Lot 167: Emily Carr 1871 - 1945 Canadian oil on paper on

Emily Carr 1871 - 1945 Canadian oil on paper on board Forest Interior 22 3/4 x 16 inches 57.8 x 40.6 centimeters signed and on verso titled on the Dominion Gallery label and inscribed with the Dominion Gallery inventory #D4178 Literature:Doris Shadbolt, The Art of Emily Carr, 1979, a similar circa 1936 Untitled oil on paper work, in the collection of the Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery, University of Victoria, reproduced page 214 Emily Carr, Hundreds and Thousands, The Journals of Emily Carr, 2006, pages 265 and 273 Provenance:Dominion Gallery, Montreal The Collection of Dr. John A. MacAulay, Winnipeg Private Collection, Vancouver Emily Carr's depictions of inner forests ranged from solemn to tender and joyous, such as in this fluid, energized oil on paper work. In Forest Interior, painted in a free and expansive manner, Carr is attuned to the pulse of life. The foreground is lush forest undergrowth, which she described in her journal as "a sea of sallal [sic] and bracken, waving, surging, rolling towards you. Green jungle...solid, yet the very solidity full of air spaces." With her technique of oil washes on paper, Carr could work directly in the forest. She captured what she perceived with sweeping brush-strokes, finding "themes everywhere, something sublime...or joyous, or calm, or mysterious. Tender youthfulness laughing at gnarled oldness. Moss and ferns, and leaves and twigs, light and air, depth and colour chattering, dancing a mad joy-dance, but only apparently tied up in stillness and silence. You must be still in order to hear and see." This beautiful painting was once owned by the prominent Winnipeg collector Dr. John MacAulay, whose collection included the extraordinary Carr canvas Wind in the Tree Tops, which Heffel sold for a record price in June of 2009.