The Green House, 1929

Loch Mayberry Fine Art, Winnipeg Private Collection, Manitoba Heffel, auction, Toronto, 21 November 2018, lot 131 Mayberry Fine Art, Winnipeg Private Collection, Vancouver

A.Y. Jackson spent much of his career travelling throughout Quebec, visiting small villages along the north and south shores of the St. Lawrence River. These small, rural towns attracted Jackson and his companions because they retained the traditional way of life during a time when society was becoming increasingly modernized and populous. Jackson created some of his most iconic works in these areas, capturing their charm and surrounding landscapes by painting directly on location. Sometimes he travelled alone, while other times he was accompanied by fellow artists. He often stayed with local families or in small hotels, where he was warmly welcomed by the predominantly Roman Catholic residents. Many of the locals spoke little English and had limited contact with the world beyond their close-knit communities. "The Green House" demonstrates Jackson’s strong sense of both colour and composition through its fluid, rhythmic lines of the snowy terrain, trees and hills, as well as the light green house and accents of aqua in the stream and sky. The artist painted from an elevated vantage point, perched on a hill looking at the village below. Recalling his many adventures in rural Quebec in his autobiography, A.Y. Jackson notes that, at the time, he had missed “only one season” in thirty years of painting in the region, caused by a teaching post at the Ontario College of Art.