Robert Wakeham Pilot
Cueta, Spanish Morocco
1927
oil on panel
31.2 x 41.7 cm
Art Gallery of Hamilton
Anonymous gift, 1959
© Mrs. R. Wakeham Pilot

Although he made many painting trips abroad to England, France, Italy and North Africa, Robert Pilot was always drawn back to Quebec. In 1956 he remarked, “I found the light of North Africa so much harsher than at home. I never felt as comfortable there as Morrice did. I guess my palette was too muted a one to go all out after the colour and contrasts I found there.” Pilot found the snow-laden streets of Québec and its neighbouring villages much more congenial to his temperament, but he seems to have painted the warm, dry sunlight of North Africa with ease in this Moroccan street scene.