inscribed “Beaver Canon June 86” along the lower edge of the paper under the matting; inscribed “Registered with Doris Shadbolt, Vancouver Art Gallery, Oct/Nov, 1973” on the backing paper.
Provenance: This work was acquired circa 1953 by Alex Fraser, art dealer and owner of Alex Fraser Galleries, Vancouver BC (label verso and letters attached), from Marjorie Wade (Vancouver BC). Mrs. Wade was a friend of the artist and acquired several paintings directly from Emily Carr while the artist was living at her 1465 West Broadway studio in Vancouver; Collection of Mrs. Rothstein (Vancouver BC) then by descent to Dr. Rothstein (Buffalo NY); Collection of Kenneth McK. Wright (Vancouver BC); Collection of Patrick Thomas Brady (Vancouver BC), acquired from deVooght Galleries (Vancouver BC), then by descent to the current owners.
Note: Emily Carr was born in Victoria BC, into a traditional English family. Her father, Richard, had left England as an adventurous young man. Though he lacked formal education and financial resources, he managed to establish himself as a successful businessman by the time Emily was born. While there were no artists in the family’s history, art was considered a genteel and socially acceptable pursuit for young women of the time. Emily was permitted to take drawing lessons as a young child. She took weekly lessons from Emily Woods at her elementary school, then when her subsequent public school lacked art education, her father arranged for private art lessons, which Emily took along with her sisters. Emily showed great aptitude for art at a young age, and found that art was the one area in which she felt she excelled. After her parents passed away (her mother in 1886 and her father in 1988), Emily dropped out of Victoria High School. She obtained permission from her guardians, along with a monthly allowance, to attend art school in San Francisco, at the California School of Design, which she entered in 1890. She was allowed to remain for 3 years. This work, is a rare early example from an early period in the artist’s life.
