Gros Morne (At Portland Creek), 1960
Christopher Pratt, Gros Morne (At Portland Creek), 1960, oil on Plywood, 91 x 91.5 cm, The Rooms, St. John’s.
At first glance, Gros Morne (At Portland Creek) may seem like a modest landscape—a muted rendering of trees, land, and sky in oil. But for Christopher Pratt, it was much more than a study of nature. The location—Portland Creek, with the rising silhouette of Gros Morne in the distance—held personal significance.
The work is an early example of Pratt finding his artistic footing, created as his career was beginning to gain attention. It is also important for its rarity. Painted in 1960 during a fishing trip with his father and brother, it marks one of Pratt’s earliest explorations of landscape in oil and holds the distinction of what he described as his first plein air painting. Unlike the carefully constructed interiors and stillness he would later become known for, Gros Morne (At Portland Creek) was created directly on site, painted from life in the rugged landscape of Newfoundland’s west coast. Pratt’s approach to painting had been strongly influenced by the American artist Adolf Dehn’s book Water Color Painting. Dehn advised his readers to never paint outdoors. In this case, Pratt chose to make an exception—and realized his mistake the moment sand blew onto the canvas.
Pratt preferred to construct his scenes in the studio, designing every element for compositional balance and symbolic resonance. Yet even here, engaging directly with the land, there is a sense of control and clarity. The overall result is raw and atmospheric, the brushwork looser than his later style, yet already grounded in his desire for balance.
The trees depicted here are not merely decorative. They hold a presence that Pratt admired, suggesting resilience and time, growth and decay. Pratt would return to the motif of trees throughout his career, finding in them both formal elegance and symbolic weight. In this early work, they are framed against the open sky and painted with a restrained palette that gives the piece a stillness even in the open air (particularly in a province known for its winds)—a quality that would become a hallmark of his later work. The natural world is observed carefully and rendered in a way that reveals not just where he was, but also who he was becoming. It is a glimpse of the artist finding his voice by paying close attention to the world around him.
The importance of Gros Morne (At Portland Creek) is reinforced by its lifelong presence in Pratt’s own home. He displayed the painting in his home long after his student days had passed—a visual anchor to a place and time that helped shape his vision. He also kept a piece of wood from one of the trees shown in this painting in his studio for years, a quiet memento from a formative moment.
Christopher Pratt at the location where he painted Gros Morne (At Portland Creek), 2016, photograph by Mireille Eagan.
Wood from the tree at Portland Creek, and drawing of the object, 1961, photograph by Ned Pratt.
Gallery
Christopher Pratt, Gros Morne (At Portland Creek), 1960, oil on Plywood, 91 x 91.5 cm, The Rooms, St. John’s.
Christopher Pratt, Gros Morne (At Portland Creek), 1961, serigraph on paper (working proof), 42 x 75.2 cm, The Rooms, St. John’s
Christopher Pratt, Woman at a Dresser, 1964, oil on hardboard, 67.2 x 77.5 cm, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario
Christopher Pratt, The Lynx, 1965, Serigraph on paper, 51.8 x 76.2 cm, The Rooms, St. John’s
Christopher Pratt, House in August, 1969, oil on board, 44.5 x 62.2 cm, Currier Museum of Art, New Hampshire
Christopher Pratt, Institution, 1973, oil on Masonite, 76.2 x 76.2 cm, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Christopher Pratt, Spring at My Place, 1985, serigraph, 50.6 x 95.7 cm, The Rooms, St. John’s
Christopher Pratt, Christmas Eve at 12 O’Clock, 1995, lithograph on paper (A/P VI), 25.8 x 28.5 cm, The Rooms, St. John’s
Christopher Pratt, Deer Lake: Junction Brook Memorial, 1999, oil on canvas, 114.5 x 305 cm, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Christopher Pratt, Driving to Venus: On the Burgeo Road, 2000, oil on hardboard, 101.6 x 165.1 cm, Private collection
Christopher Pratt, After the Cold War: Argentia Approach, 2008, oil on canvas, 152.4 x 177.8 cm, Private collection
From left to right: Christopher Pratt, Winter Suite 1: West Fall Evening, 2009, oil on board, 91.4 x 104.1 cm, private collection; Christopher Pratt, Winter Suite 2: North Winter Night, 2009, oil on board, 91.4 x 104.1 cm, private collection; Christopher Pratt, Winter Suite 3: East Spring Morning, 2009, oil on board, 91.4 x 104.1 cm, private collection; Christopher Pratt, Summer 1/1 4: South Summer Noon, 2009, oil on board, 91.4 x 104.1 cm, private collection.