Ralph Wallace Burton 1905 - 1983

Ralph Wallace Burton ( 1905 – 1983 )
Title: Winter at Kirk’s Ferry Que 67
Size: 10.5″ x 13.5″ ( 13 3/4″ x 16 3/4″ framed ) ………… SOLD!!!

A wonderful on site sketch of Kirk’s Ferry, Quebec which is located about 20 minutes north west of Ottawa along the Gatineau River. The location was named after Thomas Kirk, a business man who operated a ferry service near his tavern / hotel back in the 1800’s. There is a nice play of subtle pinks and yellows in the snow with long mauve shadows from a low winter sun.

Ralph Wallace Burton was born in the small town of Newington, Ontario just north west of Cornwall. He moved to his life long town of Ottawa where he studied mostly still life under Professor Chaume, then drawing classes with Alan Beddoe in 1923-24. Burton is probably best known as being one of A. Y. Jackson’s painting companions and a good friend for many years there after. The pair meet when Burton studied under Jackson at the Banff School of Arts in 1947, then later sketched together in the Rockies. Some of their other sketching trips include the Ottawa Valley Region in 1955, Clear Lake, Ontario 1964 and the Alaska Yukon area from September 9 to October 30 1964 along with their other good friend and painter Maurice Haycock. Although Burton had turned professional since 1930, Jackson had a great influence on the artist work and many would say for the better. For the most part, Burton was a “plein air” painter, taking his paint box and birch panels outdoors, where he then painted on site. On occasion a larger canvas would be worked up based on some of these sketches. Many of his paintings were completed in the Ottawa Valley and Eastern Ontario township areas.