Loss of the Flora S. Nickerson by David Lloyd Blackwood
David Blackwood
Loss of the Flora S. Nickerson
etching and aquatint
signed, titled, dated 1993 and numbered 8/75 in the lower margin
33 x 21 in ( 83.8 x 53.3 cm )
Auction Estimate: $10,000.00 - $15,000.00
Price Realized $21,600.00
Sale date: November 27th 2024
Private Collection, St. John's, Newfoundland
In his signature grand narrative style, Blackwood's aquatint etching "Loss of the Flora S. Nickerson" poses questions of one's scope and scale within their environment. The rich monochromatic blue pigments of this work highlight a dramatic tone to the story unfolding.
The whale in the foreground arches protectively around the younger. In the distance, the Flora S. Nickerson flounders in the unforgiving waters as its crew and passengers row to safety. The sorrow of the loss is ingrained in the solemn down-turned expressions of the men aboard the lifeboat. Mirroring what is taking place below water, a father protectively holds his young boy above water. The sublime power of the composition highlights the notion of one's mortality within a moment of loss, compassion and comfort.
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David Lloyd Blackwood
(1941 - 2022) OSA, RCA, Order of Canada
Born in Wesleyville, Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland, one of the major sealing towns of that province, he is a descendant of a long line of master mariners. Blackwood was awarded a Government of Newfoundland Centennial scholarship to study at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto under Carl Schaefer, John Alfsen, H.W.G. MacDonald and Frederick Hagan. He went on to become Art Master at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario. In 1969, Blackwood became the first artist-in-residence at Erindale College, University of Toronto, Mississauga.
David Blackwood uses his background on the East coast of Canada to create grande visual narratives reflecting both the landscape and culture of the province with an emphasis on combining the history, legends, and myths of settlement and developing culture of Newfoundland. He is best-known for his colour etchings with aquatint. His work was used to provide illustrations for Farley Mowat’s “Wake of the Great Sealers”, a collection of stories about the heroic Newfoundlanders who braved the icy seas of the treacherous North Atlantic in search of seals. Driven by hard times at home it was the only hope many of the men had of making money to feed their families. Men perished when their ships went down during wintry gales. Blackwood, a native of a sealing town himself, and a descendent of fishing skippers and sealing captains, provides Mowat’s stirring text with equally stirring and poetic figurative drawings and prints.
Blackwood was awarded the Order of Canada in 1993 in recognition of his work contributing to and preserving the cultural life and heritage of Canada through his artwork. At the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Blackwood Research Centre within the Morin Gelber Print and Drawing Centre was created after a major acquisition of the artists works in 2000. The museum also elected Blackwood as its honourary Chairman in 2003, the first practicing artist to hold this position. In the same year, he was awarded the Order of Ontario.
As one of Canada's most celebrated print-makers, David Blackwood's works are part of significant Canadian and international private and corporate collections including The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada.
Sources: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume I: A-F", compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1977
