Lot 115: Helen Galloway McNicoll 1879 - 1915 Canadian oil

Helen Galloway McNicoll 1879 - 1915 Canadian oil on canvas Tea Time 24 x 20 1/8 inches 61 x 51.1 centimeters on verso stamped on the canvas and on the stretcher with the Studio Helen McNicoll estate stamp, #14 Literature:Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Helen G. McNicoll, RBA, ARCA, Art Association of Montreal, 1925, listed page 4 Natalie Luckyj, Helen McNicoll, A Canadian Impressionist, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1999, page 63, reproduced page 31, listed page 79 Provenance:Private Collection, Toronto Private Collection Exhibited:Art Association of Montreal, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Helen G. McNicoll, RBA, ARCA, November 7 - December 6, 1925, catalogue #14 Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Helen McNicoll, A Canadian Impressionist, September 10 - December 12, 1999, catalogue #34 Helen McNicoll, one of Canada's most important Impressionists, was well known for her portrayals of light-filled interiors and sun-drenched outdoor settings. Leisurely pastimes and everyday pursuits such as reading, having tea, going to the beach or gathering fruit and flowers were subjects of great interest to McNicoll, and were greatly favoured by the Impressionists. At London's Slade School, she was exposed to modernist ideas and the practice of plein air painting, as well as a new romantic viewpoint which encouraged naturalism in place of the sentimentality of Victorian art. The Slade was a fine choice for McNicoll, as its policy was one of equal opportunity for both men and women students. While she was in London, important exhibitions were on view, such as the one at Grafton Gallery which included 300 French Impressionist works from the collection of French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel in 1905. Regarding this painting, Natalie Luckyj comments, "In Tea Time an English garden (perhaps in one of the homes she shared with Dorothea Sharp) becomes a space / site of personal reverie and fragrant scent. It is a private domestic sphere where no female presence is required, only the marker of domesticity - a cloth-covered table." Sharp was a fellow artist and close friend whom McNicoll met in England at St. Ives, while she was attending Julius Olsson's School of Landscape and Sea Painting. St. Ives, on the Cornish coast, was noted for its quality of light and was well known as an artist colony. McNicoll and Sharp traveled and painted together in France and Italy, and in England shared studio and living space. Both were Impressionists and committed to plein air painting. Not only was McNicoll a master of the creation of atmosphere through her Impressionist treatment of colour and brush-stroke, she was also exceptional at conveying a natural and contemplative mood. In Tea Time, the participants partaking of tea have momentarily stepped out of frame, but we can still feel their presence in the teapot and dishes still sitting on the table, and their touch is felt in the well-tended garden, lush with blooms. The space is secluded and attractive in its intimate scale, and the mood is one of peace and pleasure in everyday rituals. Beautiful and radiant with the warmth of a summer's day, Tea Time is a superb work by McNicoll.