A selection of 10 works by the late Canadian painter, printmaker and educator Frederick Hagan is now on display in the J.N. Desmarais Library on the Laurentian University campus.
The paintings chosen for this exhibition are part of a larger collection of watercolours that the artist painted of Kukagami Lake, one of his favourite destinations.
Located in the Sudbury region, Kukagami Lake provided many opportunities for Frederick Hagan to explore and portray these unique landscapes.
“This spot was becoming somewhat sacred to me and I did find the spirits of growth, change and chance attempting to sound out my views and gently giving what I took for sound advice,” Hagen said in 1965.
“I listened to the wind, smelt the vegetation, breathed deep of wisdom from the sky. Not in a dramatic sense but simply as I climbed, sat quietly drawing.”
Each work represents a trip that Hagan made to Kukagami Lake between 1962 and 1981. He visited in the months of May, August, September and October as he enjoyed the changing scenery.
The title of each work references what the artist saw and drew inspiration from, such as, for example Rock, Islands, Changing Weather (1979) and Rain Clouds Gather (1962).
Hagan was born in Toronto in 1918 and worked in the wood fabrication industry while attending evening courses at OCAD University (formerly known as the Ontario College of Art).
He studied under great Canadian artists such as John Alfsen, Franklin Carmichael and Fred Haines, among others. Hagan later began to teach drawing, painting, composition and printmaking at OCAD University until he retired in 1983. Frederick Hagan died in 2003 in Newmarket, Ont.
There is a total 287 works by Hagan in the LUMAC Collection, managed by the Art Gallery of Sudbury. The works were acquired through a donation from the artist in 1991.
The watercolours of the Kukagami series will be on display at the J.N. Desmarais Library until early 2019.
