Artwork by Christopher Pratt,  Night on the River

Chris Pratt
Night on the River

colour serigraph
signed, titled, dated “Dec. ‘87” and numbered 14/55 in the lower margin
14 x 22.5 ins ( 35.6 x 57.2 cms )

Auction Estimate: $4,000.00$3,000.00 - $4,000.00

Price Realized $3,220.00
Sale date: May 28th 2015

Provenance:
Private Collection, Newfoundland and Labrador
Literature:
Tom Smart, “Christopher Pratt: Six Decades”, Richmond Hill, 2013, illustrated page 89
Discussing Christopher Pratt's work of the late 1980s, Tom Smart remarks that the artist “introduced and explored the theme of movement, particularly driving. This resulted in his choosing views as if seen from the front seat of an automobile, or describing scenery that can be seen only from behind the steering wheel. For Pratt, 'few things are as time-out-of-life as driving – it is my way of avoiding things, of being neither here nor there. Sometimes I think I could drive forever.' His 1987 silkscreen ‘Night on the River’, a nocturnal landscape, is a memory trace of a long, private January drive during which he stopped to listen to the water ripping under a bridge at Beaver Ridge (the place where he caught his first Atlantic salmon as an eight year old) as it coursed towards a waterfall further downstream.” A print from the edition of “Night on the River” can be found in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada.

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Christopher Pratt
(1935 - 2022)

Christopher Pratt was born in St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1935, but spent many boyhood summers in the Bay Roberts area where he now maintains a studio. He moved to New Brunswick in 1953 to attend Mount Allison University, trying several degree programs including biology and medicine. However, with the encouragement of instructors Alex Colville and Lawren Harris Jr. Pratt decided on fine arts.

It was at Mount Allison that he met Mary West. The couple married in 1957, then moved to Scotland where Pratt attended the Glasgow School of Art. Two years later, they returned to Mount Allison University, Sackville, where Pratt completed his fine arts degree. In 1961, Pratt accepted the position of curator at the newly opened Memorial University Art Gallery in St. John's. He remained at the gallery for two and a half years before deciding to concentrate on his painting full-time, moving his family to Salmonier, Newfoundland. Pratt has become one of Canada's best known and most respected artists, known for both meticulous serigraph prints and for powerfully evocative paintings.

In 1980, Pratt designed the Newfoundland flag. He was named a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1983 and has a number of honorary degrees from Canadian universities. Three books about Pratt are: Christopher Pratt; The Prints of Christopher Pratt: 1958-1991 and Christopher Pratt: Personal Reflections on a Life in Art. These feature reproductions of many of his works. Pratt's work is part of private and public collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; the Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University and the Vancouver Art Gallery.