Lot 100
HENRI LEOPOLD MASSON
Additional Images
Provenance:
Collection of H.S. Southam, Ontario
Galerie D’Art Vincent, Ottawa
Private Collection, Montreal
Literature:
Donald C. Robinson, A Tribute to Henri Masson, Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto, 1981.
Note:
Like many artists of his generation, Masson struggled with material success supporting himself and his family with employment as an engraver. However, according to the artist's Toronto dealer, Masson's fortune changed in the early 1940s when he was discovered by H.S. Southam, in whose collection this painting once was. Chairman of the Trustees of the National Gallery of Canada and publisher of the Ottawa Citizen, Southam became Masson's biggest patron, eventually acquiring hundreds of paintings by the artist. This patronage allowed Masson to take up painting full-time in 1945.