Provenance
Walter Stewart, Toronto
By descent to a Private Collection
Joyner / Waddington’s, May 27, 2008, lot 112
Private Collection, Toronto

Canadian Art at the turn of the 20th century was defined by the pilgrimage of aspiring young painters to the venerable art schools of Europe. When combined with extensive travels, these sojourns were an essential step for all artists wishing to be recognized as professional, established artists. Their travels coincided with the rise and proliferation of Impressionism in France and beyond, a movement that encouraged artists to focus on their immediate surroundings and experiences. From 1905 to 1913, the Montreal-born painter A.Y. Jackson (1882–1974) undertook three such trips to Europe to witness Impressionism first-hand.

Jackson’s first trip abroad followed his formative training under William Brymner at the Art Association of Montreal. Brymner’s teaching and the exposure to the Impressionist works of an earlier generation of Canadian painters – namely Maurice Cullen, Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté and James Wilson Morrice – reinforced Jackson’s desire to travel abroad. As a result, in the summer of 1905 Jackson earned free passage by working as a labourer on a cross-Atlantic cattle ship. After brief visits to London, Paris, and the World’s Fair in Liège, he travelled back to Canada determined to return to Europe as soon as possible.