This 1942 winter composition by Albert Cloutier painted at Morin Heights, today just over an hour’s drive from Montreal , describes a winding snow-covered road bordered by rustic fences and farmhouses with a backdrop of the Laurentian Hills. It is painted with bold brushwork in mauves, pinks and blues, highlighting the variances of light on the early spring snow/late winter’s snow. The painting is evidence of Albert Cloutier at his best painting in the Canadian landscape tradition, one shared by A.Y. Jackson, Albert Robinson, Randolph Hewton, Robert Pilot and others to follow (e.g. Lorne Bouchard, Franklin Arbuckle, Henry Simpkins) when sketching in the Laurentian winter.

Cloutier’s experiences and achievements are both considerable and impressive. In the spring of 1935 Cloutier was sketching with A.Y. Jackson around St Fabien on the the South shore of the St Lawrence, near Rimouski region of Quebec. For the Canadian Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1939 Cloutier collaborated with A.Y. Jackson on a large mural and also collaborated with other artists in decorative and extensive mural work for the pavilion.

A.Y. Jackson and Albert Cloutier were both friends and painting companions. As both active with the Montreal-based “Oxford Group” of artists, Holgate, Jackson and Cloutier occasionally painted together in pursuit of their shared enthusiasm for painting the Quebec landscape.

Between 1940-1944, he was Art Director for the Wartime Information Board, the federal government war poster production programme. In March of 1944, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, becoming the official war artist of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the only Francophone war artist for Canada. “Flight Lieutenant Cloutier” sketched and painted the life at various detachments of the RCAF throughout Eastern Air Command. See here.

Albert Cloutier, RCA, was a fine Canadian artist of his generation. Prior to WWll and afterwards he earned a living as a graphic designer, an illustrator and an accomplished mural painter. From 1955, he was a lecturer at the École des Beaux-Arts in Montreal. Additionally, he exhibited his creative paintings, including this one, Winter Road, Morin Heights, offering them for sale. Note the original price of $35 affixed to the reverse.

Albert Cloutier was one of my father’s gallery artists at Walter Klinkhoff Gallery. With considerable sadness he, Walter Klinkhoff, reflected upon what was a lengthy telephone conversation with Albert the very evening before Cloutier was found dead at his Mont-Saint-Hilaire home.

Albert Cloutier’s professional associations included the Federation of Canadian Artists, the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1951, a full Member of the Academy in 1956, The Arts Club, Montreal where he was president from 1957–59, The Canadian Society of Graphic Art (c. 1952), and president of the Art Directors' Club of Montreal (1953).