Although he was a contemporary of the Group of Seven, David Milne followed a very different artistic path. In 1913 he was one of only two Canadians whose work was included in the famous Armory Show in New York. His main influences at that time were European, the Fauves in particular, and American, specifically Maurice Prendergast. Milne concerned himself with the process of art-making rather than with any search for an essentially Canadian form or subject. While he may have praised the Group of Seven as nationalists, as artists he criticized their preoccupation with content over aesthetic concerns. Milne’s work is characterized by a severely reduced palette, patterning, and the interplay between form and empty space. He believed that in order to make his paintings most readily readable, they had to be reduced to the barest essentials.