Leaning Pine - Killarney

About Leaning Pine - Killarney

This landscape of the historic Killarney Provincial Park in Northern Ontario was painted by one of Canada’s most important artists of the late 20th century, Dorothy McCarthy. Known best for her plein air oil paintings of the Canadian wilderness, this piece captures iconic imagery of the north—a Jack Pine tree leaning into the wind sits on the rugged granite shoreline of Georgian Bay against a backdrop of turquoise blue hills and a white cloudy sky.
McCarthy was celebrated for her earthy palette and realistic exquisitely detailed form. Killarney was a favourite retreat for many artists including the famous Group of Seven.

“I don’t know anyone who has equaled my output in either quality or quantity. Do you?”Dorothy McCarthy

Doris McCarthy was born in Calgary, Alberta in 1910. In the 1920’s she was awarded a full scholarship to the Ontario College of Art by the Group of Seven’s Arthur Lismer. McCarthy taught art at a Toronto High School while pursuing her own prolific artistic practice. She was the first woman President of the Ontario Society of Artists. McCarthy was a recipient of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario and was awarded several honorary doctorates including one from the University of Toronto. She was made a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Doris McCarthy was renowned for both experimenting and contributing to major art developments in the 20th century. She penned three autobiographies chronicling different stages of her life. McCarthy’s work has been widely collected and is held in numerous private and public collections here and abroad including the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada.