Select Canadian Art

SELECT CANADIAN ART

Featuring Works by Dempsey Bob, Gathie Falk, E.J. Hughes, William Kurelek, Jack Shadbolt, Tom Thomson & Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun

SELLING EXHIBITION

DECEMBER 1 ~ DECEMBER 15, 2012

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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DEMPSEY BOB 8, 9 GATHIE FALK 6 E.J. HUGHES 4 WILLIAM KURELEK 5 JACK SHADBOLT 7 TOM THOMSON 1 L AWRENCE PAUL YUXWELUPTUN 2, 3

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THOMAS JOHN (TOM) THOMSON 1877 ~ 1917

Spring Break~Up oil on board, signed, embossed with the estate stamp and on verso stamped with the estate stamp, circa spring 1916 ~ 1917 10 1/2 x 8 1/2 in, 26.7 x 21.6 cm P ROVENANCE : Estate of the Artist Elizabeth Thomson Harkness, Annan and Owen Sound Jessie Harkness Fisk, by descent Mrs. F.E. Fisk, the Artist's niece, by descent Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art Inc., Vancouver Private Collection, acquired from the above in 1986

L ITERATURE : Ian Desjardin, Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, 2011, page 80

E XHIBITED : The Tom Thomson Memorial Exhibition, The Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery and Museum of Fine Art, Owen Sound, May 4 ~ June 1, 1977, #19 Tom Thomson’s love of the deep woods, the hidden out~of~the~way places and the subtle, quieter nature of the wilderness characterizes this work. He found profound beauty in shaded streams, distant hills blocked by a screen of trees, skies broken by tree trunks and the colour and pattern verso 1

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Unknown Artist Portrait of Tom Thomson photograph, 5 1/2 x 3 7/8 in, 14 x 9.8 cm inscribed Yours Truly, Tom Thomson not for sale with this lot

HEFFEL GALLERY LIMITED of early snowmelt in a stream. In Spring Break~Up, a work that once belonged to members of Thomson’s family, we have all of these things.

It is an out~of~the~way spot, a small snippet of the woods that is unremarkable in its geography. Yet Thomson’s treatment of it makes it remarkable indeed. Using his typical composite board size, he worked to execute this scene in what must have been cold weather; there is clearly no sun to warm his hands. Yet the lovely, rippling brushwork in the forest floor, the bold, assured brushwork of the tree trunks and the effortless competency in his use of a dark palette belie the reality of the painting conditions, and exemplify his skill as a plein air painter. His reactive, emotive response to scenes such as this brings a sense of sanctity to the forest, where small groves of trees become cathedrals, and melting streams, their aisles. In this work, the light in the distance is spare, barely glowing through the screen of the woods, with the stream leading our eye to it. Further, the slightest suggestion of a distant hill, or perhaps another grove of trees, tells us there is something beyond the forest, something further away ~ yet the attention is given to the gently melting stream.

The work has a profound sense of stillness, despite its vivid and energetic brushwork.

In Ian Desjardin’s recent catalogue Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, the author states, “Despite the apparent luminosity of Thomson’s sketches, each one was usually carried out using a very limited selection of colours, three or four at the most…Limiting the colours to a very few squeezes of paint from the tube at the outset of painting meant that Thomson was obliged to think in terms of colour as tone ~ and this was to be one of his greatest skills.” This mastery of colour as tone is especially evident in this work, where the trees, the ground and the stream are all painted in the same single brown, lightened by white or darkened by black, and skilfully placed to read as individual parts of the whole. Accenting this dark palette, Thomson has used a vivid blue along the edge of the stream where winter’s snowmelt becomes spring’s melt water. This blue echoes the blue of the sky, which is barely visible as vertical licks between the treetops. A very few touches of green hint at the warming weather and awakening forest. Desjardin comments further on the quickness of execution of Thomson’s work and the necessity of speed when painting out~of~doors under difficult conditions, wherein “something about the process itself, perhaps even the limitations imposed on him, particularly suited him.” Thomson painted at night, in poor weather, during storms and in the rain, revelling in the excitement of wild weather and tough conditions. In the impasto of this work, this sense of urgency and quickness is conveyed. Despite its age ~ being almost 100 years old ~ the work is as fresh as if it were painted yesterday.

This work will be included in Joan Murray's forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist's work.

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LAWRENCE PAUL YUXWELUPTUN 1957 ~

Blue Ovoid acrylic on canvas, signed and dated 2012 63 x 49 in, 160 x 124.4 cm L ITERATURE : Ian M. Thom, Challenging Traditions, Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 2009, page 184 Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is one of the most influential contemporary artists to emerge from the West Coast. Of Coast Salish origin, Yuxweluptun is well known for his expression of political views about the environment and the treatment of First Nations people through his art.

His father was Ben Paul, an official of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, who was involved with the struggle to establish ancestral rights.

