CC OC RCA
1935 - 2018
Canadian
Buttered Roaster
oil on canvas
signed and dated 1993 and on verso signed, titled Butterd [sic] Roaster, dated and inscribed "Gesso Ground, oil paint, Liquin, RAMAR varnish"
16 x 20 in, 40.6 x 50.8 cm
Estimate: $25,000 - $35,000 CAD
Sold for: $25,000
Preview at:
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Ontario
LITERATURE
Ray Cronin et al., Mary Pratt, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and The Rooms, 2013, page 121
“One cannot look at her whole body of work without seeing that her realism, far from being “magic” or “photo” realism, is rather a social realism – a careful focused and, indeed, thoughtful look at the state of being immersed in the domestic: the quotidian hurly-burly of meals…and all of the other myriad elements that come with the social constructs of ‘the family’ and ‘the home.’ ”
- Ray Cronin
In this sensual painting, Mary Pratt showed her mastery of still life composition through the careful placement of the vegetables, contrasting the round shapes of slices of onion against vertical slivers of carrots. Pratt chose this image because it was beautiful to her, and she preserved it with a photograph to refer to while painting in her studio. Pratt’s awareness of light is acute here; a ray of light rakes across the dark background and, entering the roaster, illuminates the vegetables and causes the interior of the roaster to glow with a golden light. Pratt has infused Buttered Roaster with the sense of an elevated ritual, in the process transforming an everyday image of food preparation into something quietly radical.
Estimate: $25,000 - $35,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
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