James Edward Hervey MacDonald 1873 - 1932

Waldorf Galleries, Montreal

Private Collection, Montreal

This work is in excellent condition with no apparent issues under UV.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

MacDonald's acute sensitivity to what he, as a transcendental thinker, poet and artist would have called the 'spiritual' aspect of nature, has found the epitome of power in this subject and in his masterful treatment of it.

A fast approaching summer storm of great strength and magnitude fills each of us with awe and apprehension. Seeing a solid wall of black clouds advancing ominously across Lake Simcoe gave MacDonald a highly dramatic image that he has caught with exceptional accuracy. Of all the oil sketches he has done on the subject of extreme weather, this one must rank among the very finest of his career.

The tiny but prominent red canoe, its paddlers making anxiously for safe haven, is dwarfed and about to be engulfed by the threatening landscape. The image itself is a powerful anecdote, although it is through works like these that MacDonald was able to explore and comment on the relationship between himself and the land. The near insignificance of humans in what was then close to raw wilderness must have been foremost in his mind when he painted this.