Carl Schaefer’s Edge of the Pinnacle Hill Woods, Waterloo County, 1979 displays the artist’s lifelong commitment to depicting the Canadian landscape with clarity, sensitivity, and a keen sense of place. Waterloo County, located in southwestern Ontario, is a historically agricultural region known for its rolling farmland, Mennonite heritage, and small rural communities, landscapes that have long inspired Canadian artists such as Carl Schaefer.

Carl Schaefer (1903–1995) was one of Canada’s most respected landscape painters and a central figure in 20th-century Canadian art. Born in Hanover, Ontario, he developed an early love of rural scenery, which became the foundation of his artistic practice. Schaefer studied at Central Technical School and the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, where he was influenced by teachers such as J.W. Beatty and F.S. Challener. His work is rooted in a deep observation of the land, and he became known for capturing both the quiet beauty and the structural rhythms of fields, forests, and small towns across southern Ontario.

Throughout his career, Schaefer exhibited widely and was an active member of key Canadian art institutions, including the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In the 1930s, he contributed to the Canadian War Records program, producing landscapes that documented Canadian settings during the Second World War. Later, as an educator, he taught at Central Technical School and influenced generations of younger artists. Schaefer’s landscapes, like Edge of the Pinnacle Hill Woods, Waterloo County, 1979, are celebrated for their thoughtful composition and atmospheric depth.