Canadian Fine Art Auction MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
Canadian Fine Art Auction MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017 AT 7:00 PM
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Canadian Fine Art Auction MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017 AT 7:00 PM
ON VIEW
CANADIAN FINE ART
FRONT COVER
Thursday, November 16, 2017 from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm
416.504.5100 canadianart@waddingtons.ca
Friday, November 17, 2017 from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Lot 58 Edwin Headley Holgate Sketch - North Shore
SENIOR SPECIALIST
Saturday, November 18, 2017 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm Sunday, November 19, 2017 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday, November 20, 2017 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Linda G. Rodeck FINE ART ADMINISTRATOR
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Rochelle Konn
Select lots may be viewed otherwise by appointment.
Lot 54 Randolph Stanley Hewton Saint-Joseph De Lévis FRONTISPIECE
Lot 88 Léon Bellefleur Metamorphose I INSIDE BACK COVER
Lot 86 Harold Barling Town Toy Horse # 37
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BACK COVER
Lot 47 James Edward Hervey MacDonald Georgian Bay, circa 1914 - 1915
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INSIDE FRONT COVER
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1 JOACHIM GEORGE GAUTHIER O.S.A., R.C.A. MOUNT ALBERT, CIRCA 1940 oil on board signed; also signed, titled, dated and inscribed “with A.J. Casson” on the reverse 12 ins x 15.75 ins; 30.5 cms x 40 cms
provenance:
Gauthier Family Collection, Toronto $3,500–5,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Born in North Bay, Ontario, Joachim Gauthier (1897-1988) was praised from an early age for his drawing skills. After visiting his sister in Washington, where he was introduced to en plein air painting, Gauthier and his new wife moved to Toronto, whereupon he began a lasting career at the commercial design firm, Sampson-Matthews. It was here that he met and worked with Group of Seven members Franklin Carmichael and A.J. Casson, and soon thereafter became an active member in several artist societies, namely the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy. Picturing Mount Albert, a small town about an hour north of Toronto, after the first snow of the season, Gauthier’s mastery of colour and fine draughtsmanship is proven.
2 DAVID LLOYD BLACKWOOD, O.S.A., R.C.A. YOUNG WHALE IN GREENSPOND etching and aquatint, printed in colours signed, titled, dated 1974 and numbered 38/50 in pencil in the lower margin 20 ins x 16 ins; 61 cms x 73.7 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $3,000–5,000
3 DAVID LLOYD BLACKWOOD, O.S.A., R.C.A. FOR ISHMAEL TILLER - THE LEDGY ROCKS etching and aquatint, printed in colours signed, titled, dated 1990 and numbered 17/75 in pencil in the lower margin 37 ins x 25 ins; 94 cms x 63.5 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Milton
literature:
William Gough, David Blackwood: Master Printmaker, Vancouver, 2001, page 35, for For Ishmael Tiller The Ledgy Rocks, reproduced in colour. $5,000–7,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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4 THOMAS DE VANY FORRESTALL, A.R.C.A. OUT ON THE HEADLANDS / FALLEN RIDER / STARTLED HORSE egg tempera on (shaped) gessoed board signed; also signed, titled and dated “Autumn 2003” on the reverse 20 ins x 25.75 ins; 50.8 cms x 65.4 cms
provenance:
Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto Private Collection, British Columbia $4,000–6,000
On the reverse of this lot, three possible titles have been suggested by Thomas Forrestall (b.1936), however, a note on the reverse from the artist further encourages the viewer to “Give it your own title”. Forrestall also provides the following information there: “Horses are wonderful. They draw me to them, not to ride or own but to be a witness. Many years ago I saw a rider take a tumble from a horse. No one was hurt but the incident stayed with me. I was a witness. As with most of what I create, standing back and taking it all in, one thing piles upon another, and then 2 or 3 more join up in my imagination and I get going. “Imagination is greater than knowledge” A great quote from someone, and it so applies in creating art. If you don’t know the thing too well there’s room for imagination and poetry (in paint) to take over and carry the whole thing off. Too much knowledge would stifle the art and the mystery of it all. Too much knowledge would turn me off, turn me against it. There’s a magic point in preliminary studies where there’s not too much actual facts that would dampen inspiration but enough to light the fire and behold the vision aglow. For better or worse I must make the creation my own. Too much knowledge, like a photograph, robs me of this possession, this control. I must occupy it. My painting sometimes uses photographs but they never, thank heaven, look like one... Distance has always been an ingredient in my art. There’s always a personal connection to what I do. This is important but distance has to be there... Know too much and knowledge rules. Whenever I start to paint it’s done with no idea how to do it, or how it will finish.” Please note the painting is trapezoidal. The width provided in the catalogue entry reflects the narrower (top) end of the painting. The measurement at the base is 35 1/2 inches.
