Sold for: $52,250

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Toronto
Sold sale of Important Canadian Art, Sotheby's Canada, May 11, 1994, lot 37
Private Collection, Ontario
Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, May 24, 2017, lot 104

James Wilson Morrice had been in France since 1891 or 1892, having left Canada in 1889. He had begun to exhibit with the Salon de la Société nationale des beaux-arts and was establishing himself quickly as an artist of note, meeting other prominent painters and making short trips to nearby countries—including Italy, where the light and colour and atmosphere dazzled him. He was drawn to intimate café scenes such as this, often painting groups of women seated at tables, strolling along promenades, or at rest in the shade of leafy trees. He was fully in tune with the colour and light of France. Here, the shade of the near ground creates an atmospheric contrast with the light blue and yellow of the sky, which Morrice has depicted with a simple palette of yellow, blue and white. The women are dressed in the attire of the time—we can make out hats and perhaps even gloves. No doubt they found the shade of the leafy trees enticing.

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

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