Dark Pool, Georgian Bay, 1944

The Artist
The Fine Art Galleries, T. Eaton Co., Toronto, January 1946-September 1947 (Eaton Inventory no. L39)
Signy Hildur Stefansson (Mrs. John D. Eaton), Toronto, 1947
Henry Eugene Sellers, Winnipeg (1886-1970)
By descent to Edward A. Sellers (1916-1985), Winnipeg/Toronto
By descent to the present Private Collection, Kingston/Ottawa

Arthur Lismer, The Fine Art Galleries, T. Eaton Co., Toronto, January-July 1946, no. 39 as Dark Pool, Georgian Bay at $260
Arthur Lismer Paintings 1913-1949, Art Gallery of Toronto; travelling to National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Art Association of Montreal and the Vancouver Art Gallery, 13 January-4 September 1950, no. 46 as Dark Pool, Georgian Bay (loaned by Mrs. John D. Eaton)

T. Eaton Co. Fine Art Galleries Correspondence, Files 1-9, Arthur Lismer and Marjorie Bridges Fonds, Art Gallery of Toronto
Arthur Lismer Paintings 1913-1949, Toronto/Ottawa, 1950, reproduced page 22, plate 12, no. 46 as Dark Pool, Georgian Bay, 1944
John A.B. McLeish, September Gale: A Study of Arthur Lismer of the Group of Seven, London, 1955, reproduced page 181 as Dark Pool, Georgian Bay (collection of Mrs. John D. Eaton, Toronto)
Lois Darroch, Bright Land: A Warm Look at Arthur Lismer, Toronto/Vancouver, 1981, page 15
Dennis Reid, Canadian Jungle: The Later Work of Arthur Lismer, Toronto, 1985, page 42

Arthur Lismer’s contribution to Canadian art was vast, comprising his capacities both as an exceptional artist and a visionary art educator. In 1940, Lismer moved to Montreal to join the Art Association of Montreal and became an assistant professor at McGill University in 1945. During this period, Lismer took regular summer sketching trips to Georgian Bay. The distinct vistas of Georgian Bay represented a return to Lismer’s artistic roots. The artist had painted there extensively during the formative period of the Group of Seven. Along with Frederick Varley, Lismer had been invited by Dr. James MacCallum to spend time at his cottage on Go Home Bay in the fall of 1913 and spring of 1915. Lismer’s early response to the location had been one of joyful enthusiasm. He wrote, “Georgian Bay! Thousands of islands, little and big, some of them mere rocks just breaking the surface of the Bay—others with great, high rocks tumbled in confused masses and crowned with leaning pines, turned away in ragged disarray from the west wind, presenting a strange pattern against the sky and water. Georgian Bay—the happy of isles, all different, but bound together in a common unity of form, colour and design. It is a paradise for painters.” 

In August of 1944, the artist visited Temagami, then travelled to Manitou Dock, as he had the previous summer. Lismer’s later ink sketches and oil paintings of Georgian Bay demonstrate his masterful ability and a newfound ease. Art historian Dennis Reid observed, “This new sense of stability in his life is increasingly apparent in the confidence we can see in Lismer’s work. During the early forties in particular he developed his brush technique in ink in ways that reveal not only his characteristic sense of mass and expressive line, but a vital exuberance of spirit and a growing sense of scale that raises these studies of fragments of landscape to a level approaching the heroic.” 

Dark Pool, Georgian Bay features the iconic imagery the region is well-known for—the distinct, immense boulders of the Canadian Shield, and the graceful, sweeping pines. Painted in bold forms, strong outlines, and crisp colours, the composition is dramatic. The bright red of the sumac in the foreground directs the viewer’s gaze into the picture. The orange foliage complements the green pines. At left, lily pads dot the subtly-painted reflections on the water. Lismer has aptly captured the strong, clear light of the scene.

According to letters between Arthur Lismer and Richard Van Valkenburg of The Fine Art Galleries, T. Eaton Co., Dark Pool, Georgian Bay is recorded as being in their care for exhibition and sale beginning in January 1946. The painting was presented in an exhibition at Eaton's illustrious gallery, and a sale was potentially in play as Van Valkenburg shared in a letter dated February 5th, 1946. The painting was then purchased by Signy Hildur Stefansson in 1947. Signy, wife of John David Eaton (President of Eaton's from 1942 to 1969), was an art collector. Works by Marc Chagall, Georges Roualt and Jean Paul Riopelle were displayed in their Dunvegan house in Toronto. Henry Eugene Sellers of Winnipeg then acquired Lismer's Dark Pool, Georgian Bay. Sellers served as President of Federal Grain Limited from 1931 to 1955 and was heavily involved in Winnipeg's cultural and charitable sectors.