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
5 LÉON BELLEFLEUR, R.C.A. SANS TITRE oil on canvas signed and dated ‘71 10.5 ins x 13.5 ins; 26.7 cms x 34.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Cobourg, ON $4,000–5,000
6 YVES GAUCHER, R.C.A. ÉTUDE POUR PROGRESSION BI-ASCENDANTE acrylic on canvas signed, titled and dated Dec./65 on the reverse 10 ins x 20 ins; 25.4 cms x 50.8 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Cobourg, ON $3,000–4,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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7 DORIS JEAN MCCARTHY, O.S.A., R.C.A. STARRED ICE FROM TWIN OTTER oil on canvas signed 24 ins x 30 ins; 61 cms x 76.2 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $10,000–15,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Doris McCarthy (1910-2010), who had been a student of Arthur Lismer and J.E.H. MacDonald at the Ontario College of Art, established herself in the Toronto arts community soon after graduating in 1930. From 1933 until her retirement in 1972, she was a full-time teacher at Central Technical School. While her early work was strongly influenced by the Group of Seven, McCarthy began to experiment with different forms of abstraction that were current in the 1960s. In 1972, she made the first of many trips to the Arctic. Starred Ice from the Twin Otter, probably painted in the mid-1970s, was inspired by the large patterns of the landscape which McCarthy could see from a small plane. From this elevated vantage point, McCarthy would analyze the forms of the landscape, which she would later reduce to a set of rhythms and patterns. She had worked this way in the 1960s, when flights over Georgian Bay had resulted in highly abstracted paintings.
8 EDWIN HEADLEY HOLGATE, R.C.A. HORSE SHOE LAKE, CA. 1929-30 woodcut, printed in colours signed and inscribed No.7 in pencil in the lower margin plate 6 ins x 7 ins; 15.2 cms x 17.8 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Guelph, ON
literature:
Evelyn Walters, The Beaver Hall Group and its Legacy, Dundurn Press, Toronto, 2017. Rosalind Pepall, Brian Foss et al., Edwin Holgate (catalogue), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, 2005, page 70, cat.no.161 for Horse Shoe Lake, (this version), reproduced. $3,000–5,000 After serving in the First World War, Edwin Holgate (1892-1977) returned to Montreal to teach at the École des BeauxArts. He would become one of the founding members of the Beaver Hall Group in 1920. Holgate and the Beaver Hall Group were instrumental in ushering in a new wave of pictorial modernism in Quebec and beyond. This new modernist approach is most evident in Holgate’s wood engravings, where he sought to emphasize the “medium’s inherent aesthetics”.
There is a multicoloured engraving of Horse Shoe Lake in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, however, in this lot, the use of colour is highly restricted. Despite this, through adept use and organization of light and dark, Holgate’s simplified version produces a highly successful result. The etched lines in the trees and sky stand in stark contrast to the pure white lake in the middle, adding volume and enlivening the composition with a highly pleasing rhythm.
9 STANLEY MOREL COSGROVE, R.C.A. WINTER LANDSCAPE oil on canvas signed 25 ins x 32 ins; 63.5 cms x 81.3 cms
provenance:
Kastel Gallery Inc, Montreal Private Collection, Montreal $4,000–5,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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10 JOHN LITTLE, R.C.A UNE JOURNÉE CHALEUREUSE D’AVRIL RUE RICHELIEU, QUÉBEC oil on canvas signed; also signed, titled and dated ‘79 on the stretcher 24 ins x 30 ins; 61 cms x 76.2 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, British Columbia $15,000–20,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
John Little (b. 1928) worked as a draughtsman for his father’s architectural firm, Luke and Little. While he was to take up painting full time, Little’s interest in architecture is particularly evident in Une Journée Chaleureuse d’Avril-Rue Richelieu, wherein the twisting density of the urban landscape is conveyed with distinction. The clothing of the young woman in the foreground and the warm tones of the brick buildings embracing her reflect the mild spring weather which has come as a welcome relief after a long, cold winter.
11 DAPHNE ODJIG, R.C.A. MEDICINE MAN, 1973 acrylic washes on paper signed 20 ins x 16 ins; 50.8 cms x 40.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, British Columbia
exhibited:
The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig: A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Canada (in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Sudbury), 2007-2010, catalogue no.9.
literature:
Bonnie Devine, et al., The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig: A Retrospective Exhibition (catalogue), National Gallery of Canada (in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Sudbury), 2007, reproduced in colour, catalogue no.9, unpaginated. $4,000–6,000
12 DORIS JEAN MCCARTHY, O.S.A., R.C.A. FARM BUILDINGS AT POINTE AU PERSIL, P.Q., 1947 oil on panel signed; titled on the reverse 11.5 ins x 13.5 ins; 29.2 cms x 34.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario (acquired directly from the artist)
exhibited:
Curry and McCarthy: Works from the 1930s and 1940s, Rails End Gallery, September 1991, Haliburton, Ontario. $3,500–5,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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13 ALFRED JOSEPH CASSON, O.S.A., P.R.C.A. POPLAR GROVE, LAKE KAMANISKEG oil on board signed; titled on the reverse 12 ins x 15 ins; 30.5 cms x 38.1 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Joyce Putnam, Seven Years with the Group of Seven, Quarry Press, Kingston, 1991, page 115. $20,000–30,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Speaking about her good friend A.J. Casson (1898-1992), longtime art collector Joyce M. Putnam said “at last we discovered what he really liked, it was changeable weather, when there were piles of storm clouds approaching, or windy weather when the clouds raced across the sky...he liked it when nature was on the rampage, the sky was filled with violent patterns”. The painting Poplar Grove, Lake Kamaniskeg demonstrates Casson’s passion for the capriciousness of weather. As a trained and dedicated watercolourist, Casson treated oils almost like this medium, using the paint thinly and without excessive texture, which he saw as being characteristic of the “old days” of oil painting. Despite applying the paint flatly and thinly, through the expert use of line and contrast, Casson imbues great weight and richness to the subject, adding further depth with the screen of golden trees in the foreground. Casson’s outdoor sketches provided the source material for his larger more finished canvases; yet his final pieces retain the same feeling of spontaneity as his preliminary work, and Poplar Grove is no exception.
