Privately-held for decades, rare Emily Carr watercolour heads to Audain Art Museum in Whistler

WHISTLER, BC, Oct. 16, 2024  – The Audain Art Museum announced today the acquisition of an exceptional historical watercolour painting by revered Canadian artist, Emily Carr. Held for many years in private collections, War Canoes, Alert Bay, circa 1908, was unveiled alongside another painting of the same name at a ceremony in Vancouver. The newly acquired watercolour on paper was paired with an iconic oil on canvas from the Museum’s Permanent Collection, signifying the extraordinary reunion of two closely-related Carr masterworks, more than one hundred years after they were first painted.

The acquisition of such a seminal piece of Canadian art history was made possible by the continued generosity of Museum Founders Michael Audain and Yoshiko Karasawa. “This early watercolour is particularly significant as it directly informed the later oil painting, War Canoes, Alert Bay of 1912,” said Audain. “Yoshiko and I spent many years enjoying the vibrant oil on canvas before donating it to the Museum nearly a decade ago. To now have both pictures housed together permanently contributes to the unparalleled quality of the Museum’s Emily Carr collection.”

Likely first shown in Vancouver in 1913, the watercolour has since been featured in every major exhibition of Carr’s work to date, including the Audain Art Museum’s 2019 exhibition, Fresh Seeing, which explored a transformational period of her career. Having studied in France from 1910 to 1911, the British Columbia-born artist was heavily impacted by her exposure to Post-Impressionism and Fauvism abroad. This pivotal period of influence on Carr inspired a departure from the conservative art traditions she had learned previously in England and the United States.

Exemplifying Carr’s early traditional style, the newly acquired watercolour features a scene with three dugout canoes in the foreground, each bearing distinctive Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw-inspired imagery. Capturing the often-sombre light of the Northwest Coast, the painting conveys the quiet stillness of a deserted shoreline, with a hillside and trees in the background. Upon her return from overseas, Carr reworked this original scene into her larger-scale 1912 oil painting, incorporating the vigorous visual language and “new way of seeing” she had cultivated in France. Her shift to an expressive use of vivid colour and bold brushwork was unconventional for its time, filled with a light and dynamism not apparent in her early watercolours.

“When comparing the two paintings side-by-side, a dramatic shift in her artistic perspective is immediately evident” said Curtis Collins, Director & Chief Curator, Audain Art Museum. “Bringing together these two magnificent works by Emily Carr at the Audain Art Museum provides an essential context for better understanding the development of modern art in Canada.”

Despite her current prominence, Carr struggled to gain critical acceptance as an artist throughout her lifetime. In 2000, many years after her passing, the oil on canvas War Canoes, Alert Bay became the first work by a Canadian female painter to sell for over a million dollars at auction, setting a monumental record and establishing a clear marker of Emily Carr’s impact on Canadian art. This landmark sale, along with that of the newly acquired watercolour, was facilitated by Heffel Fine Art Auction House, whose expertise and passion for Emily Carr has had a pronounced impact on the stewardship of her works across the country.

Sure to delight enthusiasts of the visual arts, the public can experience both masterpieces together at the Audain Art Museum in Whistler beginning Thursday, October 17. The Museum is open Thursdays through Mondays from 11am to 6pm. More information is available online at audainartmuseum.com.

About the Audain Art Museum
Established in 2016, the Audain Art Museum in Whistler was founded via a major philanthropic gift of Michael Audain and Yoshiko Karasawa. The Permanent Collection is focused on the art of British Columbia. Highlights include hereditary Haida Chief James Hart’s The Dance Screen, an exceptional collection of historical and contemporary Indigenous art, a comprehensive selection of paintings by Emily Carr and a brilliant range of works by Vancouver’s Photo-conceptualists. The Museum hosts numerous special exhibitions every year that feature artists and collections of national as well as international significance.

Media Contact: Justine Nichol, Principal, Justine Nichol Communications, Email: justine@justinenichol.com, Mobile: 604-789-4359

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