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).

So when an art dealer emailed Michael Audain pitching another work by Carr, he wasn’t that interested. But the dealer persisted, and the painting turned out to be so special, he bought it sight unseen.

Wednesday morning, he unveiled the painting, Survival, in an event at the Vancouver Club.

It was painted in 1940, only five years before Carr’s death at 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 clear-cut 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.