Lot 176: Helen Galloway McNicoll 1879 - 1915 Canadian oil on canvas Reflections

Helen Galloway McNicoll 1879 - 1915 Canadian oil on canvas Reflections
18 x 16 inches 45.7 x 40.6 centimeters signed and on verso stamped McNicoll Estate Literature:Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Helen G. McNicoll, RBA, ARCA, The Art Association of Montreal, 1925, listed page 7
Natalie Luckyj, Helen McNicoll: A Canadian Impressionist, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1999, reproduced page 34, listed page 78
Provenance:Estate of the Artist
The Morris Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Vancouver Exhibited:The Art Association of Montreal, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Helen G. McNicoll, RBA, ARCA, November 7 - December 6, 1925, titled as Reflection, catalogue #88
Art Gallery of Ontario, Helen McNicoll: A Canadian Impressionist, 2000 - 2001, traveling to The Appleton Museum of Art, Ocala, Florida; the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montreal; the Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa; the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, catalogue #17 One of Canada's finest Impressionist artists, Helen McNicoll brought a transcendent sense of light, mood and atmosphere into her work. During her studies in England, McNicoll went to St. Ives in 1905 to study with Algernon Talmage, who stressed the importance of painting en plein air, an important tenet of Impressionism. While abroad, she made a three-month trip to Paris, during which she opened a studio and toured and painted in the countryside, visiting artist colonies in Brittany and Grès-sur-Loing.
Paintings such as Reflections are evidence of her firm commitment to an Impressionist style. Her French town scenes often included women going about the business of their day in harmony with their world, as does Reflections. Through sunshine, warmly lighting the houses on the riverbanks and reflected on the shimmering water, McNicoll created a keen impression of the sensory physical world of the village and its tranquil mood.
McNicoll died at the young age of 35, leaving a rare and extraordinary body of work, of which this serene atmospheric painting is an outstanding example.