Estimated Price:

CAD55,000 - CAD75,000

Realised Price:

CAD87,750

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James Edward Hervey (J.E.H.) MacDonald 1873 - 1932 Canadian oil on board Open Bush, Algoma 8 1/8 x 10 3/8 inches 20.6 x 26.3 centimeters signed and on verso signed twice, titled and dated 1920 twice Literature:Paul Duval, The Tangled Garden, 1978, pages 85 and 87 Provenance:Estate of J.J. Vaughan, Toronto Kaspar Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto J.E.H. MacDonald first saw Algoma on the famous boxcar trips taken on the Algoma Central Railway with fellow Group of Seven members in 1918 and 1919. In 1920, MacDonald returned there in both the spring and autumn. From his first sight of this country, he was ecstatic about it, impressed by the rugged beauty of its rivers, waterfalls, ancient trees and striking rock formations. His poetic imagination was fired by this Canadian Eden, and he eloquently described a walk through the Agawa Canyon: "On a fine day, such as this, the canyon seems to lead upwards, and has all the attributes of an imagined Paradise.....There are beautiful waterfalls on all sides, and the finest trees - spruce, elm and pine. It is a Shelly-like kind of place and certainly would make a great background for gods and goddesses, either white or red." Algoma was MacDonald's spiritual home, and his inspired work there indelibly identified him with it, stirring fellow Group member A.Y. Jackson to write, "What Thomson was to the Algonquin country, MacDonald was to Algoma." Algoma unleashed a new confidence in MacDonald, and his oil sketches, produced on the spot, were painted with a brush loaded with brilliant colour. Open Bush, Algoma, MacDonald's observation of hills and sky through a living wall of brush and trees, saturated with rich greens and golds, is a fine example of his Algoma landscapes.