Lot 81
MARC-AURÈLE FORTIN, A.R.C.A.
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal
Literature:
Charles C. Hill, Canadian Painting in the Thirties, National Gallery of Canada (exhibition catalogue), Ottawa, 1975, page 115.
Note:
Having studied art in Montreal and Chicago, Marc-Aurèle Fortin first earned notice for his energetic and colourful landscapes which depicted the countryside around his home village of Sainte-Rose. Returning there in 1935 after a brief sojourn in France, Fortin spent four decades tirelessly depicting the hilly countryside and tiny hamlets nearby in addition to scenes of the Gaspé and Saguenay regions.
The vibrant shades of Countryside Valley correspond to a heightened interest in rich colours which also accompanied Fortin upon return from France. The best of these pictures were completed before 1945, and their bold, pure colour, along with the intensity inherent in his heavy-handed drawing make the Sainte-Rose landscapes some of the artist’s most beautiful and accomplished.
For Charles C. Hill, the importance of the artist lay in the fact that he “transformed the landscape into an expression of a national identity” in a way that was less vocal and more self-assured than his peers. While Fortin saw himself as an adherent to academic traditions, his signature use of vivid pigments made him stand out as one of the most progressive artists of the 1920s.