LANDSCAPE ART IN CANADA 



winter. In the main his subjects are drawn from the same country as 

 those just mentioned, but his work differs in that it shows no very strong 

 leaning towards the decorative, but relies for its success on its individual 

 statement of form and colour. His Red Maple (p. 20), depicting 

 a maple-bush whose last blood-red leaves are silhouetted against a 

 turbulent forest stream, and his many fine impressions of winter snows 

 or the wild storms on the Georgian Bay, have a health and strength 

 characteristic of this will to express the primeval nature. 

 Arthur Lismer is progressing along the same road, and his Guide s 

 Home (p. 25), purchased by the National Gallery last year, shows a 

 truthful and characteristic study of a lonely hut of silvery weathered 

 wood, buried in the birches whose yellow autumn leaves flutter against 

 the deep blue sky. Then there is J. E. H. MacDonald (p. 26), who, 

 advancing through a period of subtly painted moonlight effects and low- 

 toned pictures, has recently burst into bright colour in such figures 

 as The Foot of the Rapid^ or his many studies of the wild winds and 

 clouds on the purple Georgian Bay. C. W. Simpson (p. 30), Stanley 

 Hewton, Ivan Neilson, Herbert Palmer, Harry Britton, Albert Robin- 

 son, A. Rosaire, and a number of others are each adding a distinctive 

 quota to the sum of this new Canadian landscape painting. 

 There are few women landscape painters in Canada although there are 

 a number of good figure painters. Helen McNicoll, who has re- 

 cently passed away in the early maturity of her powers, is almost as well 

 known in England as in Canada, having of late years exhibited success- 

 fully with the R.B. A. in London. Mabel May (p. 27) is perhaps the 

 strongest and most individualistic woman painter of the younger gen- 

 eration. She paints her landscapes and street scenes with both sincerity 

 and distinction, and is at her happiest when catching the spirit of a 

 crowd of emigrants waiting for the train, or a group of holiday-makers 

 watching a yacht race. Berthe and Alice DCS Clayes, recently from 

 England, are quickly realizing the possibilities of their new home and 

 greater things are expected from them. H.R.H. Princess Patricia of 

 Connaught, perhaps owing to her familiarity with Sweden and Scan- 

 dinavian art, quickly grasped the new spirit of Canadian landscape 

 painting, and exhibited a number of consistently successful pictures, 

 clear in colour and vigorous in execution, during her stay in Canada. 

 There is sincerity and an abounding enthusiasm in the work of these 

 painters ; they are working in response to the world-wide movement 

 towards colour and light ; and as in the last few years they have anni- 

 hiliated the last remnants of timid conservatism, so it cannot be too 

 much to hope that the next few will see definitely established a 

 Canadian school of landscape painting which will be one of the greatest 

 impulses in the national progress, and will compel the attention of both 

 public and dealer alike. ERIC BROWN 



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