Provenance:

Mayberry Fine Art, Winnipeg.
Private Collection, Ontario.

Literature:

Sean T. Cadigan, “The Newfoundland of David Blackwood: A Historical Setting”, Black Ice: David Blackwood, Prints of Newfoundland, Toronto, 2011, page 75.

William Gough, David Blackwood, Master Printmaker, Vancouver/Toronto, 2001, pages 104.

Note:

In “Black Ice”, Sean T. Cadigan illustrates the role which Blackwood’s immediate family and their sailing vessel played in the fishery industry: “Over the course of Wesleyville’s involvement in the Labrador fishery, about 175 men served as captains of ships, mostly schooners, that plied the waters off Labrador. Such was the calling of David Blackwood’s grandfather, Captain Albert Blackwood, and his father, Captain Edward Blackwood, with whom David Blackwood sailed to Labrador as a young man on their schooner, the Flora S. Nickerson.”

William Gough notes that for “…Blackwood growing up, Labrador and the Flora S. Nickerson were always connected. The image of her stayed, vivid newly outfitted in springtime, heading bravely for Labrador, then sliding back into home port in the fall, sails worn, the look of a hard summer’s voyage upon her. The sighting of sails full against the clouds, the look of a bone curve of wave in the teeth of the prow that brought the Flora S. Nickerson home. Perched on a rock, leaning into the earth, David would watch the boat, crisp against the day, and dream of the time when he’d head to the Labrador.”