Lot 29
FRANK HANS JOHNSTON, O.S.A., A.R.C.A.
Lot 29 Details
FRANK HANS JOHNSTON, O.S.A., A.R.C.A.
THE CATHEDRAL
oil on panel
with an inscription on the reverse by Frances-Anne Johnston (the artist’s daughter) authenticating this painting
8.5 ins x 6 ins; 21.6 cms x 15.2 cms
Estimate $10,000-$15,000
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Winnipeg
Literature:
Joan Murray, McMichael Canadian Art Collection: One Hundred Masterworks, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, 2016, p. 104.
Note:
Frank Hans (Franz) Johnston (1888-1949) likened his time spent in nature to a spiritual experience, providing an opportunity for contemplative meditation. Sketching en plein air nurtured a reverence for the beauty and grandeur of the natural world which he reflected soulfully in little sketches like this lot.
During his second famous boxcar sketching trip to Algoma in the autumn of 1919 with J.E.H. MacDonald, Lawren Harris and A.Y. Jackson, Johnston noted the splendour of the changing weather and its impact on the natural environment. In a letter to his wife, Johnston seems captivated by the trees. Like the birch trees illustrated in this painting, he describes the spruce he saw as “aspiring up like cathedrals.”