Audain Art Museum buys Emily Carr painting shown at Venice Biennale

The Audain Art Museum in Whistler has a sterling collection of paintings by Emily Carr, including War Canoes, Alert Bay (1912) and The Crazy Stair (The Crooked Staircase, 1928-30).

It was painted in 1940, only five years before Carr’s death at age 73. It’s a classic late-period Carr, a swirling, lively work featuring a solitary old tree that’s somehow managed to survive while the forest that used to surround it was either clearcut or burnt.

“It really demonstrates Emily’s concern for the environment, which is a very big concern today,” said Audain, who was on vacation in Thailand when he bought the painting.

The provenance for the painting is impeccable. It was one of four Carr paintings selected by her great champion, Group of Seven painter Lawren Harris, to represent Canada at the 1952 Venice Biennale.

It was the first time Canada had been invited to show work at the Biennale. The other three Carrs from the Biennale are at the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Survival has only been exhibited in public three times — at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1943 and in Montreal in 1959.

“I always had a childhood fascination with (James) Coyne because I used to see his signature on our currency,” said Audain. “I thought that was a marvellous thing, that one could sign these pieces of paper and it would be worth so much money.”

In recent years it’s been owned by a Montreal collector. Because this was a private sale, Audain declined to divulge how much he paid for Survival.

He laughed when he recalled buying the painting sight unseen.

“They sent me an image of the picture, and I thought ‘Oh, it’s an old-timer like me!’ said Audain, 85.

The painting will go on display in April.