14 REGINA SEIDEN GATHERING SPRING BOUQUETS oil on board signed 38.25 ins x 28.75 ins; 97.2 cms x 73 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Quebec $6,000–8,000 Regina Seiden (1897-1991) studied under Canadian artists William Brymner, Edmond Dyonnnet and Maurice Cullen at the Art Association of Montreal. Brymner became an important influence for Seiden, and encouraged her to continue her studies in Paris. Upon returning to Montreal in 1922, Seiden painted alongside the Beaver Hall Group and exhibited with them in 1921 and 1922. Seiden’s work was also included in the 1924 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley as well as the 1927 Jeu de Paume exhibition in Paris. Like many Canadian women artists at this time, in particular the Montrealers, Seiden specialized in the figure, especially portraits of women.
15 MAUD LEWIS THE CAPE ISLAND oil on board signed 11.5 ins x 13.5 ins; 30.5 cms x 35.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Lance Woolaver, The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 1996, back cover for a closely related work, reproduced in colour.
note:
Painted circa early 1960s. $7,000–9,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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16 ALFRED JOSEPH CASSON, O.S.A., P.R.C.A. STONE BRIDGE NEAR MYERS CAVE, 1957 oil on board signed; also signed, titled and dated on the reverse 9.5 ins x 11.25 ins; 24.1 cms x 28.6 cms
provenance:
Roberts Gallery Limited, Toronto Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal Private Collection, Maple, ON
literature:
Christopher E. Jackson, A.J. Casson: An Artist’s Life (catalogue), McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, 1999. $25,000–30,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
On New Year’s Eve, 1957, A.J. Casson (1898-1992) retired from his successful and lengthy career as a commercial artist to devote himself to painting full-time. Stone Bridge at Myers Cave was painted during his retirement year. While Casson does not often include people in his pictures, he is fascinated by places that provide the “backdrop for living”, that is spaces, structures and meeting places that are bursting with possibility for human interaction. This bridge is an example of Casson’s characteristic synthesis of human and physical geography. Myers Cave is located north of Kaladar and about one hour southeast of Bancroft.
17 STANLEY MOREL COSGROVE, R.C.A. ANN oil on canvas board signed 10 ins x 8 ins; 25.4 cms x 20.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Vancouver $3,000–4,000
18 FRANKLIN MILTON ARMINGTON JARDIN DU LUXEMBOURG, PARIS oil on panel signed and dated 1923; also signed and titled on the reverse 10.25 ins x 8.5 ins; 26 cms x 21.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, New Brunswick $3,000–5,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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19 HENRIETTA MABEL MAY, A.R.C.A. STILL LIFE WITH PINK BLOSSOMS oil on canvas board signed 20 ins x 16 ins; 40.6 cms x 50.8 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Vancouver $5,000–7,000
20 JOHN KASYN, O.S.A. BACK YARD WITH TREE ON DOVERCOURT RD. oil on masonite signed; also signed, titled and dated /79 on the reverse 17 ins x 13 ins; 43.2 cms x 33 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Timmins, ON $4,500–6,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
21 CHARLES FRASER COMFORT, O.S.A., P.R.C.A. BLUE DAY, GEORGIAN BAY, MONUMENT CHANNEL oil on panel signed 24 ins x 32 ins; 61 cms x 81.3 cms
provenance:
Charles Comfort (1900-1994) sketched Georgian Bay often during summer visits while there as a guest of the Jackman Family, who had purchased the cottage belonging to Dr. James MacCallum, patron of the Group of Seven. The Comforts holidayed there for decades, often accompanied by A.Y. Jackson or Will Ogilvie. While this work is not dated, it fits well within the period of production (after 1957) that saw Comfort produce works like Northern Sunset in which he explored the use of highly expressionistic colour using intense tones of one colour, in particular, either blue or red.
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Mary Jo Hughes et al., Take Comfort - the Career of Charles Comfort, The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, 2007, page 24. Margaret Gray, Margaret Rand and Lois Steen, Charles Comfort, Gage Publishing, Toronto, 1976, page 47 for Northern Sunset, 1968, reproduced in colour. $8,000–12,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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22 BARKER FAIRLEY, R.C.A. TRIO oil on masonite signed; also signed, titled and dated 1958 on the reverse 30 ins x 40 ins; 76.2 cms x 101.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Gary Michael Dault, Barker Fairley Portraits, Methuen Publications, Agincourt, Ontario, 1981, pages IX-XVIII. $7,000–9,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Barker Fairley (1887-1986) was a fiery and inspiring teacher of German literature, a writer and also a poet. He was one of Canada’s most renowned scholars on Goethe, a writer who, among other things, wrote about the complexities of the human spirit. It seems inevitable that Fairley was drawn to portraiture. Through the course of his half century of painting (he lived to be 99), Fairley sought the essential makings of humanness, what he called “the human outlook” through his art, painting everyone he knew, children, grandchildren, neighbors, friends, colleagues as well as strangers. Trio, which depicts the wife and two daughters of artist Aba Bayefsky (see lot 31), were among his circle of friends.
23 ALFRED JOSEPH CASSON, O.S.A., P.R.C.A. NORTHERN ROAD, HALFWAY LAKE oil on board signed; titled and dated 1968 on the reverse 9.25 ins x 11.25 ins; 23.5 cms x 28.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Paul Duval, Alfred Joseph Casson: President, Royal Canadian Academy, The Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1951. $20,000–30,000 In 1967, both A.J. Casson (1998-1992) and the country at large were undergoing real and lasting change. It was the nation’s centennial year and there was a strong desire to express Canada’s distinct character, in particular what differentiated the country from its southern neighbour. In this period of heightened nationalism, the Group of Seven were rediscovered and re-popularised by a public becoming wary of American assertiveness. The passage of time and the passing of fellow Group members placed Casson in a prominent position as spokesperson for the Group. Painted the following year, Northern Road, Halfway Lake, illustrates the winding road to the provincial park, Halfway Lake in Sudbury, Ontario. Paintings such as this would have delighted the Canadian public at the time. Its emphasis on unspoiled northern wilderness appealed to the emboldened patriotism in the aftermath of the centennial year and provided a clear link between the landscape painting tradition in the nation’s past and present.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
24 MANLY EDWARD MACDONALD, R.C.A. RIVER, SUMMER oil on canvas signed 28.5 ins x 36.5 ins; 72.4 cms x 92.1 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $6,000–8,000
25 RENÉ RICHARD TRAPPERS’ CABIN, CA. 1955 oil on masonite signed; inscribed “Camp de Trappeur” on the reverse 18 ins x 24 ins; 45.7 cms x 59.7 cms
provenance:
Walter H. Klinkhoff, Montreal (acquired directly from the artist) By descent to the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Alan J. Klinkhoff, Montreal Private Collection, Montreal $5,000–7,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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26 ALEXANDER YOUNG JACKSON, O.S.A., R.C.A. FARM AT NOTRE DAME DE LA SALETTE, QUE oil on panel signed; also signed, titled and dated “Oct. 1966” on the reverse 10.5 ins x 13.5 ins; 26.7 cms x 34.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Maple, ON $12,000–15,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
While he continued to visit many of his favourite painting places of old, in later life A.Y. Jackson (1882-1974), who was by now living in Ottawa, increasingly confined his trips to the Ottawa area. Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette is a small community northeast of Ottawa in the Outaouais region of Quebec. Rural communities such as these (usually in winter) had supplied Jackson with subject matter throughout his long career. Jackson has typically rendered the landscape as a series of interconnected forms—the string of farm buildings nestle between the domed and wedge-shaped hills and gentle curve of fields in the foreground—painted in a narrow tonal range. The ochre-coloured strip of field situated just beneath the buildings balances the band of sky at the top of the composition which is also painted in a higher value. Closer examination reveals a rich diversity of colours in the small brushstrokes that cover the hills with texture and add detail to the foreground.
27 WALTER JOSEPH PHILLIPS, R.C.A. YORK BOAT ON LAKE WINNIPEG woodcut, printed in colours signed, titled and numbered 142/150 in pencil in the lower margin 11.5 ins x 15 ins; 29.2 cms x 38.1 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Vancouver
literature:
Nancy Green, Kate Rutherford and Toni Tomlinson, Walter J. Phillips, Pomegranate, Portland, Oregon, 2013, page 30 for York Boat on Lake Winnipeg, reproduced in colour. Patricia Ainslie, Images of the Land: Canadian Block Prints 1919-1945, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, 1984, page 40, cat. no 137 for York Boat on Lake Winnipeg, reproduced in color. Duncan Campbell Scott, Walter J. Phillips (Canadian Artists Series), The Ryerson Press, Toronto, n.d., page 41, for York Boat on Lake Winnipeg, reproduced.
Roger Boulet, The Tranquility and the Turbulence: The Life and Works of Walter J. Phillips, M.B. Loates, Markham, 1981, frontispiece, page 113 and page 133 for York Boat on Lake Winnipeg, reproduced in colour. $15,000–20,000 The title of Roger Boulet’s monograph The Tranquility and the Turbulence was drawn from W.J. Phillips’ (1884-1963) remark: ”Water is the most expressive element in nature. It responds to every mood from tranquility to turbulence,” and indeed many of the artist’s best known works include water as a kind of mood gauge. Kate Rutherford observes that while so many of Phillips’ compositions could be viewed as objective - depicting things as they could be seen in real life - York Boat is an exception. According to Rutherford, the artist’s great grand-daughter, York Boat “portrays the frustration and energy of the boatmen fighting the winds, and the active, swirling water adds a sublime aspect to the piece.”
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28 NICHOLAS DE GRANDMAISON, R.C.A. PAPOOSE pastel on paper signed 17.75 ins x 14.75 ins; 45.1 cms x 37.5 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Hugh A. Dempsey, History in Their Blood, Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver/Toronto, 1982, pages 26-34. $12,000–18,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Nicholas de Grandmaison’s (1882-1978) portraits of Plains Indians provide an impressive documentation of the native peoples of western Canada. After immigrating to Canada in the 1930’s, de Grandmaison was immediately drawn to Canada’s indigenous peoples and their history. The majority of his artistic output would focus on capturing their story as written on their faces. De Grandmaison’s skill with portraiture rests with his ability to capture the unique spirit of his subject. It was reputed that even many years after their creation, when his paintings and pastels were taken to reserves for identification (typically, they are only titled with generic descriptions like this lot), the details of the sitter were so precise that these subjects, now aged or departed, would bring tears to the eyes of community members.
