon in 1922. On his return to Canada he was elected an associate of the Royal Canadian Academy. Exhibiting with the RCA gave him more visibility and some of his works were acquired by the National Gallery of Canada. After several successful exhibitions he travelled abroad painting in France, Spain, and North Africa. In addition to oil paintings and etchings he worked in pastel and completed several mural commissions in public buildings. More successful shows followed and he continued to paint, although he served his country once again in WW2. His Canadian impressionist painting style was shaped by his years in France, the influence of his stepfather, Maurice Cullen, and the work of J. W. Morrice, whom he greatly admired. He was elected president of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1952. Pilot died in 1967 and was honored with a retrospective exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1969.