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Hennessey, Frank
Home by the Lake Maison au bord du lac
1940 1940

In contrast to Shadbolt’s writhing forms, the sedate “Home by the Lake”, produced two years later by Ottawa artist Frank Hennessey, appears nostalgic. Hennessey enjoyed sketching the Northern Ontario landscape, in Algonquin Park and the nearby Laurentians, particularly under a blanket of snow. As one critic commented in 1936, “White snow, blue snow, cold snow, warm snow, metallic snow and glowing snow lying in the hushed loveliness of the hills, magical in sunlight.” Drawing on his career as an illustrator (first for the Geological Survey of Canada and later for the Division of Entomology at the Department of Agriculture in Ottawa) Hennessey specialized in pastels, an unusual medium in this period of Canadian art. In a 1940 review of a solo exhibition at the Stevens Art Gallery in Montreal, Hennessey was praised for his thorough understanding of “these colored chalks, and his direct and confident method of attack, crisp expressive stroke and clean color.”

Hennessey, Frank
Ottawa ON 1893-Ottawa ON 1941 Ottawa ON 1893-Ottawa ON 1941
Home by the Lake Maison au bord du lac
1940 1940
Pastel on paper Pastel sur papier
overall: 47.8 cm x 61.9 cm
Gift of Mrs. Ruth Soloway, 2012 Don de Mme Ruth Soloway, 2012
55-004.21

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