HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
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194 LIONEL LEMOINE FITZGERALD CGP G7 MSA 1890 ~ 1956
Winter Landscape with Trees oil on canvas, signed and dated 1921 11 1/8 x 14 1/8 in, 28.3 x 35.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Loch Mayberry Fine Art Inc., Winnipeg Private Collection, Toronto By descent to the present Private Collection, Ontario
L ITERATURE : Ferdinand Eckhardt et al, L.L. Fitzgerald, 1890 ~ 1956, A Memorial Exhibition, National Gallery of Canada, 1958, unpaginated Winnipeg~based Lemoine FitzGerald had ties with the Group of Seven ~ Lawren Harris and A.Y. Jackson corresponded with him, and Group members visited him when they passed through Manitoba. He was
invited to contribute works to two shows with the Group in 1930, subsequently becoming a member of the Group in 1932 when J.E.H. MacDonald died. FitzGerald’s affinity with the Group can be clearly seen in this fine landscape, with its brilliance of light, sensitive treatment of the lacey patterns of bare branches and delicate colouration in the snow, especially the blue and mauve notes of the shadows. His feeling for his province was formed during summers on his grandmother’s farm in southern Manitoba and years of exploring an area of the Prairie near his home now known as Stevenson Field. His point of view was reverent and reflective, and he wrote of his “appreciation for the endlessness of the living force which seems to pervade and flow through all natural forms, even though these seem on the surface to be so ephemeral.” FitzGerald worked slowly, making works like this stunning winter landscape rare.
E STIMATE : $18,000 ~ 24,000