An iconic shoreline

1. Cantley Echo, August 2018 - refer to "Cantley 1889" page 6-7)

2015 view of the Gatineau shoreline from the top of Mont Cascades: Gatineau River left, Lorne Mountain right

(photos Marc Grégoire)

Mont Cascades and Lorne Mountain are Cantley's two most culturally important hills. People have climbed these two hills for a view or have taken pictures of them for over 100 years including Canada's 4th governor general The Duke of Argyll (Marquess of Lorne) 1878-1883 and Lester Pearson, Canada's 14th Prime Minister (1963-1968), who would have hiked Mont Cascades many times from his cottage across the river.

J.E.H. MacDonald, a founding member of the Group of Seven, painted several pictures in the Cascades area. He likely arrived by train at the Cascades station and found it very convenient to be within easy walking distance of the river, rapids, log jambs and the two high hills all of which represented interesting subject matter. Portraying the annual spring drive of logs down the Gatineau River offered dramatic action that sold well in the art market of the times. When Group of Seven artist A.Y. Jackson moved to Manotick in 1955 he and artist friend Ralph Burton also found the area attractive and often stopped at the Cascades rail station to sketch the now docile river and the two hills.

MacDonald's sketches of the two hills might also have been partially inspired by Governor General Lorne who enjoyed hiking the area and was a patron of the arts who is credited with starting the National Gallery.

The Cascades station has long since disappeared and the construction of the dam in the 1920s removed the rapids, but amazingly the two hills have remained mostly in their natural state and as the last large piece of undeveloped shoreline between Gatineau and Wakefield will hopefully remain that way for future generations of artists and photographers to enjoy.

Painting venues of famous artists like the Group of Seven have become popular tourist destinations, examples: Following in the footsteps of the Group of 7 and the A.Y Jackson Trail. Lorne Mountain and Mont Cascades could some day become the focal point for highlighting contemporary and heritage art inspired by the beauty and wonder of the Gatineau River and its watershed. It is said art opens doors to seeing and cherishing the natural beauty that surrounds us and if opened wide enough we will strive to protect its life giving joy .

The numbers on this 1920s picture of the river prior to its damming.approximates where MacDonald sat when making the below sketches.

J.E.H. MacDonald's sketch of Mont Cascade 1910 from site #1 on map

J.E.H. MacDonald's sketch "Logs on the Gatineau" and Lorne Mountain, 1915 - view from site #2 on map

"Logs on the Gatineau" was a small sketch, 8 x 10 in 20.3 x 25.4cm, typical of the size most of the Group of Seven used at that time which often came from wooden cigar boxes.. This little sketch was sold for $38,025 at a Heffel Spring action in 2013.

According to Heffels, the picture was one in “a series of brilliant on-the-spot studies along the banks of the Gatineau River. One of these was the superb sketch [in the collection of the Art Gallery of Windsor] for the major 1915 canvas, Logs on the Gatineau [in the collection of the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon]” as Paul Duval writes. Here MacDonald gives us all of the rapid brushwork and harmonious palette that characterizes his outdoor sketches. The treatment of the logs, water and rocks on the near shore conveys the idea of a tangled, log-strewn riverbank quite nicely, while the distant hill, shore and sky are delineated with a very different brush-stroke, conveying a feeling of misty distance and softness that contrasts with the hurry and tumble of the river."

"Gatineau River Cascades" - view from sketch site #3 on map

Lorne Mountain in sketch #2 is hill on left,

"The Wild River" (likely Lorne Mountain in background) - 1919

References

1. Cantley Echo, August 2018 - refer to "Cantley 1889" page 6-7)

2. Paul Duval, The Tangled Garden: The Art of J.E.H. MacDonald, 1978, page 53,

3. The 1915 canvas entitled Logs on the Gatineau, in the collection of the Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, reproduced page 67

4. Roberts Gallery - MacDonald's biography

5. Bandi Leigh - MacDonald's biography

6. McMichael's Gallery - MacDonald's biography