29 MAUD LEWIS OXEN HAULING LOGS, WINTER oil on board signed 12 ins x 14 ins; 29.8 cms x 34.9 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Lance Woolaver, The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 1996, page 61 for a closely related work, reproduced in colour.
note:
Painted circa 1967. $7,000–9,000
30 MAUD LEWIS SNOW- LADEN LANDSCAPE oil on board signed 12 ins x 14 ins; 30.5 cms x 35.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, British Columbia $7,000–9,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
31 ABA BAYEFSKY, A.R.C.A. CHRISTMAS CACTUS oil on canvas signed and dated 1988 39.5 ins x 31.5 ins; 100.3 cms x 80 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $4,000–6,000 Christmas Cactus is an exceptional example of Aba Bayefsky’s (1923-2001) expressionist style of painting. Working with emphatic shades of blues and green, Bayefsky’s subject pulsates with energy, the spikey tendrils warning: look but don’t touch.
32 BRUNO JOSEPH BOBAK, R.C.A. NASHWAAK RIVER oil on canvas signed; also signed on the reverse, and titled on the stretcher 32 ins x 48 ins; 81.3 cms x 121.9 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal $5,000–7,000 The Nashwaak River, whose name comes from a word meaning slow current, is a tributary of the Saint John River. The Nashwaak flows into the Saint John River opposite downtown Fredericton, where Bruno Bobak (1923-2012) lived from 1960.
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
33 ADAM SHERRIFF SCOTT, R.C.A. INUIT FAMILY RESTING oil on canvas signed 20 ins x 24 ins; 61 cms x 91.4 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario $2,500–3,500
34 MANLY EDWARD MACDONALD, R.C.A. SAWING LOGS oil on canvas signed 20 ins x 26 ins; 50.8 cms x 66 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $5,000–7,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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35 ALEXANDER YOUNG JACKSON, O.S.A., R.C.A. DEPLETED IRON MINE, LABRADOR oil on panel signed; titled and dated ‘61 on the reverse 10.5 ins x 13.5 ins; 26.7 cms x 34.3 cms
provenance:
S. Walter Stewart (acquired directly from the artist) J.S. Dowsett, Ontario Joyner Fine Art Inc., Toronto, May 1994 (Lot 71) Private Collection, Maple, ON
literature:
Dennis Reid, The Later Work of A.Y. Jackson, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1982. $12,000–15,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
In the spring of 1961, A.Y. Jackson (1882-1974) accompanied Maurice Haycock, a mineralogist with the Department of Resources and Development in Ottawa and a serious amateur painter, to an area on the Quebec-Labrador border at Shefferville where iron ore was being mined. Jackson’s Ottawa connections were often useful in facilitating his travel to distant mining operations: in 1949, he had visited the Eldorado Mine at Port Radium on Great Bear Lake, also with Haycock. This view of a depleted iron mine at Knob Lake, was painted in June 1961. Jackson has given bold expression to this landscape, ravaged by iron ore mining. The strident colours and simplified forms reveal his roots in Post-impressionism; the lower half of the picture verges on the abstract. In the bright daylight of this northern terrain, this was how the scene struck the artist. The intensity of the orange and ochre rock face is heightened by the brilliant blue of the sky, and the various shades of purple and red that give definition to the hills are repeated to great effect in the foreground. Jackson’s masterful colour sense in this painting is borne out by the coppery-coloured pool of tailings in the foreground.
36 DORIS JEAN MCCARTHY, O.S.A., R.C.A. MOONLIGHT ON PERCÉ ROCK, 1945 oil on panel signed, titled and dated on the reverse 11.5 ins x 13.5 ins; 29.2 cms x 34.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario (acquired directly from the artist)
exhibited:
Ontario Society of Artists (O.S.A.), Little Picture Show, Simpsons, Toronto, 1946. $3,500–5,000
37 RENÉ RICHARD GRANGE DE CHARLEVOIX oil on masonite signed 16 ins x 20 ins; 40.6 cms x 50.8 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal $3,000–4,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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38 MANLY EDWARD MACDONALD, R.C.A. DON RIVER, OFF POST ROAD, EAST OF BAYVIEW oil on canvas signed 30 ins x 40 ins; 76.2 cms x 101.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Charles Beale, Manly Edward MacDonald (18891971): Interpreter of Old Ontario, Plumley Press, Napanee, 2010. $12,000–16,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Manly Edward MacDonald (1889-1971) studied at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, where he frequently explored and painted the Don Valley Ravine. An en plein air painter at heart, MacDonald worked through all weather conditions. In Don River, Off Post Road, the viewer’s gaze is gently directed towards the clearing between the trees, with the Don River acting as a grounding device to lead us deeper into the painting. Flecks of rich, colourful paint work harmoniously to create a serene winter scene, far removed from the future hustle and bustle of nearby Toronto streets. The influence of impressionism is evident here in MacDonald’s preoccupation with light and while MacDonald experimented regularly throughout his career, the majority of his best works remained firmly rooted in a traditional style. MacDonald’s affection for the natural world instilled a lasting concern for the environment, and his depiction of the Don River as a pristine natural setting evidently struck one collector, who noted on the reverse of the painting: “all built up now (1962)”. Indeed, such illustrations of the river as a lush oasis in the heart of the city remind us of the neglect the Don Valley has suffered over the years, and the necessity for continued reforestation and redevelopment to “bring back the Don”.
