Lot 83
ARTHUR LISMER, O.S.A., R.C.A.

Additional Images

Provenance:
Private Collection, Manotick, Ontario
Note:
Arthur Lismer (1885-1959) had a persistent interest in the details of nature. Metaphorically, placing its elements under the microscope, here Lismer explores nature’s form, colour, and texture in paint. The success of this approach requires sustained observational skill, coupled with a fertile imagination and artistic proficiency, all of which Lismer, fortunately, had in abundance.
B.C. Forest is not simply a close-up examination of wild undergrowth, but an imagining of the forest floor as a wild jungle where different species of plants compete with one another for space and survival. Lismer describes the forest floor as a magical world all its own with inconspicuous yet pulsing life. In works like this lot, the artist seizes an opportunity to flirt with abstraction all the while maintaining a connection to the objective world.