Lot 58
STANLEY MOREL COSGROVE, R.C.A. (1911-2002)
Additional Images
Provenance:
Dominion Gallery, Montreal, QC;
Private collection, Montreal, QC
Note:
Of the artist’s work, Jacques de Roussan noted: “as if each tree, each road, each facial characteristic concealed a mystery he [Cosgrove] suggests to us but the key which he does not wish to give us, perhaps through diffidence.”
Sweet and soulful, this painting is classic Cosgrove: a placid and detached subject, outlined with a single brushstroke, in a monochrome palette. Cosgrove’s talent for illustrating the delicateness of his sitters’ features with strong, bolded lines is impressively demonstrated in Girl in Brown Dress. This painterly technique was also used in the landscape and still-life works that Cosgrove consistently returned to throughout his life. His refusal to stray from his original style is what set Cosgrove apart from his peers–and caught the attention of critics.
References:
Jules Bazin. Cosgrove. (Laprairie, QC: M. Broquet, 1980), 5.