Project Description
Ravenscrag, Ross’s Ranch
Southwestern Saskatchewan
1930, Illingsworth Kerr
oil on canvas
*** painting style
Mackenzie Art Gallery, University of Regina Collection, 1934-001
THE ART
Illingworth Kerr’s depiction of his friend Jim Ross’s ranch in southwestern Saskatchewan is a perfect example of his attempt to portray more than just the endless flatness that typifies the prairies. Kerr gave a voice to a landscape largely ignored by Canadian artists. Kerr felt that the thin, flat infinite horizon was a tyrant that dominated attempts at depicting the prairies. For him, illustrating the diversity in this landscape was paramount. His training in Ontario had not prepared him to deal with space as a subject so he naturally gravitated to rolling scenes like the one in Ravenscrag, Ross’s Ranch.
The stylistic influence the Group of Seven had on the young artist is evident here in the rhythmic brushstrokes and rich colours. The painting achieves a great deal of depth without relying on the visual clichés of the land. The foreground shrubs lead back to the isolated dwellings which compliment the midground hills. Those then cup the distant hills before the composition finally lets a glimpse of that endless prairie sky creep in. The decision to minimize the presence of the sky further supports Kerr’s attempts to avoid obvious prairie representations.
The population of Ravenscrag has dropped from about 1,000 at the time of the painting to no more than a handful of citizens today. It seems prophetic that in Kerr’s depiction the lonely dwellings neighbor on nothing more than the vast landscape. In Kerr’s attempt to explore all the possible incarnations of his homeland, he has successfully added a new dimension to what we consider the prairies.
Illingworth Kerr