Regarding Yuxweluptun’s ovoid paintings, Ian Thom wrote that he “emancipates the ovoid from its traditional roles in Northwest Coast art, as a joint, an eye, a filler element or a form that encompasses entire creatures.” In each of these two striking works, Yuxweluptun has isolated a single ovoid, painted in saturated, vibrating hues, and made it monumental. Yuxweluptun further states, “They are an extension of an existential conceptual symbolic of duality of colour and thought. They are an expression of the time that I live in. So that it is free thinking, to think and express what I am thinking, the feelings of death, the feelings of residential schools, anything is possible. They are a very expressionistic symbol.”

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LAWRENCE PAUL YUXWELUPTUN 1957 ~

Green Ovoid acrylic on board, signed and dated 2012 60 x 48 in, 152.4 x 121.9 cm L ITERATURE : George Harris, Confronting Colonialism, Vancouver Art Gallery, http:// projects.vanartgallery.bc.ca/publications/75years/exhibitions/2/1/artist/ 43/96.27/bibliography/323, accessed November 29, 2012 In 2009, the National Gallery of Canada held an exhibition of Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun’s Ovoid series. The ovoid is a central motif in Haida art, used repeatedly in their stylized depictions of form. Yuxweluptun is reclaiming this motif in his own terms, removing it from its traditional context and taking it into the post~modern world, incorporating elements of Minimalism and Colour Field painting. However, politics are never far from Yuxweluptun’s consciousness. In the National Gallery’s Colour Zone: Ovoids exhibition catalogue, he included a Manifesto of Ovoidism, in which he stated that he considered that his ovoids were the basis of “a philosophy to think about such things as land claims, Aboriginal rights, self determination and self government, social conditions and environmentalism, Native reason and Native philosophy…to express Native ‘modernalities’ and to intellectualise place, space and Native reason.”

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EDWARD JOHN (E.J.) HUGHES 1913 ~ 2007

Low Tide at Crofton Beach oil on canvas, signed and dated 1979 and on verso signed, titled, dated, inscribed KGH 826-14 B854 and stamped Dominion Gallery 25 x 32 in, 63.5 x 81.3 cm P ROVENANCE : Dominion Gallery, Montreal Kaspar Gallery, Montreal Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art Inc., Vancouver Corporate Collection, Vancouver

L ITERATURE : The E.J. Hughes Album, The Paintings - Volume I, 1932 - 1991, 2011, reproduced page 73 “There can be little doubt that Hughes has a unique place in the history of British Columbian and Canadian art. He has a vision that is unmistakably his own, and yet it is his great gift that these images, the product of that vision, belong to us all. They enable us to experience and understand the landscape, and our relationship to it, in a new and deeper way.” ~ Ian M. Thom The waterfront around Crofton, not far from E.J. Hughes’s home in Duncan on Vancouver Island’s east coast, was one of his favourite areas to paint, and the small Crofton ferry was a choice motif. This beautiful painting is replete with fascinating visual elements ~ from the sculptural driftwood in the foreground and the beach with its patterning of rocks and beach~goers to the charming ferry sailing to port backed by the vitality of Crofton’s active industrial area. Not only is Low Tide at Crofton Beach an outstanding example of Hughes’s exceptional attention to detail, it also exhibits his sensitivity to atmosphere. In the sky, smoke from the stacks on the horizon are contrasted with vaporous clouds, and in mid~ground, delicate reflections shimmer across the still water. Hughes’s coastal palette of blues and greens is enlivened by touches of bright orange on the beach and on the dock in the distance. Low Tide at Crofton Beach is an outstanding example of Hughes’s vision of the West Coast, in which communities live in a harmonious balance and nature is an object of transcendental enjoyment.

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WILLIAM KURELEK 1927 ~ 1977 CANADIAN

Turkey Plucking Bee at St. Tite des Caps mixed media on board, initialed and dated 1976 21 1/4 x 28 in, 54 x 71.1 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie D'Art Michael Kerdour, Quebec City Private Collection, Montreal Galerie Heffel Québec Ltée., Montreal Corporate Collection, Vancouver William Kurelek was raised on farms in Alberta and Manitoba, and is renowned for his depictions of rural life. He was deeply interested in the relationship between the land and its people, documenting their daily activities in a critical, yet playful manner. In this particularly charming scene in Saint~Tite~des~Caps, Quebec, many hands are helping in the turkey plucking process. There is a strong sense of the season changing to autumn, with the tree canopy beginning to darken into deeper hues of orange and yellow. The wood is already chopped, stored and ready for use over the winter. The turkey plucking process is obviously seasonal, and the systematic actions of the figures indicate that it is a procedure they are familiar with. Habitants of all ages are involved in the ritual, ranging from the children playfully chasing and capturing the turkeys to the more senior members steadily plucking off the feathers. The figures are hard at work, heads down and engaged in the conveyor line while the cat and dog attentively observe the process. Kurelek himself had a dedicated work ethic from his long days spent on the family farm, often only getting a single afternoon off a week. It is well documented that Kurelek had a challenging upbringing, and his memories of farm life were both emotional and joyous. Dark clouds ominously reappear throughout Kurelek’s oeuvre, indicating that even in this scene filled with peaceful activity, a storm is always looming, which metaphorically ties to the artist’s challenges with his own mental health. Rich in detail, colour and narrative, this work is an excellent example of Kurelek’s sought after depictions of human and animal nature.

