Lot 192: Nora Frances Elizabeth Collyer 1898 - 1979

Nora Frances Elizabeth Collyer 1898 - 1979 Canadian oil on board Hills, Back of Cap-à-l'Aigle, PQ 11 7/8 x 14 inches 30.2 x 35.6 centimeters signed and on verso signed, titled twice, dated 1947 and inscribed ""Apt. 29, 3400 Ridgewood Ave., Montreal"" Provenance:By descent to the present Private Collection, Vancouver Nora Collyer was a member of the influential Beaver Hall Group that formed in 1920 and officially disbanded two years later. Like many of its members, she particularly enjoyed sketching in the Quebec countryside. Her first sketching trips were with teacher Maurice Cullen, whom she met at the Art Association of Montreal, and it was on these trips that her characteristic quiet rhythm and soft shapes began to emerge. This work takes us to one of her favourite spots, nestled against the base of the hills in Cap-à-l'Aigle in Quebec. There is wonderful visual interest in this piece - the aging, dipped roof of the barn, the cluster of houses at the right, the zig-zag of the fence line and varying colors of the fields terraced up the hill. By 1947, as inscribed on verso, she was living at 3400 Ridgewood Avenue in Montreal with her longtime companion Margaret Reid. However, she would frequently return to the picturesque Cap-à-l'Aigle, and her affection for the area is clearly manifested in this charming work.