signed and dated 1927, and on verso signed and titled

Illingworth Holey Kerr was born in Lumsden, Sask. in 1905. Kerr attended Central Technical School, Toronto, and Ontario College of Art. He also studied at Westminster School of Art, London, in 1936 and, returning to Canada, taught at Vancouver School of Art (1945-47). In 1947 he became director of the art department ( 1947-1967)of the Provincial Institute of Technology in Calgary (now ACAD). His early landscape style reflects the influence of Lawren Harris in his long, curving brush strokes and emphasis on design. He applied paint heavily, giving relief to an otherwise flat, spatial quality in his work. In later works Kerr used a broken brushstroke style that creates visual tension to counteract this 2-dimensionality. Named to the Order of Canada in 1983, he was given a retrospective exhibition ("Harvest of the Spirit") at 9 major public galleries in 1985. He died in Calgary in 1989.