Sleighs in Winter, Quebec, 1925 (circa)

Tempera

17 1/2 x 35 1/2 in
44.5 x 90.2 cm

View in a Room

Sold

Inscriptions

signed, ‘SARAH M. ROBERTSON’ (lower right)

Provenance

Private collection, England
Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal
Private collection, Toronto

Galerie Alan Klinkhoff, Montreal

Private collection, Toronto

Exhibitions

This work may have been exhibited in 1925 at Wembley Park, London, in the British Empire Exhibition, Canadian Fine Arts Section, as Going to Mass.

Montreal, Galerie Alan Klinkhoff, The Beaver Hall Group and the Klinkhoff Family, Montreal, 20-31 October 2015; Toronto, 3-14 November 2015, exhibited as Sleighs in Winter, Quebec, 1927 (circa).

Literature

Galerie Alan Klinkhoff, The Beaver Hall Group and the Klinkhoff Family (Montreal: Galerie Alan Klinkhoff, 2015), 18 [reproduced].

Of the Beaver Hall Group women who maintained their friendship for the better part of 30 years, Sarah Robertson was conceivably the least prolific, making fine paintings by her especially rare and precious for Beaver Hall Group collectors. Robertson had only two solo exhibitions, both held posthumously: the first was a Memorial Exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada in 1951, and the second occurred at Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., in 1991, marking the 100th anniversary of Robertson's birth.

Dr. Barbara Meadowcroft, author of Painting Friends, The Beaver Hall Women Painters published an insightful biography of Sarah Robertson for the 1991 Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc, Sarah Robertson Retrospective Exhibition.

"In 1920 a group of [William] Brymner’s students, past and present, banded together to form the Beaver Hall Hill Group. Undoubtedly, the example of the Toronto-based Group of Seven, which held its first exhibition in May 1920, provided a powerful incentive to the Montreal artists. Encouraged by A.Y. Jackson, whom they elected president, the Beaver Hall artists held their first annual exhibition at their studios on Beaver Hall Hill. Both The Gazette and La Presse gave generous coverage to the vernissage, which took place January 17, 1921. In his opening speech, Jackson emphasized the right of the artist to paint what he feels. "Schools and ‘isms’ do not trouble us," Jackson maintained, "individual expression is our chief concern."

Sarah Robertson was at the hub of the group. She was, in Anne Savage’s words, "a bureau of information for her friends – who would come to her for help and discussion... concerning their work." Prudence Heward, in particular, relied on Sarah’s criticism and always showed her paintings to Sarah before anyone else.

Sarah’s paintings reflect her capacity to charge "every tiny experience with an intense emotional ecstasy." She loved nature and that love is expressed in her work. But she was no slavish imitator. As Lismer remarked of Sarah’s work in 1934, "she has the courage to create landscapes, and not copy them literally."

______________________

Footnote:

Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc, Sarah Robertson Retrospective Exhibition (Montreal: Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., 1991).