Lot 313
James Edward Hervey (J.E.H.) MacDonald, OSA, RCA (1873-1932)
Lot 313 Details
James Edward Hervey (J.E.H.) MacDonald, OSA, RCA (1873-1932), Canadian
THORNHILL FIELDS, CA. 1925
oil on board
signed lower right; signed, titled, and dated verso; also titled to label verso
8.5 x 10.5 in — 21.6 x 26.7 cm
Estimate $20,000-$30,000
Additional Images
Provenance:
Collection of A.C. Kenny, Toronto, ON
The Art Emporium, Vancouver, BC
Private Collection, Toronto, ON
Note:
J.E.H. MacDonald’s eloquent and sensitive approach to art transcends the man of the woods caricature sometimes given to members of the Group of Seven. The three pastoral scenes on offer span 1910 to around 1925, a period prior to MacDonald’s friendship with Lawren S. Harris to the moment of the Group’s greatest effect and most notable successes. Together, the scenes illuminate moments in MacDonald’s career.
Thornhill Fields (ca. 1925), reflects a near transcendental pleasure of painting in its economy and focus. These three oil sketches by J.E.H. MacDonald summarize his artistic trajectory and painterly essence. From a finely rendered and detailed scene of a corner of a farm under a heavy horizon to a pastoral landscape under an expanding sky on a late summer day, MacDonald’s connection with nature was always finely honed and personal.
[1] C.W. Jefferys, “MacDonald’s Sketches,” The Lamps (Toronto, ON), vol. 1, no. 2 (December 1911), 12.
We thank Gregory Humeniuk, art historian, consultant and curator, for this essay.