Lot 127
JOSEPH FRANCIS PLASKETT, R.C.A.
Provenance:
Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Caledon
Literature:
Joseph Plaskett, A Speaking Likeness, Ronsdale Press, Vancouver, 1999.
Note:
Joseph Plaskett usually spent half the year in Paris. Of his time there, he commented: “There were subjects enough for a lifetime... A muddle of periods and styles, often making surrealistic juxtapositions... This accumulation of objects suited my art, changed it. The interiors I painted, instead of suggesting order, evoked more subversive emotions... I collect things (and) I could always justify an outlandish acquisition by telling myself it could go into a still life. Eventually I discovered that a humbler object long in use makes a better motif for a painting. It has no pretensions or artifice... A simple utilitarian object arouses the painter to create his own artistry... The furniture I paint has the most meaning when it is the most used...”. This painting, with its soft light, appears as if seen through one of the many mirrors that Plaskett collected - evoking an otherworldliness.