Lot 115: Helen Galloway McNicoll 1879 - 1915 Canadian oil

Helen Galloway McNicoll 1879 - 1915 Canadian oil on canvas By the River 30 x 25 inches 76.2 x 63.5 centimeters on verso titled and stamped twice with the Studio Helen McNicoll Estate Stamp, catalogue #76 Literature:William R. Watson, "Artists of High Order", Montreal Gazette, March 10, 1911 W.R., "Round the Galleries: The Royal Society of British Artists", London Sunday Times, November 2, 1913 Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Helen G. McNicoll, RBA, ARCA, Art Association of Montreal, 1925, listed page 7 Provenance:Estate of the Artist By descent to the present Private Collection, USA Exhibited:Art Association of Montreal, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Helen G. McNicoll, RBA, ARCA, November 7 - December 6, 1925, catalogue #76 Helen McNicoll was doing the right thing for an emerging artist: returning to square one to plot a development. This painting of a riverside scene reveals her ongoing ambition to bring together light, atmosphere and a tranquil scene with considerable power of handling. McNicoll was trying to wedge Impressionism into the equation, making works in brilliant colours where small patches distributed on the canvas created an all-over pattern that combined in the viewer's eye into a whole, taken at a distance. Here she is painting in her impassioned way, freshly and spontaneously, while meditating on the new values in art which she had learned and in which she believed. The subject - reflections - is one which she used often at an early date, and we notice the way the trees are reflected in the water. Here the shoreline seems to be full of activity, a sign that may indicate a later date, as does the brilliance of the handling of colour and light. One of McNicoll's paintings was described by a critic writing for the London Sunday Times in 1913 as convincing, but not over-emphasized, and the same delicacy of handling can be ascribed to this painting. Her work disarmed all thoughts of labour in the studio and thus achieved the distinctive height of art concealing art, to paraphrase the Montreal art dealer and critic William R. Watson who, in his comprehensive review of the 1911 Art Association of Montreal spring exhibition, singled out McNicoll for special mention in the Montreal Gazette. Like many other artists of her generation, she sought a simpler and more direct experience of nature, but her gift was to attractively fuse the naturalism of earlier styles with more advanced impressionism. As she realized, the tension between the two modes kept things interesting. We thank Joan Murray for contributing the above essay.