Cabbies, Old Montreal, circa 1926

Woods Estate, Ottawa (1987) A.K. Prakash & Associates, Inc., Toronto (1987) Peter Ohler Fine Art, Vancouver (1992) Masters Gallery, Calgary Private Collection

"Magazin'Art" (Spring 1994), reproduced page 112 A.K. Prakash, "Impressionism in Canada: A Journey of Rediscovery", Stuttgart, 2015, pages 621, 632

Soon after Robert Pilot’s return to Canada following the First World War, 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 Maurice 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.” He was given the opportunity to study in Paris in 1920. There, he enrolled at the Academie Julian and exhibited in the Paris Salon in 1922. Upon his return to Canada, he was elected an associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1925. "Cabbies, Old Montreal" is one of Pilot’s quintessential inhabited scenes of Quebec, depicting a bustling scene of horse-drawn cabs in Montreal’s Old Port. “He generally excluded the new world from his record–there is, for example, a noticeable absence of automobiles in his compositions,” notes Prakash. “Rather, his paintings convey a precise image of a world that was soon to disappear.” "Cabbies, Old Montreal" depicts a glimpse into another era, when Montreal was still a horse-dependent society. 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.