signed, titled, dated 1980, numbered 38/50 in the lower margin
31.75 × 19.75 in (80.6 × 50.2 cm) (plate)
(including Buyer's Premium)
Gallery Moos, 1984
Private Collection, Ontario
William Gough, David Blackwood: Master Printmaker, Vancouver/Toronto, 2001, a similar work illustrated page 108
Gary Michael Dault, “Ice and Fire: An Interview with David Blackwood” in Katharine Lochnan, Black Ice: David Blackwood, Prints of Newfoundland, Toronto, 2011, page 37, a similar work illustrated no. 71
Alexa Greist, David Blackwood: Myth & Legend, Toronto, 2025, a similar work illustrated page 47
David Blackwood was born in Wesleyville, on the coast of Bonavista Bay, in Newfoundland. Following his studies at the Ontario College of Art, Blackwood launched his decades- long career. The National Gallery of Canada purchased etchings by the artist when he was only twenty-three years old. Awarded the Order of Canada in 1993, Blackwood is now celebrated as one of the country's most acclaimed printmakers.
Blackwood's most famous etching Fire Down on the Labrador depicts a terrifying maritime disaster, with a ship aflame and the crew fleeing aboard a small lifeboat. However, the picture is utterly dominated by the enormous whale submerged in the icy waters and visible to the viewer but not to the fishermen. Here, the human scene is dwarfed by immense, unfathomable forces of nature. Blackwood has based this work on a narrative with personal roots. Raised in a seafaring Newfoundland family, both the artist's father and grandfather were ship captains. Blackwood was aware of the myriad perils facing mariners.
Speaking with Gary Michael Dault in 2010, the artist discussed his most celebrated image, noting the immense risk which fire presented at sea, a grease fire in the galley posing a serious threat which could quickly escalate to catastrophic destruction and the crew being at the mercy of an unforgiving sea. "And then you'd be facing the worst possible scenario, the thing that was the greatest fear of all- to be caught in the Labrador Sea all alone, and having to abandon... So in my print 'Fire Down on the Labrador,' it's the ultimate disaster that I'm depicting - to be caught in that environment, and having to abandon ship."
