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ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON
ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON
ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON
ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON
ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON
ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON
ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON
ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON
ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON
ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON
ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON

ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON

Lot Number:3181
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Start Time:4/10/2026 4:00:00 PM
End Time:4/20/2026 4:00:00 PM
Bid Count:0
Current High Bidder:
Starting Bid:$10,000.00
Bid Increment:$500.00
Current Bid:$10,000.00
Watching:28

Titled "Saint-Irénée, Quebec", signed lower right, also signed and dated March 1931 verso, oil on wood panel, 8 1/2 x 10 1/2in; inscribed "A.Y. Jackson, Studio Building, Severn St., Toronto" on the reverse, which was the home and working studio of several members of the Group of Seven at that time; the painting is housed in its original frame, which measures 15 1/4 x 17 1/8in and the frame is also signed by Jackson verso.

Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by Percy Lionel Hatton Robertson, Toronto; present private Ontario collection, purchased from descendants of Percy Lionel Hatton Robertson; this painting has never before been offered for sale by gallery or public auction.

Alexander Young (A.Y.) Jackson, Canadian, 1882-1974, best known as a founding member of the Group of Seven, Jackson was a War Artist during WWI, Group of Seven member from 1920 to 1933 and later the Canadian Group of Painters from 1933-1967; he also taught at the Banff School of Fine Arts from 1943-1949, and in his later years was artist-in-residence at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection of Kleinburg, Ontario

This is an exceptional example by the artist, painted during his prime in the early 1930's when the Group of Seven was still active; the scene depicts Saint-Irénée, Quebec, north of Quebec City, in the early spring of 1931 during a sketching trip which included his artist friends Dr. Frederick Banting and Randolph Stanley Hewton; the snow covered terrain in the foreground is painted in Jackson's signature style with flowing movement, and a quaint house sits in the center of the painting surrounded by trees amidst an animated blue/grey sky

The March 1931 sketching trip that produced this extraordinary panel is one of the best-documented and most romanticised episodes in Jackson’s later Group-of-Seven period. From Jackson’s own autobiography (A Painter’s Country, 1958), letters in the National Gallery, the McMichael archives, and Naomi Jackson Groves’ biography:
The three men (Jackson, Banting & Hewton) left by train in very early March 1931 and headed straight for the Charlevoix region northeast of Quebec City, an area Jackson had already fallen in love with in the 1920s (he called it “the most paintable country in Canada”)
The general itinerary (March 8–late March 1931):
  1. Baie-Saint-Paul – first stop; they stayed at the Auberge La Maison Otis 
  2. Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive / Les Éboulements – painted ice floes in the St. Lawrence
  3. Saint-Irénée – the heart of the trip, they rented rooms in a farmhouse (some sources say the Gauthier family home) overlooking the river; this location may possibly be depicted in this Saint-Irénée, Quebec March 1931 panel
  4. La Malbaie / Pointe-au-Pic – a few days at the Manoir Richelieu (then a modest wooden hotel)
  5. Petite-Rivière-Saint-François and Cap-à-l’Aigle – final sketches before returning to Quebec City and then Toronto
Weather & Mood:
Early March 1931 was unusually mild for Charlevoix. Snow was still deep on the hills, but the river was beginning to open, creating spectacular pink-and-lavender light effects at dawn and dusk. Jackson wrote to his friend George Pepper: “The light here is marvellous… the snow turns rose and violet and the river ice is breaking up in great slabs. Banting is painting like a demon." Banting, who had never painted full-time before, produced over 50 sketches in three weeks. Jackson and Hewton did about 30–35 each, working fast on 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 inch panels they had pre-prepared in Toronto
 
Some of the major works completed or sketched by A. Y. Jackson in March of 1931:
  2. Laurentian Hills, Early Spring (oil on canvas, 1931)

Frederick Banting’s own painting of St. Irénée (which is now in the University of Toronto art collection) is of a very similar motif, painted while standing beside Jackson; note the houses are on a slightly different angle 

Frederick Bantings "Saint-Irénée, Quebec Near Murray Bay, 1931" - Not For Sale With This Lot

Saint-Irénée, Quebec, March 1931 by A.Y. Jackson is recognized as a product of this very specific, mythologized moment – painted on the spot, in the company of Dr. Frederick Banting, in peak early-spring Charlevoix light; it is a surviving relic of one of the most celebrated three weeks in Canadian art history
No donations for this lot

We are now in preparation for the spring session of Canadian and international fine art, highlighted by a spectacular 1931 oil on panel by Group of Seven member A.Y. Jackson titled "Saint-Irénée, Quebec" (see cover image), a fine oil painting and watercolour by Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith depicting London street scenes, works by Doris McCarthy, Illingworth Holey Kerr, Robert Bateman, James Hergel, Jean Paul Riopelle, Frederick S. Haines, Brian Jones & more. 

If interested consigning to this important auction, please contact James Gardner (james@gardnergalleries.com), our fine art specialist and Accredited Appraiser with the Canadian Association of Personal Property Appraisers.

We will be posting new works regularly from now until the consignment deadline of Friday, March 13th.  

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