Green and Gold by Albert Henry Robinson

Provenance:
Peter Dobush, Montreal
Collection of The Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1965

Exhibited:
"The Peter Dobush Donation", Winnipeg Art Gallery, 16 November- 1 December 1965
"Development of Canadian Art: 1900-1965", Winnipeg Art Gallery, 18 January-23 March 1975
"Canadian Art from the Permanent Collection, 1820-1919", Winnipeg Art Gallery, 16 October-21 December 1976
"Canadian Impressionism from the Permanent Collection", Winnipeg Art Gallery, 23 December 1976-9 January 1977
"Circa 1900: Selections from the Winnipeg Art Gallery Collection 1880- 1910", Winnipeg Art Gallery, 9 May-27 July 1980
"The Canadian Landscape", Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2 December 1980- 7 June 1981
"Some Canadian Landscape Painters from the Winnipeg Art Gallery Collection", Winnipeg Art Gallery, 10 October 1981-28 February 1982
"Founders’ Exhibition: The Peter Dobush Donation", Winnipeg Art Gallery, 26 April-7 July 1985

Literature:
Thomas R. Lee, "Albert H. Robinson: The Painter’s Painter", Montreal, 1956, unpaginated

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Albert Robinson left Canada to pursue academic training in Paris in 1903, where he studied at the Académie Julian under William Bouguereau and at the École des beaux-arts. Having received formal European training, Robinson would remain faithful to his Canadian roots, returning to paint the rural landscapes of Ontario and Quebec for the remainder of his career alongside Clarence Gagnon, Edwin Holgate, and A.Y. Jackson.

With the support of two patrons in 1907, Robinson relocated to Montreal, where he established his studio and met with prominent artists William Brymner and Maurice Cullen. Robinson exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts from 1909 to 1933 and then with the Canadian Group of Painters of which he was a founding member. Robinson was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1920, the same year in which he participated as a guest artist at the inaugural exhibition of the Group of Seven in Toronto.

Robinson was once described as “a colourist of the first order” by Group of Seven member Arthur Lismer. “His art is the colourful expression of daily life, full of charm, devoid of sentimentality, a thoroughly sincere painter who sees life with a gay, simple philosophy, as a colourful arrangement of little towns poised on a hillside... all the lyrical environment of the French-Canadian,” wrote Lismer. Robinson’s "Green and Gold", 1909 serves as a brilliant example of the artist’s unique use of brushstroke and colour to convey atmosphere in an impressionistic way. Indeed, the subject of the work is reflected light as the sunset illuminates the clouds above, eliciting shimmering reflections across the surface of the water. Sketches such as this were produced "en plein air", an important tenet of the Impressionist movement which greatly influenced Robinson. The sense of an evanescent moment in nature quickly captured on the canvas is a tribute to Robinson’s skill as a master landscape painter.

This artwork is being sold to benefit the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)-Qaumajuq in establishing an endowment fund to support more diverse representation in the permanent collection, beginning with contemporary Canadian art. Cowley Abbott is pleased to donate our selling commission to the fund as part of the sale.