Night

Philip Surrey, a founding member and the first treasurer of Montreal’s Contemporary Arts Society, showed his work in the some ten exhibitions it organized from 1939 to 1948. Just like Louis Muhlstock, another repeat member of the Society, he drew inspiration from the city and its indeterminate spaces for his pictures, stamping them with a mysterious temper. Night is one of the most eloquent examples: the line and shadow of trees in a typical Montreal alleyway frame two human figures, lending the painting a dramatically eerie atmosphere.