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Colville In Situ

I think in a sense the things I show are moments in which everything seems perfect and something is revealed.
—Alex Colville

Alex Colville created images that are rooted in the details of time and place. He drew from the world around him, whether the rural landscape of Atlantic Canada, or scenes of California and Germany, where Colville spent extended stays.

Colville called Sackville, New Brunswick, home from the beginning of his studies as a Fine Arts student at Mount Allison University in 1938, until he moved to Wolfville, Nova Scotia, in 1973. Colville In Situ is a three-part series that pairs three works by the artist depicting recognizable Sackville locations with photographs of those same locations today. In seeing these works in situ, we can gain insight into Colville’s process of ordering reality and the ways that he constructed his compositions through observation and imagination. These moments invite us to look and look again as we consider Colville’s work in the here and now.

Clouds of steam billow from a stopped train and envelop people on the train station platform. Some figures face the train, others embrace, some carry luggage. The drawing is marked with a grid which is numbered along the top edge. A large expanse of cracked pavement fills the bottom half of this photograph. In the upper right, we see the corner of the Sackville VIA train station. Prominent wood brackets that are painted white brace the overhanging eaves of the building. To the left is the train platform and rail line.

Alex Colville
Untitled (Sketch for Sackville Train Station Mural), c. 1942
mixed media on paper
26 x 48.3 cm
Collection of the Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University
Gift of the Artist
© A.C. Fine Art Inc.

The scene is filled with bustling patrons of all ages, some departing, others returning. This sketch, which Alex Colville completed as a Fine Arts student at Mount Allison University, is all that remains of the mural he designed for the Sackville train station.

Created during the early years of the Second World War, the drawing features soldiers and loved ones preparing to say their goodbyes, with the train station itself seen in the background to the right, and the train obscured by a cloud of steam on the left. Once a hub of interaction and travel, the train station in Sackville now stands empty. Although trains still stop periodically, the building itself is no longer in use. Colville’s drawing transports us to another time, connecting us to the past, and reminding us of the spaces that we often take for granted, both in Sackville and on our journeys elsewhere.

In this square image, we look across an empty street to a large building with beige siding and burgundy trim. Four storefronts occupy the ground level, while a row of rectangular windows extend across the second story. The central portion of the building steps up to a third story with a peaked roof and half-moon window. A red SUV is parked near the far left of the building. Further to the left is a large tree, beyond which we can see the side of a neighbouring building. In the foreground is a bench and a street sign that reads, “Willow Lane”. In the foreground, a milk truck wheels around a corner. The early morning sky is clear blue, and the street is deserted. The driver can be seen through the rear window, and a young boy stands on the running board of the vehicle, balancing himself with one arm through the open passenger-side window, while holding a bottle of milk in his free hand. In the back of the truck, which is packed with crates of milk, sits a black dog that looks straight at us. Buildings, including storefronts line the far side of the street.

Alex Colville
Milk Truck, 1959
oil and synthetic resin on hardboard
65.4 x 65.4 cm
Gift of ICI Canada Inc.
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1995.19.12
© A.C. Fine Art Inc.

In the foreground of this painting, a milk truck wheels around a corner. It is early morning and the street is deserted. The driver can be seen through the rear window, and a young boy stands on the running board of the vehicle, balancing himself with one arm through the open passenger-side window, while holding a bottle of milk in his free hand, ready to jump off at any moment to deliver it. In the back of the truck, which is packed with crates of milk, sits a black dog that looks straight at us.

Colville once said that his paintings are “a sort of conglomeration of experience and observation.” In this work, the intersection of Bridge and Main Streets in Sackville is rendered with precision. While new businesses have taken the places of the old, some architectural details remain the same, such as the distinctive façade with its half-moon window. Further down the street, the post office now occupies the spot where three smaller buildings once were. Standing at this corner, waiting for the signal to cross, where does your attention turn?

An older man with grey hair and a loose-fitting grey suit walks towards us on the sidewalk between the paved road and a decorative stone and wrought iron fence. Alongside him, the trees stand tall and bare, and the grass is dry and yellowed. A stretch of worn sidewalk recedes into the distance on the left side of this photograph. To the right a sloped bank of grass leads to an ornate stone and wrought iron fence. At the top of the bank, just in front of the fence, grow three large trees. The trees are in full leaf and fill the central area of the image. Beyond the trees and the fence, we see the white top of a tent and the stone façade of Cranewood. In the foreground, at the far right, we glimpse the edge of a brown dumpster and three guy-wires covered by bright yellow plastic protectors.

Alex Colville
Mr. Wood in April, 1960
oil and synthetic resin
60.9 x 91.4 cm
Private Collection
© A.C. Fine Art Inc.

An older man with grey hair and a loose-fitting grey suit walks on the sidewalk between the paved roadway and a decorative stone and wrought iron fence. Alongside him, the trees stand tall and bare, and the grass is still yellowed from the winter cold. This man is Mr. Wood, whose family home, Cranewood, stands just beyond the fence.

The photograph of this spot in 2022, with its trees in full leaf and spring rolling brightly over into summer, is a stark contrast to Colville’s painting. Yet the two images may remind us of the shared experience of walking this path and witnessing the turning of the seasons. By taking us to this spot, with the stately architecture of Cranewood just out of view, Mr. Wood in April offers us a quiet moment to reflect on the ways that we move through the world and observe the passage of time.

Colville in Situ was made possible thanks to the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage (Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations) and Mount Allison University alumni Heather and Ian Bourne.