Été de la St Martin, Baie St. Paul, 1922 (circa)
12 x 18 cm
Inscriptions
signed with the artist's thumbprint (verso, upper right); titled, dated, numbered, and certified by Lucile Rodier Gagnon, ‘Été de la St. Martin. / Baie st. Paul. (vers 1922.) / 320 / Lucile Rodier Gagnon.’ (verso, Clarence A. Gagnon Inventory label)Provenance
Estate of the Artist
Mrs. Lucile Rodier Gagnon, widow of the artist
Laing Galleries, Toronto
Continental Galleries, Montreal
Private collection, Westmount, Quebec
By descent to the present private collection, Westmount, Quebec
Été de la St. Martin, Baie St. Paul reflects Clarence Gagnon’s deep connection to the Charlevoix region, where he spent much of the early 1920s. In this painting, a home is perched above Baie St. Paul in the foreground, with a perspective looking northward toward the hills that rise beyond the town. These hills lead to St. Hilarion and Cap aux Corbeaux to the northeast, on the right. The town of Baie St. Paul itself lies just outside the frame, on the flat plain in the middle ground to the right.
This sketch, painted around 1922, showcases Gagnon’s sensitive handling of light and colour to capture the serene relationship between human settlement and nature. During his time in Baie-Saint-Paul, Gagnon produced a significant body of work that solidified his reputation as a master of Canadian landscape painting in a personal adaptation of Impressionism.
