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LOT 151

CGP CSGA CSPWC
1882 - 1953
Canadian

Window and Easel, Mount Riga, New York
watercolour on paper, 1921
signed and inscribed "MR" and on verso inscribed "1" / "#216" / "NG/470" / "EW"
11 x 15 1/4 in, 27.9 x 38.7 cm

Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD

Sold for: $35,400

Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave

PROVENANCE
Estate of the Artist
Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, November 23, 2016, lot 151
Private Collection, Toronto

LITERATURE
David Milne (1882 - 1953): A Survey Exhibition, Galerie Godard Lefort, 1971, unpaginated
David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Volume 1: 1882 - 1928, 1998, page 344, reproduced page 344, catalogue #204.33

EXHIBITED
Galerie Godard Lefort, Montreal, David Milne (1882 - 1953): A Survey Exhibition, April 22 - May 15, 1971, catalogue #5


The early 1920s in Mount Riga, south of Boston Corners, were a time of creative experimentation for David Milne, as he explored new possibilities of technique and composition. He realized that his style in watercolour, in which he used coloured outlines against the white of the paper—such as we see in this fine work—could be developed into etchings.

In Window and Easel, Mount Riga, New York, Milne's subject is cleverly self-referential. As the catalogue raisonné notes, “The painting on the easel is this painting, but the painting in it, instead of being smaller still, is a blank. The visual device of a picture within a picture was used by Milne in several other paintings…” Milne gives the viewer the sense of observing him in the studio as his ideas are manifested. His use of line is spare, yet it defines so much, and the slightly skewed angles of each element give the work a casually posed quality, like an informal photograph. Milne was a superb watercolourist, and Window and Easel is an exceptional example of this medium that was such an important part of his oeuvre.


Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD

All prices are in Canadian Dollars


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