Sold for: $37,250

PROVENANCE
Sir Casimir S. Gzowski, Toronto
Gavin L. Ogilvie, Montreal
By descent to the present Private Collection, Toronto

LITERATURE
Marius Barbeau, Cornelius Krieghoff: Pioneer Painter of North America, 1934, titled as Indian Woman, listed page 147
Dennis Reid, Krieghoff: Images of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1999, page 228, a similar circa 1855 painting entitled A Caughnawaga Woman, collection of the McCord Museum of Canadian History, reproduced page 167

EXHIBITED
Art Museum of Toronto, Paintings by Deceased Canadian Artists, 4th Loan Exhibition, January 24 - February 22, 1911, catalogue #138, loaned by Casimir Gzowski, Toronto

Cornelius Krieghoff devoted about a third of his oeuvre to the depiction of First Nations people, with subjects ranging from single figures such as this to complex tableau scenes. While living in Montreal in the 1850s, he observed the Indigenous moccasin and basket sellers from Caughnawaga who came to the city to ply their wares, and he often depicted them traveling in the surrounding landscape. This is an exceptional example of this genre with fine detail – the clay pipe, the layers of clothing made from blankets, hide moccasins, cradleboard and the distinctive dark hat with decorative band. The setting is striking and the composition picturesque: close to the woman as she traverses the path is a small pool and fall colours glowing in the vegetation, and she is highlighted against a panoramic view with a glowing sky. The woman looks directly at the viewer with a serious and somewhat enigmatic and appraising glance. Krieghoff’s view of Indigenous people was fundamentally romantic, and he saw their lives as mysterious. Dennis Reid wrote that “Krieghoff persevered in trying to penetrate a world he found foreign but irresistible.” Scenes such as these were particularly attractive to local merchants and the military men from Britain, who took them home as exotic reminders of their life in Canada.

Sir Casimir Gzowski, the first collector to possess this work, was a well-known engineer who moved to Canada in 1841 to work on the Welland Canal. In 1849, he was hired by the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad as chief engineer in charge of construction, and he oversaw the building of a rail line from Montreal to Sherbrooke. His contracting firm, C.S. Gzowski and Company, continued to work on rail projects, such as the Toronto & Guelph Railway. Gzowski was a founder of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers and became its first president, from 1889 to 1891. Sir Casimir Gzowski Park on Toronto's waterfront includes a monument to him.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars