Lot 134: Kathleen Moir Morris 1893 - 1986 Canadian oil on

Kathleen Moir Morris 1893 - 1986 Canadian oil on panel Market in Winter, Berthierville, Quebec 10 1/2 x 13 3/4 inches 26.7 x 34.9 centimeters signed and on verso inscribed ""$30.00"" Literature:Evelyn Walters, The Women of Beaver Hall, Canadian Modernist Painters, 2005, a similar oil sketch entitled Waiting, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, reproduced page 72 and a similar oil on canvas entitled Waiting at the Old Church, Berthierville, Quebec reproduced page 75 Provenance:By descent to the present Private Collection, Victoria An important early Canadian woman artist, Kathleen Morris became a member of the Beaver Hall Group in Montreal in 1920. From 1922 to 1929 she lived in Ottawa, taking sketching trips to Quebec City and the surrounding countryside. The town of Berthierville, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, was a favourite painting place for Morris during the early 1920s, and both the National Gallery of Canada and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts have similar works painted at that location in their collections. For several winters, she and her mother stayed there for a month to six weeks, and she was delighted by the visual richness of the town in winter with its churches, buildings and horse-drawn sleighs. Morris would sketch en plein air, even on the coldest days, working quickly to capture all the details of the groupings of people and horses before they dispersed, sometimes adding snow and backgrounds later. One can feel the spontaneity and joy present in such works. In this splendid painting, Morris used rich colour, bold brush-strokes and simplified forms to capture the unique atmosphere of this lively town.