Mary Pratt: This Little Painting
Masterpiece in Focus
04 Apr 2015 - 04 Jan 2016
Gallery C218
Mary Pratt’s 1972 painting Red Currant Jelly has long held a pride of place in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada where it has been on near permanent view for over two decades. Drawing on a selection of works and study materials created at key moments throughout her extraordinary career, this exhibition tells the story behind the oil on Masonite production affectionately referred to by the artist as "this little painting." Placed into focus here is Pratt’s early embrace of the camera as an invaluable tool within her long-standing effort to capture in paint all the intimate details of a “world immediately ruled by the world itself.” Her exacting brush brings due contemplative attention to everyday rituals and the themes they invoke: sacrifice, love and familial duty, to the inevitable and ever-fleeting passage of time.
Co-organized with The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, St. John's, NL.