Lot 116: David Brown Milne 1882 - 1953 Canadian oil on

David Brown Milne 1882 - 1953 Canadian oil on canvas Afternoon Sky 24 1/4 x 36 1/4 inches 61.6 x 92.1 centimeters signed and dated 1932 - 1934 and on verso inscribed in a circle ""A"" and by others ""51 Afternoon Sky / David Milne / Toronto"" and ""M 133"" Literature:Donald W. Buchanan, Exhibition of Paintings by David B. Milne, Mellors Galleries, 1935 An Exhibition of Canadian Paintings, Fortnum and Mason Ltd., 1955 David P. Silcox, Painting Place: The Life and Work of David B. Milne, 1996, pages 212 and 217 David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings Volume 2: 1929 - 1953, 1998, reproduced page 588, catalogue #303.48 Provenance:Milne sale to Vincent Massey, 1934 Frederic Hudd, London, England, 1937 Graham Spry, London, England, circa 1937 W.H. Wert, Montreal, circa 1970 Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., 1971 The Art Emporium, Vancouver, 1971 M.F. Feheley, Toronto, circa 1972 Milne Estate, 1984 Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto, 1985 Fay Loeb, Toronto, 1985 Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection, 1985 Exhibited:Mellors Galleries, Toronto, Exhibition of Paintings by David B. Milne, November 1935, catalogue #16 James Wilson & Co., Ottawa, Exhibition of Pictures by David B. Milne, December 1935 Fortnum and Mason Ltd., London, England, An Exhibition of Canadian Paintings, January 20 - February 4, 1955, catalogue #56 David and Patsy Milne moved to Palgrave, a village northwest of Toronto, in 1930. Like Boston Corners, it was a small town, located close, but not too close, to Toronto, and of a similar, rolling landscape, wherein the town was surrounded by hills. "Palgrave has almost as much character as B.C. (Boston Corners)," Milne wrote. "It isn't a necklace of coloured beads, more like a nest of Easter eggs.....It has a railway station - about a dollar fare to Toronto - two hotels - two very small churches and an Orange hall - three stores in one of which is the post office - a harness-maker's shop - two garages - a little flour mill - one Doctor - a school and very few - perhaps 20 - houses." He was pleased to have a small garden again, with some fruit trees and berry bushes, and, most importantly, an expansive, westward view. Milne's life at this time was in turmoil. The Great Depression was hard on everyone, but for an artist, who struggled to make a living at the best of times, it was a financial disaster. There was trouble in his marriage to Patsy - their only income, aside from the sales of Milne's art, were the payments that came from a cottage they had previously sold, and those were in arrears. Milne took on general labour to supplement their income, but the couple barely had enough money to buy food and pay their rent. Expensive art supplies must have seemed a frivolity. Milne believed that he needed solitude and the time to focus uninterrupted for hours at a time in order to create good work, and resentment grew between the couple. Milne has been described as an obsessive painter, but this is an understatement - he was utterl compulsive. He worked the same subjects through in repeated, yet slightly varying versions, until they were exactly as he desired they should be. His writing, too, was extremely detailed - he was as compulsive a letter writer as he was a painter, yet rarely do his letters mention his personal feelings or indicate unhappiness. Instead, they are quite joyous. He wrote in 1932, "Sunday Morning again! Here am I, one of the kings of the earth - and that's higher than any heaven I have ever seen described. If I were asked to name anything to be added to this morning's possessions or conditions I would be hard driven to do it. The mohammedan idol perhaps, some houris. No houris here, but, since they would destroy most of the joys already in my possession, I am just as well off this way." His art provided him a personal solace, and he produced an exceptional body of work at Palgrave, despite how troubled his life was. Afternoon Sky is a masterpiece oil on canvas. The village is painted with a limited palette, composed of the little shops, homes and buildings that Milne describes nesting together, Easter egg-like along the train tracks, with a band of trees in the distance. A predominance of black and white, colours that Milne used so successfully, settle the buildings into the landscape, and the masterful blends of colour in the sky, loose and airy in feeling - float above them. Milne truly understood the importance of line and colour, and his exhaustive explorations of these two aspects of art had given him an innate sense of what each could do in a composition. His lines, which sometimes masquerade as spots or dashes, are never too much, never too little. His balance of colours, so precise and orderly, are the result of hours and hours spent at the canvas, obsessively painting one colour against another, then closing his eyes, opening them again quickly, and considering the visual response that he felt. Lines and colours defined shapes, shapes defined forms, forms defined objects, and so, no matter how spare he was in his use of these things, he could always give us what he wanted to in his works. Milne painted several versions of this vista while he lived at Palgrave; Village in the Sun, Village Spread Out and Serenity are but a few of the titles, indicating how pleased he was with the work he produced at this particular painting place.