DAVID BLACKWOOD "MOLLY GLOVER ON BRAGG'S ISLAND" 1997
$4,800.00
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Description:
- Edition: 55/75
- Etchin & Aquatint
- Date: 1997
- Signed
- Sheet: 32 x 20 inches (81.3 x 50.8 cm)
- Framed: 42.5 x 30 inches (108 x 76.2 cm)
- Condition: Excellent
- Framed under glass
The Artist: David Blackwood (Canadian, 1941-2022)
David Lloyd Blackwood (1941–2022) was one of Canada’s most prominent and celebrated master printmakers and visual storytellers. Born in the outport community of Wesleyville, Newfoundland, his family’s long seafaring history and his childhood memories heavily informed his epic intaglio and aquatint prints. Often dubbed "Newfoundland's gothic master," Blackwood created haunting, powerful imagery that deeply chronicled the history, legends, and perilous seafaring life of Atlantic Canada. His instantly recognizable style features a stark, dramatic blue-black color palette used to explore recurring themes such as humanity's struggle with nature, the realities of the sealing industry, tragic shipwrecks, and local outport folklore like the iconic "mummering" traditions.
Recognized as an artistic prodigy early on, Blackwood graduated from OCAD University and had his work purchased by the National Galllery of Canada when he was just 23 years old. Over his prolific career, he exhibited his work in more than 90 solo shows internationally and was the subject of the 1974 Academy Award-nominated documentary, BLACKWOOD, produced by the National Film Board. In recognition of his vast contributions to Canadian art, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario. Today, his masterworks are preserved in premier global institutions, including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, and the Art Gallery of Ontario, which houses his primary archives.
The Bragg's Island Collection is one of David Blackwood’s most deeply personal series, heavily inspired by his maternal ancestry and the traumatic historical reality of Newfoundland’s government-enforced resettlement program. Bragg's Island was a small, isolated outport community where Blackwood’s grandparents lived until the mid-1950s when the population was moved to the mainland. Through this collection, Blackwood blends familial memories, haunting coastal landscapes, and themes of displacement.
Molly Grover on Bragg's Island center on Blackwood's mother, Molly Glover (Blackwood), and carry a raw, highly emotional narrative. It is a deeply personal, limited-edition color etching and aquatint that serves as a profound homage to his mother. The artwork captures Molly as a foundational and emotionally resonant figure within Blackwood's larger visual mythology of Bonavista Bay. In Blackwood's narrative universe, Molly represents both the grace of outport daily ritual and the underlying psychological friction of her upbringing and challenging domestic life. Born on the isolated outport of Bragg's Island as the daughter of a cod trap fisherman, she later married an older schooner captain and took on the immense burden of becoming a stepmother to five children at just eighteen years old. Blackwood frequently used his signature deep blue-black palettes to anchor her figure against the stark, heavy coastal backdrop of her childhood home, intertwining her personal identity with the physical and emotional landscapes of Newfoundland's history.
The Story: From a private collector in LOCATION.
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