Lot 172
CHARLES FRASER COMFORT, O.S.A., P.R.C.A.
Additional Images
Provenance:
Collection of Dr. Steven Demeter, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
Literature:
Margaret Gray, Margaret Rand and Lois Steen, Charles Comfort, Canadian Art Series, Agincourt, Ontario, 1976, page 57 and page 63, reproduced in colour.
Note:
Describing the painting as “remarkable,” “mystical” and a “beautiful example of Charles Comfort’s use of symbolism,” Gray, Rand and Steen, emphasize the study in contrasts that this painting embodies. Hard, cold rock is set against warm flesh; the new moon and the primeval stone sound off one another and the delicate tracery of light cast by the celestial body balances the deeply shadowed pools cliffside.
Comfort was a distinguished war artist, Emeritus Director of the National Gallery of Canada, champion of the Group of Seven and founding member (later President) of the Canadian Group of Painters. While his work is often overshadowed by his more famous Group colleagues, nonetheless, it is found in major collections throughout Canada.