Sold for: $28,125

PROVENANCE
Douglas Duncan Picture Loan Society, Toronto
Mr. and Mrs. P.T. Lownsbrough, Toronto, 1956
Estate of Mrs. P.T. Lownsbrough
Canadian Art, Joyner Fine Art, May 13, 1994, lot 42, titled as Blue Church
Private Collection, Toronto

LITERATURE
David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Volume 2: 1929 - 1953, 1998, reproduced page 852, catalogue #404.137

From 1940 to 1947, David Milne was living in the township of Uxbridge, northeast of Toronto, and visited several villages in the area in search of painting subjects. The images he did of Coboconk (nine are listed in the Milne catalogue raisonné) were painted in Uxbridge. Blue Church (Railway Station V) is the final work in a series of views across Coboconk that included the railway station and church. David P. Silcox and David Milne Jr. have designated the series, which comprises one oil and four watercolours, as Railway Station. Blue Church explores Coboconk from a slightly elevated viewpoint and, interestingly, the church is in the upper left corner of the composition. Milne used very wet brushes, loaded with pigment, painting rapidly, and, in the fall-coloured trees in both fore- and background, painted wet on wet. The area of white paper in the right foreground is critical to our enjoyment of the work, providing a respite for the eye and a balance for the intense activity of the upper portion. Visually exciting, the painting uses red extensively, with Milne saving blue for the titular church.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars