Sold for: $49,250

PROVENANCE
Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, 2003
Private Collection, Vancouver

LITERATURE
Tom Smart, The Art of Mary Pratt: The Substance of Light, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, 1995, page 48
Mireille Eagon et al., Mary Pratt, The Rooms and Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2013, page 17

Mary Pratt moved with her family to Salmonier, a small outport community in Newfoundland on the Salmonier River, in 1963. From the beginning, she would set up her easel and paint in this “pretty acre of a garden with rhododendrons,” as she described it. She considered her approach in the 1960s as impressionist, but later her work evolved into the realism that we see here. Consistent throughout her oeuvre is her depiction and elevation of everyday domestic objects and activities—here an inviting bowl of fruit is placed on a table, and empty chairs wait for unseen people. In quotidian scenes such as this, as Pratt wrote, lay “stories, flickering like sun on the grass, while underneath, cool as the turf, lay the meaning. I considered the meaning.” Another central concern for Pratt is light—and her technical ability to depict its qualities is prodigious. Here we see the effects of brilliant sunlight contrasted with deep shadows across the lawn and more subtle shadowing across the chairs and tablecloth. Particularly exquisite are the delicate cool and warm pastel tints in the chairs that emphasize sun and shade.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars