HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
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144 ALFRED JOSEPH (A.J.) CASSON CGP CSPWC G7 POSA PRCA
1898 ~ 1992
Rising Mist, October oil on canvas, signed and on verso signed, titled on the artist’s label and dated 1979 on the Roberts Gallery label 24 x 30 in, 61 x 76.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Roberts Gallery, Toronto An Important Private Estate, Toronto
L ITERATURE : Paul Duval, A.J. Casson, Roberts Gallery, 1975, page 29 Ontario was A.J. Casson’s prime painting territory, and he explored it extensively from the wild north in Algonquin Park to the villages and rural landscapes of the south. Casson’s first trip to the north was in 1919, to Cache Bay on Lake Nipissing. He commented, “It was the first time I had ever seen the north country which I had heard so much about from some of the artists I was beginning to meet…For me it was a revelation and I painted every day while I was there.” The artists he was beginning to meet were, of course, the members of the Group of Seven which he would join in 1926. Rising Mist, October is proof that Casson was not just a painter of fair weather subjects, but was drawn to the atmospheres and dramatic light effects of fog, thunderstorms and rain showers ~ to the action of the elements in the landscape. His portrayal of these moody scenes led him to explore different modernist approaches in his depiction of space and weather, from a dramatic emphasis on stylized shapes, such as in Rising Mist, October, to a later cubist style of splitting space into broken planes. His treatment of the mist in this work gives it an eerie fascination as it rises, taking form like living three~dimensional figures. Casson contrasts the pale grey of mist and sky with layers of dark evergreens against the bright yellow~green and coral hues of deciduous trees glowing in their autumn phase, capturing the strength and beauty of this solemn land.
E STIMATE : $70,000 ~ 90,000
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145 ROBERT WAKEHAM PILOT CGP OSA PRCA 1898 ~ 1967
The Terrace, Quebec City oil on panel, signed and on verso signed, titled and dated 1956 8 x 10 in, 20.3 x 25.4 cm P ROVENANCE : Heffel Gallery Limited, Vancouver An Important Private Estate, Toronto This engaging plein air oil sketch is a classic Robert Pilot image of Quebec City at one of his favourite locations, Dufferin Terrace. Pilot was a master of these misty atmospheres, and the pale, delicately coloured sky also serves to highlight the distinctive structure of the gazebo. In the rocks and vegetation tumbling down the slope below, his assured and spontaneous brushwork in tones of orange, golden~yellow and blue is particularly fine.
E STIMATE : $8,000 ~ 10,000