Sold for: $23,600

PROVENANCE
Galerie L’Art Français Ltée., Montreal
Paul Ivanier, Montreal
Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art Inc., Vancouver
Peter and Joanne Brown Collection, Vancouver, acquired from the above in 1983

LITERATURE
Hughes de Jouvancourt, Goodridge Roberts, 1984, reproduced page 137
Sandra Paikowsky, Goodridge Roberts, 1904 - 1974, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1998, page 191

Goodridge Roberts was known for his landscapes, portraits and remarkable still lifes. Roberts had studied still life painting with Max Weber in New York, and when he was back in Montreal, the subject became a lifelong pursuit in his work. Here we see a seemingly casual yet highly conscious arrangement of everyday items from Roberts’s own possessions—fruit, some on a plate about to be eaten, a bottle, a book and, rising above them, a glorious bouquet of gladioli. There is an intimate feeling to the work; as the poet Neufville Shaw wrote, Roberts’s “interiors cluttered with all the drifting paraphernalia of life…are testimonials, not to geography or to interior decoration, but to the deep and clear personality of their creator.” Roberts tilts up the tabletop to better display his objects, and he renders the wall and floor as two softly expressionist colour fields. The artfully arranged tablecloth further showcases the artist’s fine painterly abilities. Glowing with rich colour and imbued with a warm atmosphere, Nature morte aux glaïeuls is a superb still life by one of Canada’s finest modernist painters.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars