Additional Images

Provenance:

Private Collection, Toronto, ON;
By descent to the present Private Collection, Dunchurch, ON

Literature:

Cassandra L. Zeppieri, ‘The Painter Who Uses a Camera: An Analysis of the Photographs of Frank “Franz” Johnston: Providing a Comprehensive Catalogue for the Collection Housed at the Archive of Modern Conflict,” (master’s thesis, Ryerson University [now, Toronto Metropolitan University], 1 Jan 2015, doi:10.32920/ryerson.14664327.v2), vii, 32 repro. col., 80.
Sharona Adamowicz-Clements, “The Photographs of Frank (Franz) Johnston,” McMichael Magazine, issue 3 (Summer-Fall 2015): 25.

Note:

Before and after his time with the Group of Seven, Johnston was consistently enthusiastic for new ideas and methods.[1] This eventually led to a singular way of painting that put his work at odds with the Group’s robust expressivity, and so far ahead of his time that many are still catching up.

The first change was an adventurously experimental technique for portraying the play of light in which he alternated layers of opaque or translucent oil paint with clear natural varnish and heightened the whites and pale blues with a final layer of gouache or watercolour. The opaque, high-keyed colours appear to hover over the darker saturated glazes, giving these paintings their arresting luminosity. The second major change was that Johnston readily used photographic sources for his paintings.

Johnston’s fidelity to the unknown photographer’s Men in Canoes at Water’s Edge is significant, not absolute. Most obviously, Johnston modulated the reflection of light in the water, inserted grasses in bottom right, created cloud patterns in top left and, significantly, altered the attitudes and expressions of the first and third figures from the right so that they directly engage the viewer and share the humour of the moment.

The Rendezvous is a stunning achievement acquired directly from Johnston close to 100 years ago and passed through generations until it was consigned to Waddington’s along with lot 33, In Winter’s Embrace.

[1] “Johnston Never a Member of the Group of Seven,” The Toronto Star Weekly (11 Oct 1924): 6.

Waddington’s thanks Alison Douglas (Conservator, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON), for her insights and observations about the later paintings of Franz Johnston.

Supplementary Photo: Frank Hans (Franz) Johnston, Men in Canoes at Water’s Edge, ca. 1918-1926, gelatin silver print, 3.875 x 4.5 in. (8.8 x 11.6 cm), Private Collection.