Additional Images

Provenance:

Gift of the artist to Douglas M. Duncan, Toronto, ON;
Estate of Douglas M. Duncan, Toronto, ON;
Gifted to Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB;
Deaccessioned to benefit art purchases at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery

Literature:

"Recent Acquisitions," Beaverbrook Art Gallery, no. 1 (Oct 1970).
Douglas Duncan: Gift to the Maritimes (Charlottetown, PEI: Confederation Art Gallery and Museum, 1971); unpaged, no. 39, as Spring Trees No. 1.
David Milne Jr and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, vol. 2 1929-1953 (Toronto / Buffalo / London: University of Toronto Press, 1998), 661 no. 306.15, repro. b/w.

Exhibited:

Douglas Duncan: Gift to the Maritimes, Confederation Art Gallery and Museum, Charlottetown, PEI, 18 Nov-12 Dec 1971.
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB, Feb 1972; University of Moncton, Moncton, NB, Mar 1972.
New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, NB, May 1972.
Arts and Culture Centre, St. John's, NL, Jul 1972.
Dalhousie University Art Gallery, Halifax, NS, Dec 1972, no. 39, as Spring Trees No. 1.

Note:

David Milne’s Spring Trees I appears on the market for the first time since it was conceived 85 years ago. When the artistic holdings of the estate of Milne’s legendary dealer Douglas M. Duncan were dispersed to public collections across the country in the early 1970s, Spring Trees I entered the collection of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. It was then exhibited throughout Atlantic Canada in the touring exhibition Douglas Duncan: Gift to the Maritimes before returning to Fredericton and has not left the Beaverbrook until now. Fresh in appearance, Spring Trees I was a gift from Milne to Duncan that conveys the clarity of Milne’s design and the power of his restricted palette after living and working for five years at Six Mile Lake in Muskoka, Ontario.