Sold for: $236,000

PROVENANCE
W. Scott & Sons, Montreal
Acquired from the above by Estelle Holland, 1929
A gift to the present Private Collection, Ontario, 1971

LITERATURE
Charles C. Hill, Morrice: A Gift to the Nation: The G. Blair Laing Collection, National Gallery of Canada, 1992, a related circa 1905 – 1906 drawing from Morrice’s sketchbook #16, page 63 verso, in the collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, catalogue #Dr. 1973.39, reproduced page 98

James Wilson Morrice spent much of his life in Europe, and his fame as an Impressionist painter was established there, yet he still kept his ties with Canada, where he was acclaimed as one of our early modernist painters. This pochade is a charming vignette of a summer afternoon at the beach in France, where, at seaside locations such as Boulogne-sur-Mer, these distinctive striped bathing tents were to be found. Morrice also sketched beach scenes at Saint-Malo, Paramé, the Côte d’Azur and Le Pouldu. He was known to have headed off from his Paris studio with his sketchbooks and painting box containing small wood panels such as this on the spur of the moment, taking the train to discover new painting places. This sun-drenched scene, rapidly executed on the spot with sure and fluid brush-strokes, captures the atmosphere of the seashore so convincingly that one can feel the sea breeze.

This painting is included in the catalogue raisonné on the artist’s work that is being compiled by Lucie Dorais.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars