masterpieces of James Wilson Morrice

View of Quebec City From The River

1897

oil on panel

17.7 x 25.2 cm

Edmonton Art Gallery

Though James Wilson Morrice spent most of his professional life in France, he produced this painting, along with two other studies, during a Christmas visit to his family in Canada. The three sketches would serve as the basis for a later canvas, The Ferry, Quebec, painted in 1907 and exhibited at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris. Morrice often portrayed views of the St. Lawrence River; in the distance can be seen the snow-covered headland and spires of Qu��bec. The warm tones of the bare wood support are visible throughout this landscape, contrasting with the pearly blue-grey of the painted river. The artist noted in a letter to Edmund Morris: ��We have had cold weather 30 below zero. Difficult to work out of doors��paint gets stiff.�� The sketches may in fact have been painted indoors.

The Pond,Wset Indies ,1921

oil on canvas, 81.5 x 54.8 cm

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Towards the end of his life, Morrice went to Jamaica and Trinidad, where he painted his most daring works. In this painting, the landscape reflected in the pond counterbalances the sense of depth created by the lines of trees off to the right, drawing the viewer��s gaze towards the pink horizon. With their backs turned, the two figures in the foreground invite the viewer to ��enter�� the painting, where the contrasting greens and pinks create a striking decorative effect. The use of colour and flattened space is reminiscent of Henri Matisse, whom Morrice had met in Morocco and greatly admired.