Elizabeth Harrison (Canada, 1907-2001)
‘Waterworn’ c. 1971
oil on masonite
(actual) 12” h x 16” wide
Summary: Energetic Mid-Century Canadian oil on masonite micro-landscape painting titled ‘Waterworn’ by listed artist Edith Elizabeth Harrison (Canada, 1907-2001), circa 1971. “In 1971 the artist Charles Comfort opened her exhibition ‘Canadian Microcosms: A Landscape is its Rocks’ by proclaiming her work, ‘objective paintings of exceptional originality, a new and magnificent apprehension of nature’.” This artwork was exhibited in that exhibition. Here executed is a close-up study of a pink granite, its contours abstracted through its containment and its matter energized through the dynamism of line and colour.
Notes: “The [painter’s] ability to reproduce a given object with photographic accuracy is not the only criterion of good art. … Though when one says ‘like,’ one usually means visually like, there are other ways of identifying objects. What about like by atmosphere, like in sound, like by touch, like by smell; to say nothing of more abstract tests, which are best made by saying, ‘what does the picture convey?” ~ Elizabeth Harrison, Self-Expression Through Art, 1951
Markings: signed lower right, “ELIZABETH HARRISON”, titled and dated verso “Waterworn” “October 71”; inscribed in white rectangular labels with blue border, “9. ROCK PAINTING – OIL”WATERWORN”ELIZABETH HARRISON – ARTIST “; cut-out label verso, “WATERWORN Oil on paper, 12” x 16 / Pink granite has been polished to marble smoothness by the storms of centuries. Its contours are traced by the delicate progress of lichen.”
Condition: Excellent Vintage Condition – undamaged with no restoration. Presented in the original frame it is ready for display.
Provenance: Exhibited, ‘Canadian Microcosms: A Landscape Is Its Rocks’, 1971
