Lot 10

frederick nicholas loveroff (1894-1960), oil on canvas, 34 1/2" x 38 1/2", "the red barn"

The red barn in rich tones of dusty red, orange, yellow and grey, forms a substantial block across the centre of the picture. The morning sun on the roof-top snow turns light yellow in places and casts artfully painted blue shadows which supply an entry into the composition. The sky beyond the trees displays the colours of early morning – turquoise and pink. The trees themselves with their warm colours suggest that spring is approaching. In the foreground, a farmer slouches toward a patiently waiting horse and wagon to begin his daily chores. The scene lovingly celebrates Canadian farm life by a painter who well knew that life, Frederick Loveroff.Loveroff had been born in Terpeniye village, Kars region, Russia, in 1894. His mother died when he was young and his father, a Doukhobor farmer, took him to live in Petrofka village, west of Rosthern, Saskatchewan in 1899. Over time, he secured his own homestead near Borden, Saskatchewan.During winter nights on the homestead, he taught himself watercolour and seeing one of these works, the Principal of his school, the Normal School in Regina, interested a Toronto mining magnate in sponsoring the young man’s art education. In 1913, at the age of nineteen, Loveroff moved to Toronto and attended the Central Ontario School of Art (today`s OCAD). Here, he studied for the next four years with G.A. Reid, J.W. Beatty, and J.E.H. MacDonald of the Group of Seven. He graduated in 1917 but even before then had begun to exhibit with the Royal Canadian Academy (RCA) and the Ontario Society of Artists (OSA). In 1920, he was elected an Associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy and in 1921, a member of the OSA. His painting career lasted from 1915 to 1934 when it ended due to the Depression. He left for California that year to make his living as a farmer and died in Redwood City in 1960 at the age of sixty-six.Loveroff was a Canadian Impressionist and delighted in vibrant but subtle colour. One of the high points of his career was the acceptance of his painting Snow on the Hillside by the Leicester City Art Gallery, England, after the painting had been exhibited at the Wembley show of 1924. His work was also part of group exhibitions at the Imperial Gallery of Art in London, England, and at the Musée du Jeu de Paume in Paris, France. He is represented in the public collections of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Hart House, U. of T.; and the Art Gallery of Ontario, among others.In this painting with its sensitive attention to light and season, Loveroff explored an aspect of his own past, offering an insight into its beauty and satisfactions. His work fuses this insight with a handling that marks him as a worthy member of the group of Canadian Impressionists who ushered in new ways of seeing and depicting life in Canada.We have titled the painting by examining the artist`s exhibition history. It was shown in the RCA exhibition of 1926. The family that owned it have been its single possessors since it was purchased.ProvenanceThis painting was purchased by Eldon and Marjorie Schaefer in or before the 1960's, then passed by decent to their daughter Elizabeth Schaefer.

Estimate $7,000 - 9,000 CAD