Additional Images

Provenance:

Joyner Fine Art Inc., Canadian Art Auction, November 1987
Private Collection, U.S.A.

Literature:

William R. Watson, Maurice Cullen, R.C.A.: A Record of Struggle and Achievements, Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1931, pages 25-31.

Barry Lord, The History of Painting in Canada: Toward a People’s Art, NC Press, Toronto, 1974, pages 110 and 114.

Note:

Maurice Cullen, known as the father of Canadian Impressionism, studied in Paris from 1887 to 1895. When he first arrived there, it was his intention to master the practice of sculpture. However, he soon realized that he preferred to express himself in paint. Cullen's impasto brushstrokes are not without traces of sculptural technique, however, as we see in Winter Woods, Lac Tremblant.

Cullen achieved a degree of success while living in Europe, but upon returning to Montreal in 1895 found the Canadian market much more difficult to penetrate. It took a number of years for his work to attract any critical or popular attention.

In 1920, Cullen realized his dream “to have a studio of my own, a shack in the mountains, an acre for a garden and every winter heavy with snow,” when he purchased a cabin at Lac Tremblant in the Laurentians. Gradually, Cullen's landscapes began to gain favour among Canadian collectors. Ultimately, he exhibited often, and with great success.

Winter Woods, Lac Tremblant is a remarkable example of the mature work that emerged from this period. Cullen preferred to work with a limited palette; rarely using more than eight colours and blending his own hues on the canvas. He has been described as an outstanding craftsman who "believed strongly in keeping the colours as separate as possible to achieve the balance between vision and subject by means of a well-defined interplay of light and dark hues.”

Cullen Inventory No. 1472