Autumn, Piedmont
Oil on panel
8 x 6 in
20.3 x 15.2 cm
20.3 x 15.2 cm
This painting is available to view at our Montreal gallery.
$3,500
Inscriptions
signed with artist’s initials, ‘ER’ (lower right)Provenance
Continental Galleries of Fine Art, Montreal
Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal
Private collection, Town of Mount Royal, Quebec
This oil sketch offers an intimate autumn view of the Laurentian landscape at Piedmont near Ste-Adèle, Quebec, where Eric Riordon built his home following his naval service in the Second World War.
On a modest scale, the work conveys remarkable depth and a narrative of the region. Its carefully framed glimpse of the countryside is suffused with a nuanced autumn light reminiscent of Clarence Gagnon. Broken touches of gold enliven the surface, evoking sunlight flickering through the sparse canopy. Accents of copper, ochre, and vermilion glow against the restrained blues and violets of the distance. Despite a temptation to do otherwise, Riordon paints the house in shadows, casting the clothes line in sunlight.
Although born in St. Catharines, Ontario, while in his childhood his family had relocated to Montreal. From there they spent summers at the family’s cottage near Mont Tremblant northwest of Montreal. Our Piedmont landscape was one he was long familiar with throughout his career.
Riordon had studied in Paris at the Académie Julian and the Grande Chaumière before establishing his reputation through Laurentian landscapes and marine subjects. Elected an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1946, he died only two years later at the age of forty-two.
This is a particularly fine sketch, one of luminous clarity and the delicate character of a cool autumn afternoon in the Laurentian landscape.
--
Riordon was born in St. Catherines, Ontario and moved with his family to Montreal in 1908. He studied at Ashbury College in Ottawa, then McGill university. After studying charcoal drawing for a year at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal, he went to Paris in 1932 to pursue his art studies at the prestigious Académie Julian and Grande Chaumière. Riordon travelled and painted extensively throughout Europe and his work was shown at the Paris Salon, 1933-1934. During the thirties, he became known for his fine Laurentian landscapes. He held his first official solo show at the Continental Galleries in October, 1935. He also became known for his seascapes, beach, harbour and river scenes - having found his subjects in Brittany, France and elsewhere in Europe as well as in North America along the St. Lawrence, in Gaspésie, Nova Scotia, Maine and elsewhere in the United States.
His love of the sea prompted him to join the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1940, at the outbreak of World War II, taking a seven month training course to become Lieutenant. He served as executive officer in Montreal before being posted to the east coast for sea duty where he was promoted to second-in-command of a naval corvette engaged in anti-submarine and convoy duty. At the end of the war, he held the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve.
Following his discharge from the Navy, Riordon returned to Montreal with the objective of painting in the Laurentians where he had spent many summers of his youth at the Riordon family cottage north of Mont Tremblant at Lac Caché. He built a house on a hilltop near Piedmont where he painted many of his finest paintings.
Riordon was elected an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1946 and died only two years later in 1948 at the young age of 42.
On a modest scale, the work conveys remarkable depth and a narrative of the region. Its carefully framed glimpse of the countryside is suffused with a nuanced autumn light reminiscent of Clarence Gagnon. Broken touches of gold enliven the surface, evoking sunlight flickering through the sparse canopy. Accents of copper, ochre, and vermilion glow against the restrained blues and violets of the distance. Despite a temptation to do otherwise, Riordon paints the house in shadows, casting the clothes line in sunlight.
Although born in St. Catharines, Ontario, while in his childhood his family had relocated to Montreal. From there they spent summers at the family’s cottage near Mont Tremblant northwest of Montreal. Our Piedmont landscape was one he was long familiar with throughout his career.
Riordon had studied in Paris at the Académie Julian and the Grande Chaumière before establishing his reputation through Laurentian landscapes and marine subjects. Elected an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1946, he died only two years later at the age of forty-two.
This is a particularly fine sketch, one of luminous clarity and the delicate character of a cool autumn afternoon in the Laurentian landscape.
--
Riordon was born in St. Catherines, Ontario and moved with his family to Montreal in 1908. He studied at Ashbury College in Ottawa, then McGill university. After studying charcoal drawing for a year at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal, he went to Paris in 1932 to pursue his art studies at the prestigious Académie Julian and Grande Chaumière. Riordon travelled and painted extensively throughout Europe and his work was shown at the Paris Salon, 1933-1934. During the thirties, he became known for his fine Laurentian landscapes. He held his first official solo show at the Continental Galleries in October, 1935. He also became known for his seascapes, beach, harbour and river scenes - having found his subjects in Brittany, France and elsewhere in Europe as well as in North America along the St. Lawrence, in Gaspésie, Nova Scotia, Maine and elsewhere in the United States.
His love of the sea prompted him to join the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1940, at the outbreak of World War II, taking a seven month training course to become Lieutenant. He served as executive officer in Montreal before being posted to the east coast for sea duty where he was promoted to second-in-command of a naval corvette engaged in anti-submarine and convoy duty. At the end of the war, he held the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve.
Following his discharge from the Navy, Riordon returned to Montreal with the objective of painting in the Laurentians where he had spent many summers of his youth at the Riordon family cottage north of Mont Tremblant at Lac Caché. He built a house on a hilltop near Piedmont where he painted many of his finest paintings.
Riordon was elected an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1946 and died only two years later in 1948 at the young age of 42.
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