HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
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171 MAURICE GALBRAITH CULLEN AAM RCA 1866 ~ 1934
The Church at Sault~au~Récollet oil on canvas, signed and on verso titled on the Walter Klinkhoff gallery label and certified by Cullen Inventory #1123 15 x 18 in, 38.1 x 45.7 cm P ROVENANCE : Watson Art Galleries, Montreal Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal Private Collection,Toronto Maurice Cullen traveled to Paris when the French Impressionists were at the peak of their careers. He absorbed their use of fresh, bright colour and their practice of painting en plein air using brush~strokes that dissolved the solidity of their subject. On his return to Canada, Cullen championed painting out~of~doors and capturing the clear atmosphere of Quebec’s landscape. This captivating painting includes two subjects important to
Cullen: rivers in winter and Quebec’s traditional towns and cities ~ here a Montreal neighbourhood bordering on the Rivière des Prairies. His ability as an Impressionist is apparent in the softly brushed mauve and pink~beige in the sky, and its darker reflection in the river. Cullen’s treatment of rivers in winter was exquisite ~ his enduring theme of Laurentian rivers such as the Cache and the North is an important part of his oeuvre. The delicate colour notes in the ice and the green tones at its melting edges are finely handled, as is the still and poetic atmosphere of approaching twilight, making this an outstanding canvas by this important Canadian Impressionist.
E STIMATE: $20,000 ~ 30,000