39 ALBERT JACQUES FRANCK, A.R.C.A. BACKYARD ON SEATON ST. oil on masonite signed and dated ‘63 20 ins x 16 ins; 50.8 cms x 40.6 cms
provenance:
Roberts Gallery Limited, Toronto Private Collection, Ontario $7,000–9,000
40 JOHN LITTLE, R.C.A DIMANCHE MATIN, RUE DE BULLION, MONTREAL oil on canvas signed; also signed, titled and dated ‘70 on the reverse 8 ins x 10 ins; 20.3 cms x 25.4 cms
provenance:
Continental Galleries, Montreal Kastel Gallery, Montreal Private Collection, Montreal $5,000–7,000
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41 ALEXANDER YOUNG JACKSON, O.S.A., R.C.A. BOATS AT MONTREAL RIVER, LAKE SUPERIOR oil on panel signed 10.5 ins x 13.5 ins; 26.7 cms x 34.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Maple, ON $12,000–15,000
A.Y. Jackson (1882-1974) began making regular sketching trips to the eastern shore of Lake Superior in August 1954, building a cabin at Wawa near the summer home of friends the following year. This sketch was made in the area on July 8, 1959. Jackson had painted the Montreal River in the autumn of 1919, on the second box-car trip to Algoma with Lawren Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald and F.H. Johnston, before the Group of Seven had formed. Whereas his emphasis in the earlier work had been on broadly painted wilderness landscapes that stretched into the distance, here, Jackson focuses on a smaller motif at closer proximity—three boats hauled onto shore, possibly waiting out the storm. Although the palette is characteristic of Jackson in its dominant middle range of values with accents painted in lighter and darker tones, the touch is finer and more detailed than in the earlier sketches. The treatment of the water, in particular, painted in broken brushstrokes, is impressionistic in character.
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
42 JOHN RICHARD FOX SANARY, FRANCE, 1957-58 oil on canvas 24 ins x 30.25 ins; 61 cms x 76.2 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal
exhibited:
John Fox: Recent Paintings, Laing Gallery, Toronto, March 8-22, 1958. John Fox, Continental Galleries of Fine Art, Montreal, Feb. 27-March 13, 1959. $3,000–5,000
43 RANDOLPH STANLEY HEWTON, R.C.A. BAIE ST-PAUL, QUEBEC oil on panel signed; titled on the reverse 8.5 ins x 11 ins; 21.6 cms x 27.9 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Huntsville, ON $4,000–5,000
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44 FRANK HANS JOHNSTON, O.S.A., A.R.C.A. PARRY SOUND COUNTRY oil on canvas board signed 9 ins x 7 ins; 22.9 cms x 17.8 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Waterloo
literature:
Roger Burford Mason, A Grand Eye for Glory: A Life of Franz Johnston, Dundurn Press, Toronto, 1998. $5,000–7,000 Known as a jovial, humorous man who loved to explore the Ontario wilderness, wrote poetry and fairy tales for his children and enjoyed going to the cinema, Franz Johnston (1888-1949) defied convention, even as he worked within the boundaries of conventional commercial art. The art critic Augustus Bridle, in a 1942 exhibition review, opined that “Franz has a grand eye for glory. He seldom paints anything because it’s grim or ugly”. Certainly the painting Parry Sound Country is a prime example of this delight in the colourful beauty of Canada.
45 HENRIETTA MABEL MAY, A.R.C.A. THE AUTUMN watercolour, mounted to card signed 13 ins x 14 ins; 33 cms x 35.6 cms
provenance:
Dominion Gallery, Montreal Private Collection, Toronto $4,000–6,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
46 ALFRED JOSEPH CASSON, O.S.A., P.R.C.A. MORNING, OPEONGO RIVER, 1959 oil on board signed; also signed, titled and dated 1959 on a label on the reverse 12 ins x 15 ins; 30.5 cms x 38.1 cms
provenance:
Roberts Gallery Limited, Toronto Joyner Fine Art Inc., Toronto, May 1993, (Lot 103) Private Collection, Maple, ON $20,000–30,000 The senior members of the Group of Seven had an important and lasting influence on A.J. Casson’s work. However, by the later 1940s through to the 1950s, Casson found a personal form of expression by accentuating the design elements in his landscape work. This may be seen as his response to abstraction which was becoming increasingly important in Toronto at that time. The Opeongo River, which runs through Algonquin Provincial Park, was another of Casson’s favourite painting locations. The title indicates the time of day it was painted. Casson was interested in the effects of light on form, and by restricting his palette to a range of blues, he was able to capture the clarity of the scene and definition of forms in the morning light. Casson has reduced the view of distant hills and tree-lined shore reflected in the still waters to a single dominant motif that is almost bilaterally symmetrical. This mirroring device, which Casson often used, enabled him to heighten the patterns he found in nature, and to achieve a level of abstraction in the work. A breeze ruffles the water in the foreground—perhaps in response to the dark cloud looming in the upper right corner.
