signed and dated 1995 lower right; titled on a gallery label on the reverse
25 × 16.5 in (63.5 × 41.9 cm) (sight)
(including Buyer's Premium)
Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Montreal
Waddington's, auction, Toronto, 19 November 2018, lot 28
Private Collection, Vancouver
Anne Koval, Mary Pratt: A Love Affair with Vision, Fredericton, 2023, page 241
Although Mary Pratt is best known for her mastery of oil painting, her expansion into other mediums in the 1980s marked an important and invigorating shift in her practice. Working with a combination of watercolour, chalks, and oil pastel, Pratt was able to approach her subject with greater immediacy and gestural freedom, while also adapting to increasing physical constraints. Years of working with fine brushes and oil paints had exacerbated her arthritis and this exploration into mixed media offered a more sustainable and less physically demanding alternative. While Pratt would never fully abandon oil painting, these drawings and watercolours sustained her artistic production while also providing much-needed relief.
In Fruit Bowl in the Dining Room Window, Pratt has captured what initially appears to be a standard assemblage of grapes and fruit in a silver vessel. Using a flurry of gestures, Pratt has enlivened this serene scene by using a combination of blues, greens, and purples to cast the setting of this still life. Shadows are suggested with rich purples and can be found in the edges of the window seam. The silver vessel is reflected upon the pane with a hint of light blue and white. This is contrasted by the warm hues of the fruit and the sharpness of the silver vessel. Fruit Bowl in the Dining Room Window is an expert exploration of colour and gesture, using contrast and movement to transform an otherwise quiet still life into a dynamic and rich composition
