signed lower right; titled and dated 1 April 2005 ("050401") on the reverse
36 × 48 in (91.4 × 121.9 cm)
Mountain Galleries, Jasper
Private Collection, Vancouver
Doris McCarthy, Doris McCarthy: Ninety Years Wise, Toronto, 2004, page 63
Doris McCarthy’s The Driftwood Island belongs to a mature phase of the artist’s career, when decades of travel and observation culminated in a refined and personal vision of the Canadian landscape. Throughout her life, McCarthy was driven by a desire to paint the varied regions of Canada, developing a style responsive to each environment she encountered. The Arctic proved especially transformative. The Driftwood Island encapsulates McCarthy’s mature style, wherein she eschews minute detail in favour of broad, sculptural forms and rhythmic movement. In this painting, the foreground is rendered in highly stylized, simplified forms. Scattered across the sandy island, pieces of driftwood appear almost like abstract forms themselves, their weathered shapes suggesting the passage of time and the gradual effects of nature.
Although McCarthy’s landscapes are not overtly religious, they are deeply imbued with a sense of reverence. A devout Christian, McCarthy often described her engagement with nature as a way of encountering the divine: “The mystery of creation convinced me that God was immanent as well as transcendent in the rocks, the trees, the animals and me—still creating but not exercising the authority I had once believed.” The absence of human presence shifts the focus to stillness and quiet, transforming this mountainous scene into a space for meditation.
