''Radium Mine'' is a painting made by Canadian artist

A.Y. Jackson Alexander Young Jackson LL. D. (October 3, 1882April 5, 1974) was a Canadian painter and a founding member of the Group of Seven. Jackson made a significant contribution to the development of art in Canada, and was instrumental in bringing toget ...

when he visited the mine-site of the isolated Radium

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

at Port Radium, Northwest Territories, in 1938. Jackson was a friend of prospector

Gilbert LaBine Gilbert A. LaBine, (10 February 1890 – 8 June 1977) was a Canadian prospector who, in 1930, discovered radium and uranium deposits at Port Radium, Northwest Territories. He has become known as the father of Canada's uranium industry. LaB ...

, then the mine manager, and flew to the site with him.

Significance

When the painting came up for auction on November 22, 2012, it was described as "historically significant". The painting was held privately by the LaBine family, prior to the auction, and had been available for public viewing only once. It was expected to sell for as much as $300,000

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

Second painting

Jackson is known to have composed several other paintings during his many visits to Port Radium. It was purchased by a private owner, whose estate donated it to the National Gallery of Canada in 1939. Art historian

John O'brian John O'Brian is an art historian, writer, and curator. He is best known for his books on modern art, including ''Clement Greenberg: The Collected Essays and Criticism'', one of ''The'' ''New York Times'' “Notable Books of the Year” in 1986, ...

, an expert on Jackson's work, said he had been unaware of the existence of the painting. Extra interest in the painting was triggered by the mine being the prime source of Uranium for the

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

used in World War II.{{cite news , url = http://pipelineobserver.ca/long-unseen-radium-mine-by-group-of-seven-great-a-y-jackson-has-nuclear-significance-yahoo-news-canada/ , title = 'Radium Mine' by Group of Seven great A.Y. Jackson has nuclear significance , publisher = Pipeline Observer , author = Dave Core , date = 2012-11-13 , archivedate = 2014-04-01 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140401101550/http://pipelineobserver.ca/long-unseen-radium-mine-by-group-of-seven-great-a-y-jackson-has-nuclear-significance-yahoo-news-canada/ , url-status = dead , quote = But as Boswell’s story points out, there’s a darker element to the painting that Jackson certainly couldn’t know at the time. Just a few years after his visit, uranium from what became known as the El Dorado mine was used in the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945. It was Canada’s principal contribution to mammoth Manhattan Project.

References

Paintings by A. Y. Jackson