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AGATHA (GATHIE) FALK 1928 ~ CANADIAN

Development of the Plot oil on canvas, signed, 1988 84 x 240 in, 213.3 x 609.5 cm P ROVENANCE : Cineplex Entertainment, Park and Tilford Cinemas, North Vancouver

L ITERATURE : David Burnett, A Celebration of Contemporary Canadian Art, 1989, page 36, reproduced page 37 This extraordinary large~scale Gathie Falk was originally installed at Cineplex Odeon’s Park and Tilford Cinemas in North Vancouver. It was acquired as part of the Cineplex Odeon Art Commission Program, by which major works of art by important contemporary artists were placed on display in Cineplex Odeon theatres across Canada and into the United States.

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David Burnett, who was a consultant to the Program, writes, “Through her work as a sculptor, painter and performance artist, Gathie Falk has given expression to the magic of everyday life, finding wonder in simple objects and events…The Development of the Plot is…cinematic in feeling.

It comprises four panels, with the sense of an action developing in sequence across the panels. Some objects are repeated from one panel to the next, others are introduced and ten transformed: a fan is shown, it opens, turns into a windmill and then back to a closed fan; a light bulb, first seen as a means of dim illumination, later disappears in a great column of flames.”

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SHADBOLT, JACK LEONARD 1909 ~ 1998 CANADIAN

Tree of Life acrylic on wood construction, 1987 336 x 204 in, 853.3 x 518.1 cm P ROVENANCE : Cineplex Entertainment, Granville 7 Theatre, Vancouver

L ITERATURE : David Burnett, Cineplex Odeon: The First Ten Years, 1989, page 90, reproduced pages 90 and 91 Jack Shadbolt’s stunning, large~scale work Tree of Life was originally installed in Cineplex Odeon’s Granville Cinemas in downtown Vancouver. A painted wood relief construction, it is comprised of hundreds of pieces of shaped plywood. David Burnett wrote that Shadbolt has described Tree of Life as “a transformation piece ~ art paraphrasing nature…The construction is abstract in image, but here and there the forms of flowers and seed pods are apparent. These are ‘symbolic suggestions’ he has said, ‘of an underlying and irrepressible force of natural growth that would take over the available terrain for its own.’”

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DEMPSEY BOB 1948 ~ CANADIAN

The Eagles bronze sculpture with horse hair, signed, editioned 2/5 and dated 2001 20 1/2 x 9 x 8 in, 52.1 x 22.9 x 20.3 cm L ITERATURE : Ian M. Thom, Challenging Traditions, Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 2009, page 3 Dempsey Bob is of both Tahltan and Tlingit ancestry, and grew up in Port Edward near Prince Rupert. The year 1969 brought a turning point for Bob when he attended a class given by Freda Diesing, a Haida carver who had studied at the Vancouver School of Art and the Gitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art at ‘Ksan. Bob learned about fine historical native works and techniques from Diesing, then went on to study at the Gitanmaax School from 1972 to 1974. His extensive research led him to travel to New York, London, Russia and Spain to see traditional Tlingit works in collections. As he stated, “I think that innovation has to come out of tradition, it cannot come from nothing.” After carving primarily in wood, Bob branched out into the medium of bronze, training in the casting process in Oregon and Italy. The Eagles and Frog Speaker are particularly fine examples of his work in bronze.

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DEMPSEY BOB 1948 ~ CANADIAN

Frog Speaker bronze sculpture, signed, editioned 7/7, dated 1998 and on verso titled on a label 17 x 13 x 8 1/2 in, 43.2 x 33 x 21.6 cm L ITERATURE : Ian M. Thom, Challenging Traditions, Contemporary First Nation as Art of the Northwest Coast, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 2009, page 17 “Art comes down to quality and integrity, spiritual knowledge, the talent of the individual.” ~ Dempsey Bob Dempsey Bob has received many accolades for his fine body of work. To name a few, in 2007, Bob received a BC Lifetime Creative Achievement Award for Aboriginal Art ~ the first given. In 2012 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Three of Bob’s works are permanently displayed at the Vancouver International Airport: Fog Woman and Raven, Bear and Human Mask and Human with Bear Mask. Two of his carved totem poles are installed at Canada House and BC House in London, England. Bob’s work is in the permanent collections of The Canadian Museum of Civilization and Indian Northern Affairs in Ottawa, the Hamburgishes Museum fur Volkerskunde in Germany, the National Museum of Ethnology in Japan, The Museum of Northern British Columbia in Prince Rupert, the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, The Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Bob’s work was most recently featured at the Vancouver Art Gallery in the 2012 exhibition Shore, Forest and Beyond, Art from the Audain Collection.

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INVITATION TO CONSIGN

ANDY WARHOL, Marilyn, screenprint on paper, 1967, 36 x 36 in Sold for $87,750

We are now accepting consignments for our April sale of: Fine International Art International Pop Art Prints

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INVITATION TO CONSIGN

LAWREN S. HARRIS, The Old Stump, Lake Superior, oil on board, 1926, 12 x 15 in Sold for a Record $3,510,000

We are now accepting consignments for our spring live auction of: Canadian Post~War & Contemporary Art Fine Canadian Art

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