Montreal painter John Little dead at 96 [Video]

One of Montreal’s best-known painters died this week at the age of 96.

John Little captured the city’s working-class neighbourhoods and highlighted an architecture that is fast disappearing.

His friends remember how he started capturing the city.

“Here was this anglophone from the Town of Mount Royal, very well established, going downtown all the time to walk along the tracks, to peer down into back yards of these various working-class neighborhoods. And he was fascinated by the activity and the hockey rinks and the real-life activity,” said Terry Mosher, a cartoonist for the Montreal Gazette.

Little began his career in the 1950s and built a solid reputation for his impressionist style, where details mattered.

Alan Klinkhoff, an arts dealer, sees his city in the paintings.

“Of course, our church spires that resonate in Montreal from around the country. It’s just the essence of essentially a working-class neighborhood,” he said.

“Sometimes you’ll see a one of our old sorts of …