Sold for: $43,250

PROVENANCE
Masters Gallery Ltd., Calgary
Private Collection, Calgary

A crucial element of Impressionism’s emergence in Europe was Japonisme, a French term describing the flood of Japanese influence into Western art following the ending of the 220-year Japanese cultural policy of sakoku (“closed country”) in 1853. Artists such as Whistler, Manet, Degas, and van Gogh were inspired by the decorative flatness, patterning and fluidity of Japanese watercolours and woodblocks by artists like Katsushika Hokusai, which would radically change how their art was made and perceived.

Franklin Carmichael’s studies in Brussels would have exposed him to how Japonisme manifested in Impressionism prior to his return to Toronto at the outbreak of World War I, and its influence can be sensed in this work. As depicted on this rare, early 8 x 10 ½ inch board, the organic patterns of the foreground screen of trees contrasts with the more generalised depth of the rest of the forest. The diffuse visual effect of his gestural application of paint in classic Impressionist pinks, purples, and blues shows how Carmichael and his contemporaries synthesised global influence into a new style of Canadian painting.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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