This piece was sketched from a CPR train window, January 1964, while the artist was enroute from Brandon to Winnipeg through the Carberry sandhills. It was a hazy morning when land and sky seemed to blend with sun showing through cloud in places. Steve Repa was employed by the Brandon Allied Arts Centre (1962-1964). He commuted to Winnipeg one day weekly to teach (1963-1964) (Bu Art Catalogue, 1983)
Dimensions
57 x 87 cm
Size Overall
72 x 102 cm
Medium
oil
Condition
some accretion in middle R area. Canvas fairly loose on the stretcher (June 1996)
Fred McGuinness is popularly known for his work as the prairie essayist for CBC Radio’s Morningside with Peter Gzowski, a position he held for 17 years. Many of McGuinness’ Morningside essays were autobiographical in nature. He often reported about life on Christmas Tree Farm, a section of land where he and his wife, Christine, built their dream home in the late 1970s. The couple planted a Christmas tree farm on the property and Christine maintained an extensive kitchen garden, while Fred tended honey bees. Life on the farm made its way into radiobroadcasts, Neighborly News columns, and the book "Letters from Section 17: A Collection of Morningside Essays" (Winnipeg: Great Plains Publishing, 1999).
Scope and Content
Photograph shows a landscape view from the McGuinness property, Christmas Tree Farm, Section 17.
Photograph of a landscape of the Brandon College campus - showing the Brandon College Building, Clark Hall and part of the Citizens' Science Building - presented to the College by the Class of 1960.
Mild cockling and creasing of image. Paper has fallen down from the mat on the left side, and as a result is showing the backing board in the TR corner.
Surface is all together dirty. Numerous smudges and other surface accretions and is especially bad in the top horizontal register, which has multiple large smudges. Canvas is loose in the TL corner due to storage (another painting was leaning on it). T
Residue of tape in area CB of glass. Frame has small abrasion marks on top arm.
Primary Support
paper
Secondary Support
mat, plexiglass, backing board; frame- wood
Inscriptions
Note attached to back: Cecil E. James came to Canada in 1914 from Manchester, England. He started studies in art at the University of Saskatchewan in 1928, and is now operating an art gallery in Saskatoon. He has painted Canadian scenes from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, but most of his work is of the Canadian Prairies. One could safely say that his paintings are in private collections in almost every country of the world. To name a few principals possessing a James painting: The Archbishop of Canterbury; His Excellency, Governor-General Roland Michener; John Diefenbaker, former Prime Minister of Canada; The Canadian Embassy in Berlin; Mr. H.W. Sturdy, British Government representative; Saskatchewan Wheat Pool; Saskatchewan House, London; Dairy Pool; Colonel Sanders of Kentucky; Pioneer Grain Co.; The Hon. Jean Lesage; Saskatchewan Power Corporation; Saskatchewan Arts Board.
Several splashes of brown paint across bottom half most probably inherent to image. TL corner of paper is creased. Top edge has some surface paper peeled off.