Lot 4: Alexander Colville 1920 - Canadian mixed media on

Alexander Colville 1920 - Canadian mixed media on card Study for Artist and Blue Jay 11 1/2 x 8 inches 29.2 x 20.3 centimeters dated 5 May 1993, 6 May and 11 May 1993 and inscribed in the margin by the artist with his colour and measurement notes and on verso titled ""Two Studies for Artist and Blue Jay"" on the gallery label and inscribed ""DUG 19093"" in graphite Literature:Philip Fry, Alex Colville, Paintings, Prints and Processes 1983 - 1994, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1994, reproduced page 141, along with 13 other preparatory drawings reproduced pages 141 and 142, five stages of the serigraph reproduced page 143, the 1993 serigraph entitled Artist and Blue Jay reproduced page 171 and five additional studies reproduced pages 170 and 172 Provenance:Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton & Vancouver Private Collection, Toronto Exhibited:The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Alex Colville, Paintings, Prints and Processes 1983 - 1994, September 30 - January 15, 1995, catalogue #32.14 Alex Colville has often featured animals in his work - domesticated animals as well as wild creatures, including birds such as the cormorant, kingfisher, crow and, in this complex mixed media study, the blue jay. Here, the blue jay flies by, unseen by the man - Colville himself - who is engrossed in his ritual of shaving. The jay, as well, is oblivious to Colville: both are completely absorbed in the patterns of their species; these kinds of contrasting juxtapositions fascinate Colville. In addition, the jay is spatially outside yet appears positioned close to Colville's head; it is acting in a natural manner while Colville, through the act of grooming, controls his natural appearance, symbolically implying the world of instinct versus the rational. Colville's process is to prepare for prints and paintings with preparatory studies, and the outcome of his explorations of this image was the 1993 serigraph Artist and Blue Jay. This work is particularly intriguing, as he examines the possibilities of both structure and colour for this image in two stages.