Sold for: $133,250

PROVENANCE
Estate of the Artist
Dominion Gallery, Montreal, circa 1945
Loch Mayberry Fine Art Inc., Winnipeg
Private Collection, Winnipeg

Emily Carr used the watercolour medium for most of her life, but it was particularly important for her from the early years of her career up until the late 1920s. It was watercolour that she used both before her training in England and afterwards, during the years right after her return to Canada. Watercolour allowed Carr to work directly within the landscape and was also used in the studio. The works she produced using this aqueous medium provided excellent material for larger canvases but could also exist as independent works.

It seems likely that House in the Forest is a studio work from the mid to late 1920s. The extensive finish of the piece suggests that it was executed in the studio rather than in situ. A close examination suggests that it was done directly and without the use of a pencil drawing as a matrix. Both these factors would suggest that Carr had worked out the composition in her mind before applying pigment to the paper.

Key to this reading is the scale of the house. Rather than being the dominant feature, it seems almost insignificant within the scene. Carr has depicted the house clearly, but this small architectural element is by no means the major subject of this work. Carr has placed the structure centrally but the house is dwarfed by the enormous trees that surround it. Yet we do not forget the house, because it is central within the composition and Carr has lighted it strongly and provided the yard with a fence. Neat though it is, the house is a minor player within the overall scene.

Carr has expended much more energy on the enormously scaled trees that overshadow the house. The title, even if it is unlikely to be Carr’s, is quite appropriate—the house is in the forest, and what a forest it is. There are three distinct areas of foliage, and Carr has taken the time to depict each differently. The faceted and combined tree mass to the left of the house is an abstracted and dramatic depiction of two tree forms that seem to blend into each other. These more abstract elements provide an important contrast to the more conventionally depicted tree to the right of the house. The latter tree strongly suggests the weight of the foliage and strength of the trunk, but the halo-like light area to the right side also suggests that the tree moves with the wind.

In the foreground Carr has painted a small group of stylized trees and has prominently placed a stump, both of which appear beside a small body of water. The house within the forest is both protected by the large trees around it and provided for through the body of water that appears before it. This is an image of a building embraced and surrounded by the natural world. The resident of this house can be reached via the road at the lower left, but equally this house is in and of the forest. House in the Forest clearly embraces the idea of living within the richness of the coastal environment. When one realizes how deeply Carr loved the forests of British Columbia, this image of a small single house in the woods, set amidst massive trees, seems entirely appropriate.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars