Quebec Winter, 1925

Walter Klinkhoff Gallery, Montreal Masters Gallery, Calgary Private Collection

A.K. Prakash, "Impressionism in Canada: A Journey of Rediscovery", Stuttgart, 2015, pages 621 and 632

Similar to his stepfather Maurice Cullen, Robert Pilot's most renowned work focuses on the villages and towns of Quebec and eastern Canada. Pilot’s poetic compositions share the same search for identity that motivated J.W. Morrice, Clarence Gagnon and Albert Robinson - his Quebec predecessors and counterparts. Pilot preferred to paint the landscape of Quebec, which he often frequented, recording the local conditions of the time and of people co-existing with nature. A.K. Prakash, describing the work for which Pilot received accolades throughout his life, says that through his work, the painter “offered his own interpretation of the Canadian landscape, one he handled with great visual clarity and sharp focus. Although he painted many charming subjects throughout Canada, Spain, Morocco, England, France, and Italy, it was the countryside and the urban life of old Quebec that were his preferred subjects – as they had been for Cullen, Suzor-Coté, and Gagnon before him.” The warmth and gentle brushstrokes of "Quebec Winter" are synonymous with the celebrated painter’s ability to depict the province’s landscape with great charm and artistry. The painting was completed shortly after Pilot returned from an extended stay in France. His work took on Impressionist influences after he visited the artists’ colony at Concarneau. The many pastel grey, blue and pink tones of the sky and snow in "Quebec Winter" recall the work of the European Impressionists; however, Pilot has applied these methods to a wintry subject that remains quintessentially Canadian.