The paintings survived. The story behind them deserves to be told — a life's collection, inherited and preserved, now given a permanent home online.
Corbett McCarthy spent a lifetime acquiring art — not as an investor, not as a collector building a résumé, but as someone who simply loved paintings. Over decades he assembled hundreds of works: oils, watercolors, mixed media, pieces from eras and traditions spanning centuries.
When he passed in 2023, the collection passed to his family. The question was immediate and urgent: what happens to all of this?
Storage is expensive. Obscurity is worse. The works deserved more than boxes in a climate-controlled room. They deserved an audience.
LostCanvas is a MOLA — a Museum of Lost Art. The idea is simple: art that was nearly lost gets found. Not by auction houses. Not by private dealers. By anyone with a browser and curiosity.
Every painting in this collection was within reach of being forgotten permanently — stored away, unlabeled, unseen. Curated by Ilona Sky, these works are now catalogued, photographed, and presented with the context they deserve: who made them, where they came from, what they represent.
The foundation of the collection. Oils, portraits, and landscapes that define the aesthetic heart of the estate — works collected over decades with an eye for lasting beauty.
A deeper look at the collection's range. Mixed media, unconventional subjects, and pieces that push against the traditional — the breadth of a lifetime of curiosity.
The latest chapter. Works that close the collection's story — quieter, more contemplative, chosen with the knowledge that every piece is both an ending and a beginning.
LostCanvas is also an experience of sound. Each exhibition is accompanied by an original piano composition — written specifically to move alongside the paintings rather than above them.
The music doesn't narrate. It listens. Quiet enough to let you look, present enough to make you feel something you couldn't quite name on your own.
Ilona Sky composed all three pieces. They are the collection's voice.
Original piano piece composed for the opening collection
A second movement for the collection's second chapter
The closing score — composed last, heard as a quiet farewell
Music plays automatically in the gallery. You can pause it at any time.
114 paintings. Three exhibitions. Original music. A story that almost wasn't told — now told for anyone who wants to hear it.
Interested in acquiring a piece? Contact us — we'd love to hear from you.