Goodridge Roberts was one of Canada’s most versatile artists, equally brilliant in his depiction of the still life as he was in the landscape as he was with the figures and, including the nude. He was not a painter of the winter landscape. In the colder months he resolved important compositions with objects in his home and studio. 

Goodridge Roberts’ Still Life with Easel and Blue Cloth shows his studio interior where everyday working objects become a carefully balanced play of colour, structure, and light. A solid red‑brown table dominates the foreground, holding casually arranged books, a dark brown tea pot and a flower‑filled ceramic pitcher. Rising behind the flowers, the dark verticals of the easel organize the scene, partly veiled by a cool blue cloth that softens its geometry and sets a lyrical counterpoint to the painting’s warm ochres, oranges, and reds. The window beyond opens onto snow‑touched rooftops. The simplified blocks of exterior colour extend the still life into the world outside and contrasting the studio’s warmth with winter sunlight light. The painting of Roberts’ Westmount, Montréal studio is described in thick, confident brushstrokes.

Goodridge Roberts was an important modern Canadian artist who was instrumental in the transition away from a nationalist art. A war artist for Canada, a teacher at the Art Association of Montreal, one of Canada’s first participants in the Venice Biennale in 1952 (along with Alfred Pellan, David Milne and Emily Carr), and artist in residence at Queen’s University. In 1969, Goodridge Roberts was honored with the extraordinary distinction of the day to be celebrated with a retrospective exhibition during his lifetime at the National Gallery of Canada and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

From 1944 - 1957 Roberts had a contract with Montreal’s Dominion Gallery for an exclusivity as a gallery in selling his works. With the quality of painting Roberts was providing Dominion and the astute marketing strategies of Dr. Stern, over the years, his paintings did develop a growing demand. By 1957, when Roberts was unsuccessful in an attempt to negotiate with Dr. Stern an acceptable increase in his guaranteed annual income, the exclusivity was terminated and numerous other art dealing galleries, including Walter Klinkhoff Gallery, vied to show Roberts’ work. The important contribution Roberts’ work made to the canon of Canadian art culminated in a Retrospective Exhibition circulated by the National Gallery of Canada 1969- 70. In 1998, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection hosted a retrospective for the benefit of a new generation of museum goers. 

His paintings are represented in numerous museums across Canada including the National Gallery of Canada, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Beaverbrook Gallery, Fredericton, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Vancouver Art Gallery and the Musée national des beaux art du Québec.