PROVENANCE
A gift from a family member of the Artist
By descent to a Private Collection, Montreal
Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, June 17, 2009, lot 142
A Distinguished Private Collection, Vancouver

LITERATURE
Evelyn Walters, The Women of the Beaver Hall: Canadian Modernist Painters, 2005, page 79

This beautiful floral still life by Kathleen Morris reveals her ability as a colourist. Her composition is well organized and the scene exudes a sense of joy and life that is felt in many of Morris’s canvases. Her compositions are loosely impressionistic, as it was her teachers Maurice Cullen and William Brymner that largely influenced her as a young artist in Montreal. Morris was a member of the Beaver Hall Group which formed in 1920 in Montreal. Evelyn Walters writes that it was the “simplified forms and bold brush-strokes of vibrant colour [that] mark her style.” In a review of her work in a 1962 show at the Montreal Arts Club, Dorothy Pfeiffer praised Morris's work, writing, “Particularly remarkable is the woman painter’s sense of joie de vivre; her clever use of dabs and dashes of brilliant orange-red livens every canvas.” This work is no exception, for the bright vibrancy of the flowers and the contrasting background draw the viewer’s eye into the frame.

There is an unfinished view of Montreal Harbour on verso that has been crossed out by the artist.

On verso is a letter from the artist's niece confirming the authenticity and provenance of this work.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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