One of the most famous and iconic paintings in the National Gallery is without doubt Alex Colville's “To Prince Edward Island” (1965). The situation depicted is somehow humorous: A woman on a ferry stares at the beholder while she holds big binoculars right in front of her face. As Colville said, this painting reflects on the conditions of seeing, the female vision and observation. Colville himself is a distinctive observer of everyday life situations; and he depicts them often in unusual and therefore bemusing juxtapositions of figures or animals.
The Library of the National Gallery presents in a small exhibition some early chalk drawings that already show unusual perspectives and Colville's interest in the human body. “The formative years 1938-1942” mark the beginnings of the Canadian realist. In his later paintings it is obvious how rigorously constructed his compositions are; but it also seems that the studies of human figures and their physiognomy build the underlying base of his works.
Colville graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Fine and Applied Art at Mount Allison University (New Brunswick) in 1942. During his studies (started in 1938) he created hundreds of drawings in chalk, watercolour, graphite and ink; and the Library and Archive of the NGC holds in its collection 570 of these works. An ambitious composition can for example be found in a chalk drawing called “Male figure from above” from 1941. It shows a male body, observed from a higher standpoint, with astonishing attention to the proportions and the challenging perspective.
Exhibition pamphlet © National Gallery of Canada,Ottawa, 2011
The exhibition contains 18 drawings and is located at the entrance to the Library, directly above the cafeteria. It can be easily overseen; so make sure that you watch out for this small but impressive exhibit at your next visit to the National Gallery.
Facts:
Alex Colville - The formative years 1938-1942
Library and Archives of the National Gallery of Canada
380 Sussex Drive
January 12th to April 29th, 2011
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