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James Williamson Galloway (Jock) Macdonald 1897 - 1960 Canadian watercolour on paper Fantasy in Equilibrium "14 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches 37.5 x 47.6 centimeters signed and dated 1948 and on verso titled on the Roberts Gallery label Provenance:Roberts Gallery, Toronto By descent to the present Private Collection, Toronto In 1927 Jock Macdonald emigrated from Scotland to Canada after accepting the post of head of design and commercial advertising at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (now the Emily Carr University of Art + Design). With the encouragement of his new colleague Frederick Varley, Macdonald began painting figurative landscapes in oils, and accompanied Varley on painting excursions throughout British Columbia. By the late 1930s, however, Macdonald had become increasingly frustrated with both the medium and method of expression in his work and began to conduct further experiments in abstract art. These explorations culminated in a succession of automatic watercolour paintings such as Fantasy in Equilibrium, where Macdonald used the elusive properties of the medium to gain freedom in his compositions. In the summers of 1948 and 1949, Macdonald studied under Hans Hofmann, with whom he shared a great kinship and who encouraged his studies in Abstract Expressionism. Both artists found their inspiration in nature, and Fantasy in Equilibrium reflects Macdonald's enthusiasm for not only his discoveries in media and technique, but also the emotional and creative output they afforded him. "