Additional Images

Provenance:

Private Collection, Nova Scotia

Literature:

John Whyte and E.J. Hart, Carl Rungius: Painter of the Western Wilderness, Douglas & McIntyre/The Glenbow-Alberta Institute, Toronto/Calgary, 1985, page 4 and page 129 for Lake O’Hara (collection of the National Gallery of Canada), reproduced in colour.

Note:

Carl Rungius’s artistic legacy combines a passion for the game animals of North America, the lifestyle of the wild west, and the heart of the Canadian Rockies.

Just before the turn of the 20th century, Rungius transitioned from a life of academic training in Germany to a position as a sporting magazine illustrator in the United States. This move to the west inspired Rungius to artistically express his love for animals and nature. A keen draughtsman who could depict animals in fine shaded detail, Rungius would often trek into wild terrain with the aim of both hunting and painting the animals he admired. Here he happily roamed, executing powerful paintings of the North American wilderness.

It was a visit to the Canadian Rockies in 1910 that transformed Rungius as a painter. The inspiration he derived from this rugged back country resulted in the development of new techniques, a change in palette and creation of works that reflect the true artistic freedom Rungius felt in this setting. As a result, he began alternating between summers in Banff, Alberta and winters in New York City.

Study for Lake O’Hara was executed during Rungius’s two-decade quest for wilderness, reflecting his passion for nature in vibrant brushstrokes and an effervescent creation of colour, light and shadow. Originally, chalk drafting lines could be seen on the canvas surface - the mark of a meticulous draughtsman. Rungius executed this sketch in preparation for the canvas, Lake O’Hara, which is now in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada (Figure 1).

Adept at recreating the depth, pattern and detail of the landscape before him, Rungius distinguished his artwork with a sense that “light suffuses the paintings as though nature itself glows in everything.”