Sold for: $12,980

PROVENANCE
Douglas Duncan Picture Loan Society, Toronto
Collection of Alan and Betty Jarvis, circa 1955
Acquired from the above in 1989
By descent to the present Private Collection, British Columbia

LITERATURE
David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Volume 2: 1929 - 1953, 1998, reproduced page 838, catalogue #404.83
Katharine Lochnan, David Milne Watercolours: "Painting toward the Light," Art Gallery of Ontario, 2005, page 136

EXHIBITED
Douglas Duncan Picture Loan Society, Toronto, 1955, catalogue #5

Despite the fact that World War II was ongoing, David Milne's life in Uxbridge in 1944 continued on peacefully and productively. Milne was working predominantly in watercolour, and using wet washes as his technique of execution. He described his process, which was like that of traditional Asian brush painting, as follows: "The planning has to be done before-hand in great detail; the order in which the colors are to be applied, what brushes are to be fully charged and what with only the slightest amount of paint on them, what effects of the diffusion, spreading and overlapping, due to the wetness of the paper." Thus careful preparation culminated in a seemingly spontaneous execution of image.

This watercolour contains the repeating forms of telephone poles, a visually arresting pictorial element. Contrasting them against large areas of bare paper, Milne delineates his forms with strong outlines and brushes in soft areas of black, red and blue to define space - their bleeding edges giving a further impression of fluid spontaneity. In the background, the jagged trees are an instantly recognizable characteristic of Milne's unique use of line.

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