SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Born in Saint-Jean, Newfoundland, in 1898, Robert Wakeham Pilot made the territory of Quebec a favourite subject: his landscapes are set in places including the Laurentians, the Baie-Saint-Paul region and the city of Quebec. After moving to Montreal with his family in 1910, he drew in the studio of his stepfather, the painter Maurice Cullen, and supplemented his training with evening classes at the Royal Canadian Academy, where he worked from the life model under the direction of William Brymner.
In 1920, invited to the Group of Seven’s first exhibition in Toronto, he showed works there without formally joining the group. The titles and dates of several paintings attest to the range of his Quebec subjects: Winter Evening, St-Hubert, P.Q. (1925), pastel on paper; Towards Evening, St. Sauveur (1935), oil on canvas; Old Quebec (1929) and Kiosk, Québec (1963), both executed in oil. According to Walter Klinkhoff, Pilot could remove elements such as trees or houses from his compositions.
During the Second World War, he took part in the Italian campaign as a camouflage officer; he served as president of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1953–1954. A retrospective organised in his memory opened in Montreal in autumn 1968, and the Galerie Walter Klinkhoff dedicated an exhibition to him in 1983.
This profile brings together identity references for Robert Pilot and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer
References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.
Oil on canvas
October, near Mont Tremblant, 1946
huile sur toile
Catalogue period : 2011-06-18
Published result : 30400 CHF
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : CHF 12000–15000
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
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