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
47 JAMES EDWARD HERVEY MACDONALD, O.S.A., R.C.A. GEORGIAN BAY, CIRCA 1914-1915 oil on panel inscribed “Dr. MacCallum” in pencil on the reverse 4 ins x 6 ins; 10.2 cms x 15.2 cms
provenance:
Estate of Dr. James MacCallum, Toronto Kaspar Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Nihls Ohlsen, “Reflections of Scandinavian Painting in the Work of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven,” in Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Dulwich, England, 2011, page 50. Charles C. Hill, Art for a Nation: The Group of Seven (catalogue), National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1995, pages 48 and 59. Bruce Whiteman, JE.H. MacDonald, Quarry Press, Kingston, 1995, pages 9-10, 29. Paul Duval, The Tangled Garden: The Art of J.E.H. MacDonald, Cerebrus/Prentice-Hall, Scarborough, Ontario, 1978, page 45. E.R. Hunter, J.E.H. MacDonald: A Biography and Catalogue of his Work, The Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1940, pages 9-10. $35,000–45,000
In the canon of Canadian painting there is no shortage of research and reverie about James Edward Hervey MacDonald (1873-1932), the poet-painter and co-founder of the Group of Seven. Nor is there any lack of strong sentiment for Georgian Bay, the playground of the Toronto Establishment and, as such, a good subject for artists who recognize the benefit of predictable patronage. Nonetheless, this diminutive landscape dated to 1914 belies an even greater story that began with MacDonald in the early teens of the twentieth century and impacts Canadian landscape painting to this day. As Charles Hill points out in his seminal work, The Group of Seven: Art for a Nation, by 1914 the new movement in Canadian painting which would become known as the Group of Seven had coalesced. MacDonald had met and knew all members of the Group as well as Tom Thomson. These painters socialized at the Arts and Letters Club on Elm Street in Toronto, exhibited their work in OSA shows and painted together - mostly on weekends - both in the field and in the newly erected Studio Building on Severn Street in the Rosedale Ravine. But it was in January 1913 that MacDonald and Lawren Harris had visited the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo to view a unique exhibition focusing on the work of Scandinavian painters. The trip gave shape to the nascent ideas the friends had been formulating. As a result of this visit and exposure to counterparts from northern Europe, MacDonald realized he shared “associated ideas” with them and was encouraged with Harris to forge a distinct path to a purely Canadian art movement. MacDonald, with Harris, had become the disruptors of their generation. MacDonald was and is known for his exceptional talent with design. C.W. Jefferys writing about him in a review in the LAMPS (the publication of the Arts & Letters Club) emphasized not just the application and style of paint and painting but, specifically, the design of his work. MacDonald’s “selection and arrangement” was what impressed him most. Jefferys wrote: ”I fancy that his method lays quite as much stress upon the selection of the point of view and arrangements that best express the sentiment and character of these as it does upon the expression itself.” In Georgian Bay, what lies around the curve of the shoreline remains mysterious and creates a loaded, even romantic, tension. Writing about Scadinavian painting of the two decades after 1890, Nils Ohlsen references Stimmungsmalerei (mood painting) “in which the painted landscape represents the landscape of the soul.” He continues: “Such idealised images, conceived and constructed around a certain mood, typically feature transitions from day to night for example, or from autumn to winter or sunlight to stormy weather. Nature appears as a locus of an emotional experience, inviting empathetic immersion in a mood more than physical exploration in the mind’s eye. Reflections, for instance can function as echoes
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of psychological states, distant mountain ranges as focuses for longing. These thematic, compositional and atmospheric aspects of Scandinavian landscape painting recur in the work of Thomson and the Group of Seven.” Certainly, mood is as much the subject of this lot, as geography, a universal feeling evoked by MacDonald’s composition trumping any specific associations we may have with the place. On the reverse of this painting is the name “James MacCallum” written in pencil. By 1911 MacDonald knew Dr. MacCallum, a successful Toronto opthamologist, who had a cottage in Georgian Bay at Split Rock Island. It was MacCallum, who, with Lawren Harris, had persuaded MacDonald to leave his position as a graphic designer and devote his whole time to painting. According to Paul Duval, MacCallum first invited MacDonald to his cottage in 1912. E.R. Hunter, considered to be MacDonald’s first biographer, notes that often a “feeling of being overwhelmed at first is noticeable in MacDonald’s works when he faces a change of country.” It is true that it took time for MacDonald to master his subject and we see evidence of this in other phases of his career, most particularly in his mountain pictures. MacDonald’s handling was about to change dramatically when the Group began travelling further north – MacDonald in particular would forever be associated with the body of work he produced in Algoma. But Georgian Bay should not be read as a dress rehearsal for these later works. Like a chrysalis, this work contains within it the ingredients of what was to come not only from MacDonald’s brush but from that of his confrères. Like the major works that followed, such as Solemn Land, 1921, whose secret, says Bruce Whiteman “lies in part in the masterly balance MacDonald has achieved between design and spiritual tone”, Georgian Bay, 1914 shows a mastery of mood, colour, composition, design, balance and selection that results in a titanic emotional reaction that seems steeped both in memory and pure feeling.
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
48 ARTHUR LISMER, O.S.A., R.C.A. TWO TREES, B.C. oil on panel signed and dated ‘59 16 ins x 12 ins; 40.6 cms x 30.5 cms
provenance:
Sale of Canadian Art, The Women’s Committee of the Art Gallery of Ontario, n.d. Private Collection, Waterloo $12,000–15,000
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49 JACQUES GODEFROY DE TONNANCOUR, A.R.C.A. PAYSAGE oil on masonite signed and dated ‘58 18 ins x 24 ins; 45.7 cms x 61 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Ray Ellenwood, Egregore: A history of the Montreal Automatist Movement, Exile Editions Ltd., Toronto, 1992, page 120. $8,000–12,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Unimpressed with his time studying at the École des Beaux Arts in Montreal, Jacques de Tonnancour (1917-2005) denounced academia and left the institution after two years. He held his first solo exhibition at Montreal’s Dominion Gallery, and with a government bursary, left for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1945, a city that was to have a lasting impression on his aesthetic style. Once back in Montreal in 1948, he was hired at the very same school he had previously decried, yet this time a little older, wiser and a teacher rather than a student. It was here that he became better acquainted with the surrealist avant-gardist, Alfred Pellan, who was also working at the École des Beaux Arts, and together they would co-author Prisme d’yeux, a manifesto standing in opposition to Borduas and the Automatistes. The Prisme d’yeux manifesto was a reaction to what Pelland and de Tonnancour perceived as the increasing “sectarianism” and the narrow definition of avant-garde under Borduas and the Automatistes. Instead they sought a painting “free from all contingencies of time and place or from restrictive ideologies, conceived apart from any literary, political, philosophical or other interferences which might adulterate its expression and comprise its purity”. A somewhat idealist movement that only lasted the duration of two exhibitions, Prisme d’yeux favoured the fundamental principles of painting, effectively calling for the separation of art and politics. After this period of radicalism, de Tonnancour painted sparingly from 1950-1955, returning to the medium and his old landscape subject matter after an inspirational trip to the Laurentians, northern Ontario and Vancouver. Paysage is a ready example from de Tonnancour’s return to painting and an early demonstration of his shift towards further simplification of form.
