Art canadien classique
Fig. 1. The south portal of Saint-Jacques de Dieppe (Normandy), seen from the paved space leading to it from Rue Sainte-Catherine. Image courtesy of Lucie Dorais.
Fig. 2. Morrice had painted the north portal twice, in rather dark tones (Private collection; and Mackenzie Art Gallery). Image courtesy of Lucie Dorais.
South Portal of Saint-Jacques de Dieppe, 1909 (circa)
15.3 x 12.3 cm
This work will be included in the James Wilson Morrice Catalogue Raisonné being compiled by Lucie Dorais.
Inscriptions
studio stamp, 'STUDIO J.W. MORRICE' (verso, middle); inscribed in white pencil, ‘GIVEN TO R / [NAME WITHHELD] AS A / WEDDING PRESENT / BY HIS GODMOTHER / AUNT ANNIE LAW’(verso, top); inscribed in ballpoint pen on a label, ‘Wedding gift to [redacted] / 1952 by his Godmother, Aunt / Annie Law. / A portal of the Cathedral of Quimper circa 1905-1906. / See #84. Sketch - page 78 / Montreal Collection. Gift E. & David Morrice / Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ (verso, bottom)Provenance
Estate of James Wilson Morrice
William Scott & Sons, executors of the Estate of J.W. Morrice, Montreal
Mrs. Alan G. Law (née Annie Morrice)
Wedding gift of the above to close friends, Westmount, Quebec, October, 1952
Estate of the above
Expositions
Alan Klinkhoff Gallery, James Wilson Morrice Retrospective Exhibition, Toronto from September 12 - 23, Montreal from September 26 - October 8, 2023, no. 31.James Wilson Morrice, South Portal of Saint-Jacques de Dieppe
by Lucie Dorais
This sunny view represents the south portal of Saint-Jacques de Dieppe (Normandy), seen from the paved space leading to it from Rue Sainte-Catherine (fig 1). The style of the gable, and the absence of a protecting roof over the porch, distinguish it from the north portal opening unto the busy Place Nationale and its market. Morrice had painted the north portal twice, in rather dark tones (Fig. 2).
Saint-Jacques is close to Dieppe’s avant-port, where the ferries to and from Britain docked; the Paris train conveniently brought travellers right to the quay. No doubt Morrice took this route many times on short trips to London, or en route to board a transatlantic at Southampton. His sketchbooks and other documents reveal many trips, including longer stays in June 1906 and September 1909. In June 1913, he visited the British painter Walter Richard Sickert at his new house near Dieppe. Sickert himself had painted Saint-Jacques many times, in series reminiscent of Monet’s Cathedrals, focusing on the west (main) facade, or the south portal seen between the two sides of Rue Pecquet. In 1907, he painted a rare sunny view from the left side (Musée des Beaux-arts de Rouen, loaned to the Château de Dieppe), and it is perhaps him who suggested the subject to Morrice. Being a rare one for the Canadian painter, it is harder to date this sketch.
Perhaps the foliage can help... The outlining in pencil is also found in 1909-10 drawings (Montreal MFA, Sketchbook #15); contemporary postcards, like the one above, show that the young trees remained staked for a few years before 1910. A stronger clue is the tree near the right border, which has already turned yellow, suggesting the 1909 trip: after working hard for the Salon d’Automne, Morrice went “to Dieppe to get a breath of air" (letter to Edmund Morris, “Dieppe Sept 14", AGO Archives, CAC Fonds), something he found on this sunny day.
Lucie Dorais
Ms. Dorais did her M.A. Thesis on the early life and career of James Wilson Morrice (Université de Montréal, 1980). She had a promising career at the National Archives of Canada. Now retired, she is considered by academics, collectors and art merchants to be a foremost scholar on James Wilson Morrice. Ms. Dorais continues to compile information on the artist, including the Catalogue Raisonné of his oeuvre.
