Day 5: More on Milne!

David Milne (1882-1953)

b. Paisley, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada
d. Toronto, Ontario, Canada

“Feeling is the power that drives art. There doesn’t seem to be a more understandable word for it, though there are others that give something of the idea: aesthetic emotion, quickening, bringing to life. Or call it love; not love of man or woman or home or country or any material thing, but love without an object – intransitive love.”
David B. Milne, ‘Feeling in Painting,’ 1948

David Milne is a regionally, nationally, and internationally significant Canadian artist best known for his paintings, but the artist was also a printmaker and writer. He was educated in Paisley, and soon after that he worked at a country school near there. He went to New York for formal art training in 1903 at the age of 21. He went on to paint commercially, and also went to Europe toward the end of WWI as a war artist (during which time he produced some beautiful images). After the war, Milne continued to define himself as a landscape painter, living around upper New York State until 1929 when he moved back to Canada once and for all. He settled intially in the Temagami area, eventually living the rest of his life in Toronto. His work can be found in many galleries around the world, he has been exhibited widely, and his work has been the subject of multiple major retrospectives including ones at The National Gallery of Canada as well as the Art Gallery of Ontario.

The only reason that I wanted to include some more information on this artist stems from my initial reaction to the painting. I didn't understand the significance that Milne has in Canadian art history, and didn't have any idea how his work would fit in this context. In fact, it is just now (after meeting with Cam + Lisa) that we found the perfect spot for it. There is one wall in the gallery, at a 45 degree angle to the others, and straight ahead of the sightline coming into the exhibition space. It was a daunting space because whatever ended up going there would have to be able to hold its own with such prominence. Aesthetically and thematically, this Milne painting seems to be the first step in tying up the remaining loose ends of this exhibition. The black in the land links in with Cam's pick from yesterday, and the loose flickers of colour in the vegetation picks up nicely with Lisa's pick from yesterday as well. The scale of the piece is just right so that it isn't in your face (from its already prominent location), but big enough that the colours can have an effect beyond its frame. Milne has definitely grown on me today!

Darryn