David Milne -- Another Canadian to Discover at Dulwich

It's hugely satisfying going to an exhibition by an artist you know virtually nothing about and coming away full of enthusiasm for a new discovery.

David Milne: Modern Painting is the latest in a series of shows at London's Dulwich Picture Gallery to make Britons aware of Canadian artists who previously hadn't really penetrated the consciousness of the Old World. Apologies, Canadians; we really should do better.

Milne was born in 1882, making him a contemporary of the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson, who featured in the excellent Painting Canada show at Dulwich in 2011, and of Emily Carr, whose work was on display there four years ago.

Walk into the first room and you'll be struck by the brightness and freshness of Milne's early work, done in New York in his 20s. A sort of colourful impressionism with nods to America's Ashcan School. There are urban interiors and exteriors, in oils and watercolours, with a lot of interest in the advertising that will have plastered the city. Here's Billboards from about 1912:

The works in this room, as further on in the show, are drawn mostly from Canadian galleries and from private collections.

Milne's palette darkened in 1914, as he began to experiment further with colour. He moved away from the city, to Boston Corners on the New York-Massachusetts border. Here his work became much more abstract, with a limited colour range, but those apparently abstract images resolve into pictures of his wife in the landscape or closeups of rocks largely in brown, green, black and white. Milne had developed an interest in camouflage as World War I was raging in Europe.

There's more colour in Bishop's Pond (Reflections) from 1916, but a trademark use as well of large areas of white:

Milne went off to join the Canadian forces at war in 1917, but didn't see active service. He worked as a war artist recording the aftermath, and his style changed markedly. His previous splodges and smears of paint were replaced by short thin strokes, almost like splinters of shrapnel. Montreal Crater, Vimy Ridge records the huge depression caused by a massive explosion. At the rim, two tiny figures give scale to the extent of the devastation.

In a letter to a friend, Milne put down in words what he found as he made his way through the shattered landscape: "Tinned food, shells, hand grenades, water bottles, bandoliers, gas masks, helmets, clothing. Some of the boots still had feet in them."

Back in Boston Corners, Milne continued to focus on landscape, in what looks like a fusion of his previous styles. These are paintings that reward viewing from different distances -- not always easy in the relatively small exhibition space in Dulwich. White, the Waterfall is a 1921 work:

At the end of the 1920s, Milne returned to Canada to paint. But he found it hard to make a living. The palette darkened again: Milne's use of colour seems very closely linked to the state of his emotions. Prospect Hole is the title of one black, black work, depicting what looks to be a flooded mineshaft in Temagami but seeming to sum up in name and subject matter his financial circumstances.

Things began to look up for Milne after 1933 as he sold more. We get a change of style again: much brighter, but more abstract and minimalist. The experiments with colour continued. In Ollie Matson's House in Snow, the shadow is deep plum.

Summer Colours dates from 1936:

As you leave, Milne is captured on camera burning work he deemed not up to scratch. But go and see this show, because it is very much up to scratch. Otherwise, you'll have to go to Canada....

Practicalities

David Milne: Modern Painting continues at Dulwich Picture Gallery in south-east London until May 7. It's open from 1000 to 1700 from Tuesdays to Sundays and tickets cost £15.50, which also covers entry to the permanent collection. They can be bought online here. The gallery is about 10 minutes' walk from both West Dulwich station, for trains from Victoria, and North Dulwich station, for trains from London Bridge. 

Images

David Milne, Billboards, c. 1912, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Gift of Douglas M. Duncan, Toronto, 1962. Photo: NGC. (c) The Estate of David Milne
David Milne, Bishop's Pond (Reflections), 1916, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: NGC. (c) The Estate of David Milne

David Milne, White, the Waterfall, 1921, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: NGC. (c) The Estate of David Milne

David Milne, Summer Colours, 1936, Purchase 1993, McMichael Canadian Art Collection. (c) The Estate of David Milne

David Milne,

Bishop's Pond (Reflections)

, 1916, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

Photo: NGC. © The Estate of David Milne

David Milne,

Bishop's Pond (Reflections)

, 1916, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

Photo: NGC. © The Estate of David Miln