Lot 178: Maurice Galbraith Cullen 1866 - 1934 Canadian oil

Maurice Galbraith Cullen 1866 - 1934 Canadian oil on canvas Evening Glow, Near Lac Tremblant 24 1/4 x 32 1/4 inches 61.6 x 81.9 centimeters signed and on verso titled on the Watson Art Galleries label and certified by Cullen Inventory #1032 Literature:Paul Duval, Canadian Impressionism, 1990, page 42 Provenance:Watson Art Galleries, Montreal, 1926 Acquired from the above exhibition by George McDougall, Montreal Private Estate, Ontario Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, May 25, 2006, lot 68 Private Collection, Vancouver Exhibited:Watson Art Galleries, Montreal, Fourth Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Pastels by Maurice Cullen, RCA and Robert Pilot, ARCA, January 18 - 30, 1926, priced at $750, catalogue #6 By 1926, Maurice Cullen's great series of Laurentian landscapes had reached its apogee. Evening Glow, Near Lac Tremblant is a salient example of the winter scenes produced by the artist in the 1920s, landscapes that eloquently captured both the essence and ephemeral characteristics of the area around Lac Tremblant. Cullen's connection to the Laurentians was profound and prevailing, born of many solitary sketching excursions taken along the shores of Lac Tremblant and the Cache River, and the artist's deeply felt experiences of this wild and sentient nature. In the early 1920s Cullen built a painting cabin on the shores of Lac Tremblant, making concrete an attachment described as being "as passionate as that of Monet's to Giverny". Significantly, Evening Glow, Near Lac Tremblant was exhibited at William Watson's art gallery, then located on St. Catherine Street, the same year it was produced. This exquisite painting may be said to encapsulate the very essence of Cullen's unique oeuvre. In its fluency of form and gentle, glimmering luminosity, the work evokes the grand, sensorial dimension of the natural world in flux. At once sparse and sumptuous, Evening Glow, Near Lac Tremblant quietly conveys the fullness of the moment as day turns to dusk. The stillness of the lake, almost abstracted in its articulation, the enveloping low light, and the tranquil drama of the sunset unfolding on the horizon, combine to evoke a scene of charged and timeless serenity.