Lot 153: David Brown Milne 1882 - 1953 Canadian watercolour

David Brown Milne 1882 - 1953 Canadian watercolour on paper Poppies and Lilies III 21 1/4 x 14 1/2 inches 54 x 36.8 centimeters dated 1944 - 1946 and on verso titled in graphite and inscribed by Douglas Duncan ""W-493, ca. Apr. 1946"" Literature:David P. Silcox, Painting Place: The Life and Work of David B. Milne, 1996, pages 320, 333 and 344 and reproduced in colour page 322 David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings Volume 2: 1929 - 1953, 1998, reproduced page 881, catalogue #406.5 Provenance:Douglas Duncan, Picture Loan Society, Toronto James Coyne, Toronto, 1955 The Framing Gallery, Toronto, circa 1970 Private Collection, Toronto, circa 1970 By descent to the present Private Collection Exhibited:The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Water Colours by David Milne, January 22 - February 7, 1954, titled as Poppies and Lilies No. 1 National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, David Milne, September 16 - October 9, 1955, traveling exhibition, catalogue #106 In 1941 David Milne began a series of paintings of delicate flowers using a pink wash that precipitated the use of an increasing range of colour - David Silcox describes it as "a scarlet richness that saturated the paper in a way that was new in Milne's work, and that he would exploit over the new few years." The fragile poppy flowers, with their soft, gauzy petals and hairy stems, were especially well suited to Milne's interest in gentle line and ethereal form. Silcox counts these works amongst Milne's finest, as they seem "to fulfill his statement that he would like to have 'wished' his images onto the paper." A related watercolour entitled Poppies and Lychnis was painted circa August 1943 and acquired by the National Gallery of Canada in 1947. Of the four versions of Poppies and Lilies, two are from August of 1943 and two are from early 1946, and all but this work are in public or government collections - the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Department of Foreign Affairs, Government of Canada.