James (Jock) W. G. MacDonald was born in Thurso, Scotland in 1867. He studied at Edinburgh College of Art, and later worked as a fabric designer. He taught at Lincoln School of Art; Vancouver School of Art; School of Decorative and Applied Arts, Vancouver; Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, Calgary; and at Ontario College of Art after 1947. MacDonald was a member of Canadian Group of Painters and Painters Eleven. He died in Toronto in 1960. The artist was conducting independent experiments in Vancouver while the others worked in Winnipeg and Toronto. He had painted 'automatics' by 1934 and completely abstract or non-objective works by 1935 or 1936. (Painting in Canada: A History. Harper J. Russel. U of Toronto Press, 1977. P 327) Jock MacDonald was one of Canada's first painters to explore the relationship between abstraction and landscape. What MacDonald did is take the formal qualities of his subjects and isolate or abstract them form the landscape. (The History of Painting in Canada. Barry Lord. Toronto: NC Press, 1974. P 205-7)
Dimensions
23.5 X 33.5 cm
Size Overall
45 X 52.5 cm
Medium
watercolor
Condition
Slight cockling of surface.
Primary Support
paper
Secondary Support
mat, plexiglass, backing board; frame - wood and plaster with gild
Photograph is looking northeast and shows the Western Canada Flour Mill Co. Ltd. complex (purity flour, oat meal, feed) and a couple of horse drawn carts.
Notes
Corresponds with negative 1-2002.3.9.H4.
Repro Restriction
The McKee Archives is the copyright holder for the Stuckey materials.
The original Merchants Bank of Canada building (built 1890) was, at one time, used by St. John's Ambulance.
The second Merchants Bank of Canada building (built 1906) was used as the Brandon branch of the Western Manitoba Regional Library, and now is home to the Brandon Chamber of Commerce (P.E. 23/06/09).
The original Federal Building and Post Office was built in 1891
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
The original Merchants Bank of Canada building (right); The second Merchants Bank of Canada building (left); The original Federal Building and Post Office (centre)
In 1917 the Brandon Electric Light Co. and the Brandon Gas & Power Co. merged to form the Canada Gas & Electric Company; CG&EC was subsequently taken over by the Manitoba Power Commission;
Brandon's central heating system was taken over by the Brandon Steam Heat Users Co-operative;
On September 13, 1957 at 3:38 PM, an explosion in the boiler and stack destroyed the large stack causing two fatalities.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
Canada Gas & Electric Co. steam plant
Notes
View (from 10th St.) of the coal-powered steam generating plant located at 10th St. & Lorne Ave.
Copy negative from 8x10 negative by C.J. Smith (on file).
In 1917 the Brandon Electric Light Co. and the Brandon Gas & Power Co. merged to form the Canada Gas & Electric Company; CG&EC was subsequently taken over by the Manitoba Power Commission;
Brandon's central heating system was taken over by the Brandon Steam Heat Users Co-operative;
On September 13, 1957 at 3:38 PM, an explosion in the boiler and stack destroyed the large stack causing two fatalities.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
Canada Gas & Electric Co. steam plant
Notes
Rear view of the coal-powered steam generating plant located at 10th St. & Lorne Avenue
Coal was fed from boxcars up elevators to crushers in two cupolas from which it was fed by gravity to chain grate boilers; The chain grate revolved slowly but constantly with coal fed at front edge, burned, and dumped as cinders in pit at far end
The two boxcars shown were used to haul the coal; One is lettered for the Canadian National, the other is still lettered for the merged Grand Trunk Pacific; Cinders were loaded in gondola cars at far right
Copy negative from 8x10 negative by C.J. Smith (on file).
v. 1. Champlain / N. E. Dionne. -- v. 2. Count Frontenac / William D. Le Sueur. -- v. 3. Lord Dorechester / A. G. Bradley. -- v. 4. John Graves Simcoe / Duncan Campbell Scott. -- v. 5. Mackenzie Selkirk Simpson / George Bryce. -- v. 6. William Lyon Mackenzie / Charles Lindsey. -- v. 7. Joseph Howe / J. W. Longley. -- v. 8. Egerton Ryerson / Nathanael Burwash. -- v. 9. Sir John A. Macdonald / George R. Parkin. -- v. 10. George Brown / John Lewis. -- v. 11. Index and dictionary of Canadian history / Lawrence J. Burpee