Collection search - Alexander Young Jackson fonds [graphic material, textual record]

Record information – Brief
1
Alexander Young Jackson fonds [graphic material, textual record]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1908-1972.

Reference:

R10730-0-X-E

Type of material:

Art, Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

203937

Context of this record:

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Alexander Young Jackson fonds
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Record information – Details

Fonds includes:

68 lower level description(s)
View lower level description(s)

Date(s):

1908-1972.

Place of creation:

Canada

Extent:

251 drawings : pencil, charcoal, conté crayon/coloured pencil, pen and/or brush with black (India?) ink, blue felt pen, blue ballpoint pen, opaque white/gouache, drawing paper, card; 35.3 x 27.7 cm., or smaller.
19 watercolours: gouache and/or watercolour and blue ball point pen over pencil on cardboard, paper or illustration board; 20.4 x 30.6 cm., or smaller.
2 cm of textual records
34 reproductions : photomechanical prints

Language of material:

English

Accession:

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Alexander Young Jackson fonds [graphic material]

Scope and content:

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The fonds consists of works created by Canadian artist and Group of Seven member Alexander Young Jackson (1882-1974) over the period of 1908 to 1972. These drawings and watercolours were created during the artist's travels through Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairie Provinces, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, Greenland and Germany. Subject matter includes: studies/views of Arctic scenery; landscape, townscape and country views of various locations in Quebec, Ontario, the Prairie Provinces, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon (including Alaska Highway construction scenes); maritime scenes (i.e. lakes and rivers); industrial scenery; studies of plants/vegetation, wild animals (i.e. moose) and domestic animals (i.e. dogs, horses, ox); sketches/studies of various man-made objects (i.e. horse-drawn sleighs/carriages, buildings, furniture, ships and other types of water craft, etc.) as well as sketches of native Indian camps. Included in the above are some illustration works such as: pencil drawings for the book "A.Y. Jackson / The Arctic 1927" [introduction by Naomi Jackson Groves]; a pen and ink drawing for the book "Chez Nous / Our Old Quebec Home" by Adjutor Rivard and pencil drawings of Haymarket Square, Montreal for Henry Beston's book "St. Lawrence". The drawings provide an overview of the artist's creative output during a forty year period, specifically his "notes" and studies for his oil sketches and canvases. They also document the artist's sketching trips throughout various parts of Canada during his long productive career, especially his work in Quebec, Western Canada and the Arctic.

The 13 reproductions are photocopies of works not held by Library and Archives Canada; they are stored jointly with the original drawings for reference purposes.

The textual material consists of a pocket travel diary kept by the artist during a 1936 trip to Europe with his niece, Dr. Naomi Jackson Groves; one letter from A.Y. to Naomi; and a promotional pamphlet for A.Y. Jackson's book The Arctic.

Provenance:

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Jackson, A. Y. (Alexander Young), 1882-1974

Biography/Administrative history:

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Jackson, A. Y. (Alexander Young), 1882-1974 : A.Y. (Alexander Young) Jackson was born in Montreal, the son of Henry A. Jackson and Georgina Young. He began his career as a commercial artist in Montreal. After working his way to Europe on a cattle boat with his brother H.A.C. Jackson in 1905, he spent 1906-1907 in the United States, studying at the Art Institute of Chicago and working as a commercial artist. He also studied art at the Académie Julian in Paris, 1907-1909. He travelled again to Europe in 1911 with Albert Robinson and in 1913 exhibited his work at the Art Association of Montreal with Randolph Hewton, whom he met in Paris during this trip. He then moved to Toronto, where he shared space with Tom Thomson in the Studio Building, and was elected an associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1914 (becoming a full member in 1919). He served in the First World War, initially as an enlisted soldier, 1915-1917, and later, after being wounded, as an official war artist, 1917-1918.

After the war, Jackson settled again in Toronto and was a founding member of the Group of Seven. He continued to maintain links with Quebec, being associated with the Beaver Hall Hill Group, going on annual sketching trips in the province, and illustrating Chez Nous by Adjutor Rivard in 1924. He travelled to the Pacific Northwest in 1926 and went to Greenland and Ellesmere Island in 1927 on the supply ship, the Beothic, with Frederick Banting, publishing an account of the trip, The Far North (Rous and Mann 1928). He went to Great Slave Lake in 1928 and, with Lawren Harris, made a second trip to the Arctic in 1930.

A founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933, Jackson was active in the organization throughout the 1930s. He was a prolific painter of Canadian landscapes and made many painting trips across Canada, including ones to Alberta in 1937, Great Bear Lake 1938, Western Canada and Alaska 1943, and the Northwest Territories 1949, 1950 and 1951. A large exhibition of his work was held by the Art Gallery of Toronto and the National Gallery of Canada in 1953. In 1955, he left Toronto, where he had occupied the Studio Building for forty years, and settled in Manotick, Ontario. He published his memoirs, A Painter's Country, in 1958. In recognition of his contributions to Canadian art, he received honorary degrees from McMaster, Queen's, Carleton and McGill Universities and the Universities of British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1967. He spent his last years in Ottawa and then at the McMichael estate in Kleinburg. He died in a nursing home in Woodbridge, Ontario, in 1974.

Finding aid:

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(Electronic) Some items are described at the item-level in MINISIS-ICON. (Restrictions not set)

Additional information:

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General note:

Mrs. Constance (Jackson) Strange and Mrs. Geneva (Jackson) Baird. Dr. Naomi Jackson Groves.

Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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024-89
118-080092-3
120-080474-0
1933-285 PIC
1989-113 DAP
1989-114 DAP
1989-168 DAP
1990-286 DAP
1993-008 DAP
2003-00125-5
2005-00434-0
250-88
316-88
90-059
92-302
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

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Graphic (art)

[Consultation90 Open]
Protective supervision is required during consultation.

Volume [R10730] 1--3

[Consultation 90 Open]

1 Item no. assigned by LAC 1--105

[Consultation 90 Open]

2 Item no. assigned by LAC 106--221

[Consultation 90 Open]

3 Item no. assigned by LAC 222--231

[Consultation 90 Open]

Box [1993-008] B500-06

[Consultation 90 Open]

Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [R10730]

[Consultation 90 Open]

4 File number 1--13

[Consultation 90 Open]

Terms of use:

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Copyright: Estate of A.Y. Jackson.
Credit: Library and Archives of Canada

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Date modified:: 2024-04-09