Painting Place

'Painting Place fills in a huge gap in Canadian art history.'

-- Catherine Osborne * Quill and Quire *

'The thick hardcover homage alternates between informed art criticism and a biographical narrative that braids together testimonial, personal letters and convincing speculation about this rabidly focused recluse. All this is punctuated by exceptional colour reproductions.'

-- Nathalie-Roze Fischer * Now *

'I started reading this biography and could not put it down. Silcox quotes liberally from the artist's, and Patsy Milne's (his wife), writings. What emerges from the page is not just the story of a man and his work but also the story of the dreams and the ambitions of all those who loved and respected him. The jealousy, pettiness, and mistreatment by collectors and other artists is brought to light.'

-- Richard Moll * The Kingston Whig-Standard *

'Good descriptions of stylistic development and telling references to past and future works are supported with more than 400 illustrations.'

-- Rosemarie Tovell * Toronto Star *

'Without question the most significant art book of 1996 is David Silcox's Painting Place. ... [It] pays homage to the artist many consider the greatest this country has spawned.'

-- Christopher Hume * Toronto Star *

'The book is a splendid thing - handsomely designed, generously scaled, attractively printed and replete with 175 finely wrought colour illustrations and 225 black-and-white ones, which are positioned, miraculously, right where you want them when you are working your way through the text.'

-- Gary Michael Dault * Globe and Mail *

'This book, like Milne's art, will stand the test of time.'

-- Robert Amos * Victoria Times-Colonist *

'Lucid, thought-provoking and a rewarding read.'

-- Ian M. Thom * The Vancouver Sun *

'But Milne's art, intimate, yet grand, is there - more than ever now with the help of Silcox - for those with eyes to see. Truly great pictures, like Flooded Shaft of 1929, with its fluctuating shapes, stand as a testament to Milne's prominent place - somewhere between Matisse, Bonnard, and Klee - in the art firmament. Silcox's big book makes a strong case for Milne. Yet for more than a few art lovers, the truth has been out for a while; Milne was - and is - Canada's greatest artist.'

-- Henry Lehmann * Montreal Gazette *

'Refreshingly reveals a fundamental artistic truth: an artists' quarter ultimately is the artist's quarter. It can be in Palgrave, Ont., where Milne lived for a time, as surely as it can be in the more glamorous locales of Paris or New York.'

-- Nancy Baele * Ottawa Citizen *

'The measure of this volume's value to both the general public and the critical evaluation of Milne's work is found in the exhaustive chronological narratives of the artist's biography and the evolution of his style and technique.'

-- Steven Nunoda * Books in Canada *

'This handsome biography has abundant reproductions, beautifully laid out. It requires intense looking as well as reading. Ample margins let the watercolors and oils declare their own life. Silcox has performed the feat of delighting the eye and engaging the intellect. "A poem should be like a painting," says Horace. So should a biography. And so this is.'

-- Allan Hepburn * The Financial Post *

'It is learned and it wears its learning lightly. It is fascinating because it opens up the world view of a challenging artist who was well-read in literature and well-versed in art, yet who created an unmistakably unique body of excellent work. ... Painting Place is a magnificent contribution.'

-- Tom Gerry * Queen's Quarter