Woman and Tapestry Pattern (Patsy Milne) by David Brown Milne

Provenance:
Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto, 1979 ]
Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art, Vancouver, 1979
Private Collection, British Columbia
Galerie Royale, Vancouver, 1979
Private Collection
Masters Gallery, Calgary, 1986
Private Collection, Edmonton, 1986
Masters Gallery, Calgary, 1987
Private Collection

Exhibited:
“David Milne, the New York Period: 1911–1915”, Malborough Godard Gallery, Toronto, 16 November–9 December 1972, no. 27
“David Milne: A Survey Exhibition”, Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto, 4–28 November 1978, no. 5
[David Milne Paintings], Masters Gallery, Calgary, 4–7 December 1996
“Sight and Site: Location and the work of David B. Milne”, The Nickle Arts Museum, University of Calgary, 8 August–2 November 1997 as “Woman and Tapestry Pattern”

Literature:
“David Milne, The New York Period: 1911-1915”, Toronto, 1972, no. 27, unpaginated, reproduced
“David Milne: A Survey Exhibition”, Toronto, 1978, no. 5, unpaginated, reproduced
Galerie Royale, Montreal, October 1979, reproduced page 4
David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, “David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Volume 1: 1882–1928”‚ Toronto, 1998, listed and reproduced page 114, no. 105.60
Sarah Milroy and Ian A.C. Dejardin, “David Milne, Modern Painting”, London, 2018, page 20–21

As a resident of New York City in the early 1900s, David Milne gained valuable first–hand exposure to the latest avant–garde art. Milne would be among the first wave of North American artists to engage with ground–breaking French art by the Fauves, the Nabis and the Cubists. In 1913, the pivotal Armory Show in New York introduced modern art to an extensive new audience in North America. Milne was the only Canadian artist to be included in this international exhibition, with an impressive contribution of five paintings.

Working through the influence of Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard and Eduard Vuillard, Milne created several paintings of interiors featuring his wife Patsy in 1914. “Woman and Tapestry Pattern” is a highly experimental painting for its time. Milne turned away from conventional descriptions of form using light and shade, and rather boldly flattened the image with thick black outlines. The work features Milne’s trademark reductive palette of only a few colours. Here the painter’s interest is focused on the intricate patterns of the decorative tapestry in the background, rather than on an interpretation of the sitter’s inner life. Patsy’s face is portrayed with only a few economical strokes. Her dress is described with a flat expanse of earthy raw umber, striking a visual contrast with the intricate background. The richly layered surface of the painting suggests Milne explored a number of different options before settling on a composition, or perhaps even painted this work on top of an entirely different image.

Describing Milne’s interior paintings from the period, Ian Dejardin observed; “Milne uses a very limited palette... in a series of pictures like this, many of them also strongly reminiscent of Vuillard, most particularly when Milne chooses to focus on complicated pattern and detail surrounding and encompassing a figure. In these interiors, he makes the eye work to discern the figurative matter–it is usually Patsy–emerging from the patchwork of colour values in a sophisticated deconstruction of the act of seeing.”