Along the Inland Passage, 1987

Wynick/Tuck Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Ontario

In the words of Doris McCarthy from her autobiography “My Life”, “I was brought up on the nursery rhyme about Monday’s child and Tuesday’s child; as I was Thursday’s child, I took it received for truth that I would have ‘far to go’ and do a lot of traveling”. Throughout McCarthy’s long and storied career, the artist made numerous trips around the world, including a year painting in Europe in 1951, and a solo tour of Asia in 1961. However, McCarthy favoured her paintings of Canada, which became her best-known subject matter. In particular, the Arctic landscapes are considered McCarthy’s most desirable pictures. Painted the year after McCarthy received the Order of Canada, “Along the Inland Passage” depicts part of a 1,500km long stretch of protected coastline that runs from Skagway, Alaska to the north, through British Columbia and ends in the south in Puget Sound, Washington. McCarthy began her trips to the Arctic in 1972, where she experimented with light, colour and pattern. By 1977 McCarthy was confidently producing large canvases that demonstrated her command of the formal properties of painting. The striking “Along the Inland Passage” epitomizes McCarthy’s expert handling of light as it dances across the water. While mirroring the patterns in the sky, the reflection also describes the turbulence and undercurrents of the ocean.