FCA OC PNIAI RCA WS
1919 - 2016
Canadian
A Summer Stroll
acrylic on canvas
signed and dated 1981 and on verso titled and inscribed variously
38 x 32 in, 96.5 x 81.3 cm
Estimate: $15,000 - $25,000 CAD
Sold for: $37,250
Preview at:
PROVENANCE
Images for a Canadian Heritage, Vancouver, 1985
Private Collection, Vancouver
LITERATURE
Bonnie Devine et al., The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig: A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Canada, 2007, page 4
Daphne Odjig was a Canadian painter of Potawatomi and British descent, and is widely regarded as one of Canada’s foremost Indigenous artists and cultural activists. Celebrated for her bold depictions of family, myth and history, Odjig’s style incorporates influences from Surrealism, Cubism and Expressionism, as well as from the work of her Woodland School contemporary, Norval Morrisseau. Odjig operated the Warehouse in Winnipeg, the first gallery in Canada to be owned by a person of Indigenous heritage and the founding location of the Professional Indian Artists Inc.
In 1976, Odjig and her husband moved from Winnipeg to Shuswap, British Columbia. Curator Bonnie Devine describes their move as a homecoming, and notes a shifting interest in Odjig’s work in the years following, when she was “no longer constrained by a demand for social or political commentary, activism or the responsibility to retell a nation’s history. She felt free instead to tell her own.” Reflecting on personal memories and experience, Odjig created tender images of family groups. A Summer Stroll (1981) is an excellent example from this period, depicting two children tightly nestled with their parents. Odjig maintained her distinctive linear style while employing a muted organic palette, and used textural contrasts to distinguish the figures from the billowing background. The family group forms a protective huddle, bound firmly by interlocking fingers in the foreground - an image of familial safety and strength. The gaze of the older child is a particularly poetic detail, as he glances upwards to connect with his parents, as his younger sibling sleeps peacefully.
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