Art canadien classique
Bank Girls, St. Jacques Street, Montreal, 1955 (circa)
Oil on board
8 x 6 in
20.3 x 15.2 cm
20.3 x 15.2 cm
This painting is presently on view at our Toronto gallery
$10,500
Inscriptions
signed, ‘Surrey’ (lower right)Provenance
Private collection, Victoria. B.C.
The composition of Rue Notre Dame, circa 1953 has an image Surrey used from time to time, a corner boy, a classic urban “greaser”, hanging around, perhaps looking for trouble or maybe just passing time. Baby boomers will recall Dean Martin (or maybe the Four Lads) and the lyrics;.... Standing on a corner watching all the girls go by/ Standing on a corner giving all the girls the eye/ …
In Philip Surrey’ paintings it is clear that he had an unusual relationship with women. Even with Margaret, his wife, in his autobiography he describes the tensions between them. Women play a major role in his paintings, useful in helping him create the senses of anxiety, danger, beauty, and loneliness.
See the entry for Place Ville Marie and the MacLean’s article “...a portrait of the city [of Montreal] that is also a portrait of the human condition” in 1966, by Ian Adams
In Philip Surrey’ paintings it is clear that he had an unusual relationship with women. Even with Margaret, his wife, in his autobiography he describes the tensions between them. Women play a major role in his paintings, useful in helping him create the senses of anxiety, danger, beauty, and loneliness.
See the entry for Place Ville Marie and the MacLean’s article “...a portrait of the city [of Montreal] that is also a portrait of the human condition” in 1966, by Ian Adams
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