David Brown Milne
CGP CSGA CSPWC
1882 - 1953
Canadian
Village and Country
oil on canvas, circa 1931
signed and on verso titled and inscribed “148” and “M-124”
16 1/8 x 20 1/8 in, 41 x 51.1 cm
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the Artist by Vincent Massey, Toronto, 1934
Norman Platt Lambert, Ottawa, 1935
By descent to P. Lambert, Ontario
Important Canadian Art, Sotheby’s Canada, November 3, 1993, lot 163
Private Collection, Toronto
LITERATURE
Donald W. Buchanan, Exhibition of Paintings by David B. Milne, Mellors Galleries, 1935, listed page 2
David P. Silcox, Painting Place: The Life and Work of David B. Milne, 1996, mentioned page 230
David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Volume 2: 1929 – 1953, 1998, reproduced page 510, catalogue #302.54
EXHIBITED
Mellors Galleries, Toronto, Exhibition of Paintings by David B. Milne, November 1935, catalogue #25
James Wilson & Co., Ottawa, Exhibition of Pictures by David B. Milne, December 1935
David Milne moved more than most artists, often for financial reasons. After his student days and early successes in New York City, and a time in the Canadian Army at the end of World War I, in 1919, Milne settled in Boston Corners in New York State. Though he established a strong reputation in the USA, he and his wife Patsy returned to Canada in 1929 and soon moved to the town of Palgrave, in the Caledon Hills of southern Ontario, just north of Toronto. Milne sought out the quiet, domestic, agrarian landscapes of the area and the simplicity of the town.
The Palgrave paintings he made in 1930 to 1933 are among Milne’s most adept and praised. Some were exhibited in Canada and the USA at this time, but garnered no sales at the nadir of the Great Depression. Not able to get by as a full-time painter, Milne did farm labour in return for firewood. Typical of his unwavering dedication to painting and the solace he found there, however, Village and Country is luminous. We look over part of the village towards the adjacent hills. Flecks of red, orange and purple animate the scene. At the horizon on the far right is a streak of purple that catches the eye as it marks quite distant rolling hills. A loosely and opaquely painted cloudy sky hovers just above a clear zone just above the horizon line. This sky dominates not only the composition but the mood, which Milne (an excellent commentator on his own principles and work) defined as “serenity.”
He explained what he meant to his main patrons, Alice and Vincent Massey:
On a bright day you go out and stand for a moment: a burden falls from you, you are refreshed, stimulated, uplifted. Why? Just exactly what, in nature, has stimulated you: the fresh air, the sunshine, the beauty of the landscape? No, none of these! The painter gets this feeling of serenity, just as anyone else does: then something, some timing of his particular art interest at the period, moves him to search out the mystery by painting. In the end he knows that his feeling came from just one thing, the great, restful space above the horizon.[1]
An everyday scene in an initially unremarkable place, Milne sees and is able to hold onto something transcendent in the experience of this subtle landscape.
We thank Mark A. Cheetham for contributing the above essay. Cheetham is a freelance writer and curator and a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. He has written extensively on Canadian artists, including Jack Chambers, Alex Colville, Robert Houle and Camille Turner.
1. Quoted in David P. Silcox, Painting Place: The Life and Work of David B. Milne (University of Toronto Press, 1996), 229. Listen Stop
Estimate: $60,000 - $80,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.
CGP CSGA CSPWC
1882 - 1953
Canadian
Village and Country
oil on canvas, circa 1931
signed and on verso titled and inscribed “148” and “M-124”
16 1/8 x 20 1/8 in, 41 x 51.1 cm
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the Artist by Vincent Massey, Toronto, 1934
Norman Platt Lambert, Ottawa, 1935
By descent to P. Lambert, Ontario
Important Canadian Art, Sotheby’s Canada, November 3, 1993, lot 163
Private Collection, Toronto
LITERATURE
Donald W. Buchanan, Exhibition of Paintings by David B. Milne, Mellors Galleries, 1935, listed page 2
David P. Silcox, Painting Place: The Life and Work of David B. Milne, 1996, mentioned page 230
David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Volume 2: 1929 – 1953, 1998, reproduced page 510, catalogue #302.54
EXHIBITED
Mellors Galleries, Toronto, Exhibition of Paintings by David B. Milne, November 1935, catalogue #25
James Wilson & Co., Ottawa, Exhibition of Pictures by David B. Milne, December 1935
David Milne moved more than most artists, often for financial reasons. After his student days and early successes in New York City, and a time in the Canadian Army at the end of World War I, in 1919, Milne settled in Boston Corners in New York State. Though he established a strong reputation in the USA, he and his wife Patsy returned to Canada in 1929 and soon moved to the town of Palgrave, in the Caledon Hills of southern Ontario, just north of Toronto. Milne sought out the quiet, domestic, agrarian landscapes of the area and the simplicity of the town.
The Palgrave paintings he made in 1930 to 1933 are among Milne’s most adept and praised. Some were exhibited in Canada and the USA at this time, but garnered no sales at the nadir of the Great Depression. Not able to get by as a full-time painter, Milne did farm labour in return for firewood. Typical of his unwavering dedication to painting and the solace he found there, however, Village and Country is luminous. We look over part of the village towards the adjacent hills. Flecks of red, orange and purple animate the scene. At the horizon on the far right is a streak of purple that catches the eye as it marks quite distant rolling hills. A loosely and opaquely painted cloudy sky hovers just above a clear zone just above the horizon line. This sky dominates not only the composition but the mood, which Milne (an excellent commentator on his own principles and work) defined as “serenity.”
He explained what he meant to his main patrons, Alice and Vincent Massey:
On a bright day you go out and stand for a moment: a burden falls from you, you are refreshed, stimulated, uplifted. Why? Just exactly what, in nature, has stimulated you: the fresh air, the sunshine, the beauty of the landscape? No, none of these! The painter gets this feeling of serenity, just as anyone else does: then something, some timing of his particular art interest at the period, moves him to search out the mystery by painting. In the end he knows that his feeling came from just one thing, the great, restful space above the horizon.[1]
An everyday scene in an initially unremarkable place, Milne sees and is able to hold onto something transcendent in the experience of this subtle landscape.
We thank Mark A. Cheetham for contributing the above essay. Cheetham is a freelance writer and curator and a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. He has written extensively on Canadian artists, including Jack Chambers, Alex Colville, Robert Houle and Camille Turner.
1. Quoted in David P. Silcox, Painting Place: The Life and Work of David B. Milne (University of Toronto Press, 1996), 229. Listen Stop
Estimate: $60,000 - $80,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.
