ARCA RBA
1879 - 1915
Canadian
Girl with a Wash Bowl
oil on board
on verso titled, inscribed "335" and variously and stamped with the AAM Helen G. McNicoll catalogue #118
12 5/8 x 9 in, 32.1 x 22.9 cm
Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000 CAD
Sold for: $37,250
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Toronto
LITERATURE
Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Helen G. McNicoll, RBA, ARCA, Art Association of Montreal, 1925, listed page 9, titled as Sketch
National Gallery of Canada, "Helen McNicoll," https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/helen-mcnicoll
EXHIBITED
Art Association of Montreal, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Helen G. McNicoll, RBA, ARCA, November 7 – December 6, 1925, catalogue #118, titled as Sketch
Helson Gallery, Halton Hills, Ontario, Le petit salon: Canadian Artists and Impressionism, April 27 - July 23, 2022
Helen McNicoll was an important Canadian Impressionist, known for her portraits of children and upper-class and working women, in both outdoor and indoor settings. After studying at the Art Association of Montreal, McNicoll enrolled in the Slade School of Fine Art in London, where she was exposed to both French and British Impressionists. Around 1905 she entered the School of Landscape and Sea Painting at St. Ives in Cornwall, where she was inspired by the teachings of Algernon Talmage and explored painting en plein air. Talmage was noted for stating, “Remember, there is sunshine in the shadows,” a tenet manifested in this extraordinary light-infused portrait of a young girl. McNicoll exhibits a gorgeous delicate pastel palette in the girl’s clothing – creamy strokes of white, ivory and pale lemon yellow are contrasted with small touches of pink and highlighted with blue and mauve shadows. The girl is sweetly contemplative, perhaps paused in a task to enjoy the warm sunshine. McNicoll’s brushwork is sensitive – the door and walls in the background and the stone steps are delineated by broad, assured brush-strokes that suggest rather than exactly define wood and masonry.
McNicoll achieved success in Montreal and England during a time of social, political and cultural transformation. Her remarkable life was cut short—she died at the age of 35, making her extraordinary paintings rare and sought-after.
Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
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