Lot 124: Helen Galloway McNicoll 1879 - 1915 Canadian oil

Helen Galloway McNicoll 1879 - 1915 Canadian oil on canvas Making Posies 16 x 18 inches 40.6 x 45.7 centimeters on verso stamped with the Studio Helen McNicoll estate stamp, #18 Literature:Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Helen G. McNicoll, RBA, ARCA, The Art Association of Montreal, 1925, listed page 4 Joan Murray, Helen McNicoll, Oil Paintings from the Estate, The Morris Gallery, 1974, listed and reproduced, unpaginated A.K. Prakash, Independent Spirit: Early Canadian Women Artists, 2008, pages 37 and 76 Provenance:Estate of the Artist The Morris Gallery, Toronto, 1974 Private Collection, Toronto By descent to the present Private Estate, Toronto Exhibited:The Art Association of Montreal, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Helen G. McNicoll, RBA, ARCA, November 7 - December 6, 1925, catalogue #18 The Morris Gallery, Toronto, Helen McNicoll, Oil Paintings from the Estate, November 16 - 30, 1974, catalogue #12 " 'Trailblazers' are artists who changed Canadian art forever. That is, the originality and force of expression embodied in their work have survived the test of time," stated A.K. Prakash. Helen McNicoll is inevitably included in this category. This was an age in which women were not allowed the level of artistic freedom that men experienced in Europe, Canada or elsewhere. We are fortunate to have a handful of female artists that we now consider keystone figures in Canadian art history. This painting is an intimate portrait in which the artist's viewpoint looks outward, perhaps from a windowsill, and depicts two children exploring a sunlit field collecting flowers for a posy. Several art scholars have chosen canvases by McNicoll, above all other artists, to feature as covers for their publications. One example is Paul Duval's renowned publication entitled Canadian Impressionism. Duval recognized early on that it was McNicoll, along with a handful of her female contemporaries, who most clearly exemplified the theories of Impressionism as taught by the legendar French and English Impressionists. Like Claude Monet and McNicoll's teacher Wyndham Lewis, McNicoll was true to certain principles of light, mood and atmosphere derived from the brilliance of sunlight as it reflects in the air and on water. Few Canadian artists could paint gardens, beach scenes, children or sun effects quite like McNicoll. As Prakash observed, "The Impressionists set the standard for this kind of painting; Monet excelled at it, and in Canadian art, McNicoll alone painted to this level." McNicoll's treatment of her subjects was blissful and heartfelt and her atmospheres transcendent; a canvas such as this is a rare and beautiful gift for art patrons.