Old Barns near Prospect, ON | R.W. Burton
Old Barns near Prospect, Ont., 1977
Oil on wood panel
Size: 10.5 X 13.5 inches. Framed size: 19 X 22.5 inches
Details: Signed lower right. Signed, titled and dated on verso.
Provenance: Private Collection, Ontario
Condition: Excellent
Price: $1,500
Additional Information and Photos Available Upon Request
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Quebec Village | R.W. Burton
Quebec Village, circa 1965
Oil on wood panel
Size: 10.5 X 13.5 inches. Framed size: 15.5 X 18.5 inches
Details: Signed lower right. Signed on verso.
Provenance: Private Collection, Quebec.
Condition: Excellent
Price: SOLD
Additional Information and Photos Available Upon Request
Swamp Near Bennett Lake | R.W. Burton
Swamp near Bennett Lake, 1973
Oil on wood panel
Size: 10.5 X 13.5 inches. Framed size: 18 X 21 inches
Details: Signed lower left. Signed, titled & dated on verso.
Provenance: Private Collection, Quebec; St. Laurent Art Galleries.
Condition: Excellent
Price: SOLD
Additional Information and Photos Available Upon Request
Dempster Highway | RW Burton
Dempster Highway, Dawson City, 1964
Oil on canvas
Size: 25 X 31 inches. Framed: 31 X 37 inches.
Details: Signed lower left.
Signed, titled and dated on verso with note from artist on location.
Provenance: Private Collection, Quebec.
Condition: Excellent.
Price: SOLD
Additional Information and Photos Available Upon Request
Ste Rose, Quebec | Ralph Wallace Burton
Ste Rose, Quebec, 1955
Oil on wood panel
Size: 18 X 23 inches. Framed size: 25 X 30 inches.
Details: Signed lower right. Signed, titled & dated on verso.
Provenance: Private Collection, Quebec; Heffel.
Condition: Excellent.
Price: SOLD
Additional Information and Photos Available Upon Request
Clayton Lake | Ralph Wallace Burton
Clayton Lake, Ont., Spring 1978
Oil on wood panel
Size: 10.5 X 13.5 inches. Framed size: 16.5 X 20.5 inches.
Details: Signed lower right. Signed, titled & dated on verso.
Provenance: Private Collection, Quebec.
Condition: Excellent.
Price: SOLD
Additional Information and Photos Available Upon Request
Untitled | Ralph Wallace Burton
Untitled village scene
Oil on wood panel
Size: 10.5 X 13.5 inches. Framed size: 18 X 21 inches
Details: Signed lower right.
Provenance: Private Collection, Quebec.
Condition: Excellent
Price: SOLD
Additional Information and Photos Available Upon Request
La Peche Creek | Ralph Wallace Burton
La Peche Creek and Old Feed Mill (Wakefield, Que.), 1969
Oil on canvas
Size: 24 x 30 inches
Price: SOLD
Details: Signed lower right. Titled and signed on verso.
Framed measurements: 32 X 38 inches
Provenance: Private Collection, Vancouver; Wallack Galleries (label on verso).
Condition: Excellent.
Additional Information and Photos Available Upon Request
Autumn, McGregor Lake | RW Burton
Autumn, McGregor Lake, 1948
Pastel on paperboard (back of print)
Size: 17 x 24 inches
Price: SOLD
Details: Rare pastel by RW Burton. Signed lower left. Titled and dated on verso.
Framed measurements: 22 X 29 inches
Provenance: Private Collection, Ontario.
Condition: Very Good to Excellent.
Additional Information and Photos Available Upon Request
Log Fence & Reflections | Ralph W. Burton
Log Fence and Reflections, 1971
Oil on Wood Board
Size: 10.5 x 13.5 inches
SOLD
Details: Oil painting on board. Signed Lower Right. Writing on verso: "Autumn - 1971. Log Fence and Reflections, Lanark County, Ont. Ralph W. Burton, Ottawa. Gallery label on verso: C. Gutenberg Gallery, Ltd., Toronto.
Painting is framed.
Provenance: Private Collection, C. Gutenberg Gallery
Additional Information and Photos Available Upon Request
Ralph Wallace Burton was heavily influenced by his friendship
with A.Y. Jackson, but his paintings still show great originality
Biography
Ralph Wallace Burton was born in Newington, Ontario, near Cornwall, and began studying art as a young man.
Ralph Wallace Burton first studied in Ottawa under a Paris-trained artist, learning how to paint still lifes, followed up by further drawing classes and self-directed studies in the 1920s.
He turned to professional painting about 1930 and continued to paint throughout his service in the Royal Canadian Air Force (1940-47). These early paintings are not well known today.
It was while he was in Western Canada with the RCAF that he attended the Banff School of Fine Arts under A.Y. Jackson, an original member of the Group of Seven.
This led to a life-long friendship between A.Y. Jackson and R.W. Burton (as he signed many of his paintings).
A.Y. Jackson’s Influence
A.Y. Jackson’s influence is clear to see in R.W. Burton’s paintings in the post-war period, especially the many oil paintings on panel and on canvas produced in the 1960s. It’s safe to say that the connection breathed new life into R.W. Burton’s art, raising his paintings to a higher level.
Like A.Y. Jackson’s works, Ralph Wallace Burton paintings display a flowing brush hand, sweeping across landscapes full of undulating fields, trees, rivers and clouds. Straight and flat lines disappear. Some unexpected colours creep into scenes, such as soft pinks and oranges in a painting of spring thaw.
Ralph Wallace Burton went on sketching trips with A.Y. Jackson and Ottawa artist Maurice Haycock in the Ottawa Valley and Gatineau area, often painting plein air style.
A.Y. Jackson was R.W. Burton’s main influence, but Burton developed a distinct soft velvety tone in his work that was quite beautiful.
Painted in Eastern Ontario
As well as the Gatineau area, Ralph Wallace Burton painted throughout Eastern Ontario, Alaska, Cape Breton, N.S., New Brunswick, and Portland, Maine. He sketched on site with oils on board and later committed some of these sketches to canvas in a larger version.
R.W. Burton remained friends with A.Y. Jackson until Jackson’s death in 1974. When A.Y. Jackson suffered a stroke in 1965, he recuperated at Wallace’s Ottawa home. A graphite sketch A.Y. Jackson did of his friend is in the collection of the Ottawa Art Gallery.
Ralph Wallace Burton also did a series of paintings in Ottawa of the old LeBreton Flats area of the city just before their demolition in 1964 by the federal government. Thirty-one of these paintings were donated to the City of Ottawa Archives by the artist, and some of these hang in Ottawa City Hall.
Ralph Wallace Burton, who also supported himself and his family by teaching art in Ottawa, held a number of solo shows over the years, including Ottawa’s Wallack’s Gallery and other galleries in Toronto and Ottawa.
He died in Ottawa at the age of 77.
Sources:
A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker. National Gallery of Canada, Artists in Canada database.
Wikipedia Entry