Written by Ben Buckton - Incidentsoftravel.com

The Crombie House Gallery, New Glasgow

As promised, here’s the collection I visited on Friday morning. I’m not going to try and recall all the details that Pam had about each picture – I know I’ll confuse the stories and I think it would take ages – but where possible I’ll identify them and leave the rest to dear, dear readers. I’m just posting my photos of what they have there. 

Back to the paintings: let’s start downstairs, in the main extension built to house the Group of Seven Collection. Come with me now on a wander past the canvasses – why not put on some nice music and grab a glass of tepid white wine and pretend that you’re at a real private view? (I’ve tried to name any pictures that aren’t clear)

A.Y. Jackson – Northern Landscape, Great Bear Lake
 Lawren Harris – Snow on Trees
Lawren Harris – Summer Houses, Grimsby Park, Ontario
AJ Casson – High Water
AY Jackson – St Agnes, Quebec

My plan to post everything I saw at the gallery has hit a snag – until I find an alternative, uploading is just too slow! So, dear reader, please accept my apologies for now, and enjoy what we’ve got here. One day I’ll finish the task…

As a final offering before pausing this project I’d like to share with you another ridiculous coincidence, of which ther have been many: Susie told me on Saturday that her father Morley actually designed the buttons on the amazing Clairtone Project G2 record player that lives in the Crombie House, and by complete chance they were discussing it just before she left Toronto a few weeks ago. He used to be a designer, before becoming a film-maker, and is also responsible for the letter ‘i’, in the shape of a pickle, used on every jar of Bick’s Pickles!


Oh look, they’ve got an Andy Warhol. 

10 thoughts on “The Crombie House Gallery, New Glasgow”

  1. What a treat. Thanks for sharing them. The one titled “Torbay” was so Cornwall, even if not the UK Torbay. Making we wonder where in Canada is their Torbay? Even the figures could be imagined as smugglers going to Jamaica Inn. Or is my imagination going into overdrive?
    Also, intrigued by the white umbellifers in your previous blog; it’s too late for Cow Parsley surely. Does anyone know?
    Diana x

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  2. So many umbellifers they could be,I’m going to leave it to Sam!

    Art gallery trip is lovely, esp the bold ones by Jackson and Harris. I remember some good browsing through Group of Seven book in your loo back home.xx

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  3. That picture of the Dill Pickle Jar deserves to take its rightful place beside the Group of Seven. And thanks for clarifying – I always thought that Morley was responsible for the red and white triangular design on the lid. Never knew that he designed that cute little dancing “I” pickle.

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  4. Excellent private tour, Ben – thank you for that. I’m intrigued by the difference in palette between the first two A.Y. Jacksons – would love to know their dates. I dug around online and found another AYJ of Great Bear Lake (with similar palette) done in 1953, so they could be from the same trip. “October Evening’ looks earlier, but it can deceptive. The lively J.E.H. MacDonald (painted quickly, it seems) looks like it was done on one of his trips to The Rockies, where he often stayed with the Whytes, who founded The Whyte Museum in Banff – another lovely small museum. Too bad your schedule didn’t allow us a visit. Next time… The Tom Thomson ‘Winter’ is a real beauty – perfect plein air painting.
    Thanks again for showing us those rarely-seen gems.

    Stewart

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    1. It’s been a total pleasure despite the slowness of uploading it. I didn’t want to just put the web address; this feels more personal. Susie was struck by the apparent speed that ‘winter’ was painted, on board, she thought. I’ll check out the Whyte museum. Gallery websites are often some of the best around.

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  5. Hi All, Torbay is a small village just outside St. John’s, where cod fishing was the main employment. The Lismer painting depicts fishermen throwing nets out for Caplin, loading them into a cart for fertilizer for their gardens. (They did eat some also!) The schools of Caplin were large, making it easy to catch them in nets thrown from the beach. Today, Torbay has a lot of new housing for people working in St. John’s. The coastal views are awesome! The cod moratorium has dramatically changed Torbay, but some shrimp and crab fishing boats go out from the town and there is a very limited cod catch.
    Incidentally, the painting notes 1949, the year Newfoundland joined Canada as the 10 th Province. That event perhaps inspired Lismer to do that scene.
    Torbay in on the ” Marine Drive”, a beautiful road north from St. John’s, with several lovely villages, but likely too much for Ben after the 5000km !

    Stuart Watson

    PS Looking forward to meeting Ben Thursday for an overnight stay and dinner at friends from Cupids – the second oldest permanent English settlement in North America. Unfortunately we have to head back to Ontario early Saturday, so will miss his final ride to Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America and the beginning of the Trans Canada Trail.

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