Michael Audain and Yoshiko Karasawa donate Emily Carr self-portrait to Vancouver Art Gallery

The director of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Kathleen Bartels, is thrilled by yet another valuable gift from two of B.C.'s greatest patrons of the arts.

Polygon Homes chairman Michael Audain and his wife, Yoshiko Karasawa, have donated a self-portrait, Emily and Lizzie, by famed B.C. artist Emily Carr. It becomes the fifth self-portrait and 254th Emily Carr work in the VAG's collection.

"The painting fills a gap in the Gallery's representation of Emily Carr's work as her figurative works are extremely rare," Bartels said in a VAG news release.

Emily and Lizzie shows Carr, with her back in silhouette in a dark dress, sharing tea with her sister Lizzie, who's in the light in a white blouse.

It was painted in Victoria around 1913 after Carr had travelled to France.