Additional Images

Provenance:

Private Collection, Toronto

Literature:

Joseph Plaskett, 1998, from Joseph Plaskett: Still Life in Interior Space, Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto, 1999, unpaginated.

Note:

“The painter must choose subjects that are not flat, that offer endless complexities of depth and dynamic movement...”

When Plaskett arrived for a second time in Paris in 1957, he found the inspiration that he had been seeking in its grandeur and its charm. He decided to settle in the city permanently, first renting a room and then eventually purchasing a house in one of the oldest quarters of Paris, the Marais. The painter filled his home with a profusion of flowers, fruits and books gathered from flea markets and the nearby market stands at Les Halles. Objects from this magical array became his subjects, captured on canvas or paper in a poetic use of colour like intimate windows into the domestic. In this work, we even catch a glimpse of the artist within the mirror, a fixture at home in rich pigment. Plaskett’s still lifes delight in their setting: sensuous and tactile they are filled with enchantment and light.