Off Minor, 1958

Acquired directly from the artist Joseph Gladstone, Toronto

Dennis Reid, “Exploring Plane and Contour: The Drawing, Painting, Collage, Foldage, Photo-Work, Sculpture and Film of Michael Snow from 1951 – 1967,” The Michael Snow Project: Visual Art 1951-1993, Toronto, 1994, pages 100 and 121 John Porter, “Artists Discovering Film: Post-War Toronto,” Vanguard, Volume 13, Numbers 5-6, Summer 1984 Michael Snow, “Surfaces: A Selection of Paintings from 1952 - 1961,” Michael Snow – Sequences – A History of His Art, Barcelona, 2015, page 65 Hugo McPherson, “The Autumn Season: 1958 Toronto,” Canadian Art, February 16, 1959, page 57 Barrie Hale and Dennis Reid, Toronto Painting: 1953 – 1965, The National Gallery, Ottawa, 1972, page 28 Liz Hubbell, “Snow: Impressionist,” The University College Gargoyle, December 19, 1958, page 3

The mid-to-late 1950s were groundbreaking years for the Toronto art scene, during which time Michael Snow exhibited at the city's avant garde gallery, Greenwich Gallery, in Toronto's “miniature bohemia.” Snow recalls: “The years 1956-60 were a period of 'try this, try that' in my work, part of which came from attempting to deal with the excitement of New York art. De Kooning, Gorky, Kline, Rothko, Newman and Reinhardt were of special interest to me.” During this short period, the artist produced an important series of “purely surface, abstract paintings” which emerged just prior to the Walking Woman Works. “Off Minor” was exhibited at the Greenwich Gallery in October 1958 with eight large abstract paintings, a sculpture and several drawings. This show at the gallery on Bay Street was Snow's second solo exhibition. Commenting on this exhibition in “Canadian Art” magazine, Hugo McPherson asserted that the paintings were “the wittiest, most arresting canvases of the season”, praising Snow's style as “alert and nervous – at once conscious of fine shades of meaning and capable of reducing experience to its large, essential outlines.” In “Off Minor” Michael Snow presents heavily applied grounds with vivid blue and green rectangles embedded within. Although he uses a variety of shapes and a rougher application of paint, the composition is remarkably unified. This visible brushwork and surface texture reveal Snow's primary concern for the art-making process. When viewing “Off Minor” it is possible to perceive a serene landscape: a snow-filled foreground, smoky blue sky and orange slivers of paint defining the horizon, bringing to mind what Barrie Hale described as “the power, the stillness and grandeur of the north” present in several Toronto artists' paintings of the period. Snow's paintings exhibited at Greenwich in October 1958 engage the viewer “at the formal level with dynamic balance, rhythmic movement and seductive employment of paint, while spinning off visual associations that are richly multi-levelled.” In an interview later that year with Liz Hubbell for “The University College Gargoyle” paper, Michael Snow insisted that these abstracts “should puzzle...[and] it is good if [they are] a little enigmatic.” “Off Minor” is a signature work that commands the viewer to follow Snow's advice and simply “sit in front of the painting and let it come to you.” The sole owner of “Off Minor” was Joseph Gladstone, the brother of Toronto artist Gerald Gladstone. Gerald was one of the artists exhibiting at Avrom Isaacs' gallery in the 1950s. Joseph was a young entrepreneur who staged the exhibition “Toronto '61” at the Toronto Board of Education on College Street in 1961. This modern art exhibition travelled to four North American locations and works by Toronto artists Michael Snow, Jack Bush, Kazuo Nakamura and Harold Town, among others, were on display. Joseph Gladstone acquired this painting directly from Michael Snow in his studio.