50 ALEXANDER YOUNG JACKSON, O.S.A., R.C.A. MOUNTAINS AT SUNSHINE LODGE oil on panel signed; titled and dated “July 1949” on reverse 10.75 ins x 13.5 ins; 34.3 cms x 27.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Quebec
literature:
Wayne Larson, A.Y Jackson: The Life of a Landscape Painter, Dundurn Press, Toronto, 2009, page 102. Dennis Reid, Alberta Rhythm: The Later Works of A.Y. Jackson, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1982, pages 20-21. Naomi Jackson Groves, A.Y.’s Canada, Clarke, Irwin & Company, Toronto/Vancouver, 1968, page 132. $18,000–22,000 In the summer of 1943, A.Y. Jackson (1882-1974) assumed a teaching position at Banff School of Fine Arts Summer School replacing George Pepper who had enlisted to support the war effort. Jackson was still teaching there in “July 1949”, the date inscribed on the reverse of this painting. Sunshine Lodge is located in Banff National Park about 18 kilometres from Banff itself. An intrepid wanderer, Jackson first began painting and exploring the rugged terrain of Alberta in earnest in 1937. Mountains at Sunshine Lodge captures the various colours that constitute the Alberta landscape with what Donald Buchanan praised as remarkable “geographical validity”. Interestingly, the painting also acts as a foil to the radical changes happening farther east in Quebec. In 1948 the Automatistes released a social and aesthetic statement that would not only impact the Canadian art world, but would subsequently launch the Quiet Revolution. Jackson had been what Dennis Reid has described as “an avowed opponent” to the modernist ideas of the Contemporary Art Society of Montreal in the early 1940s, so it is difficult to imagine any empathy he might have for the ideas associated with Refus Global. But to every thing there is a season: where once he had been among an avant-garde cadre of artists, Jackson now found himself in the traditionalist camp, perplexed by the public’s acceptance of the Automatiste manifesto when it had been shocked by his use of impressionism just a few decades earlier. Nonetheless, there continued to be a strong appetite for Jackson’s landscape sketches like Mountains at Sunshine Lodge. His popularity even seemed to be on the ascendant (he had begun showing again with the RCA in 1940) although the late war years had impacted aspects of the cultural sector and exhibition opportunities had been curtailed. Jackson taught at the Banff School for six seasons in the 1940s, connecting with many hundreds of students each summer from across Canada and the U.S. 1949 was the last summer he would spend at the school.
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
51 FRANK HANS JOHNSTON, O.S.A., A.R.C.A. NORTHERN SPRING oil on board signed; also signed and titled on the reverse 16 ins x 20 ins; 40.6 cms x 50.8 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Roger Burford Mason, A Grand Eye for Glory: A Life of Franz Johnston, Dundurn Press, Toronto, 1998.
A 1934 exhibition review in the Toronto Telegram reads: “One does not need to be told of a Johnston canvas “that it is a cold lonely road. The light is failing. The night is near. The whispering wind is the only sound in silence so deep that even one’s breath can be heard.” One knows inevitably in looking at a picture by him he meant to tell you these things.” Indeed, Johnston was an ardent chronicler of the Canadian landscape, and rather than follow the current artistic trends, he painted what he saw, as he saw it. Franz Johnston’s (1888-1949) decorative and more delicate leanings can be seen in the painting Northern Spring. The fluffy white clouds in the background add charm and lightheartedness to the work, a sentiment which is contrasted by the dark shadowed trees on the right. Through careful perspectival arrangement, Johnston suggests the moment of transformation between winter and spring, when the earth begins to slowly warm, cathartically shedding the weight and melancholy of those long cold months of winter.
Marilyn Baker, The Winnipeg School of Art: The Early Years, University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg, 1984. $10,000–15,000
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52 ALFRED JOSEPH CASSON, O.S.A., P.R.C.A. EDGE OF THE WOODS oil on canvas board signed; inscribed “August 1942” on the reverse 9.5 ins x 11.5 ins; 24.1 cms x 29.2 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Maple, ON $25,000–30,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
In 1942, the year this work was painted, A.J. Casson had become art director at Sampson-Matthews. This oil sketch was likely painted during his summer holidays and is typical of Group of Seven sketches made in the field. Here Casson has focused on the various states of timber he has encountered at the edge of the woods: an uprooted tree in the foreground, a burnt stump, and wood floating in the water. A short log on the shore sits at the centre of the picture. In encountering this scene, it is possible that Casson was reminded of the war that was being fought overseas, which was a preoccupation of all Canadians. In particular, however, Casson supervised the Sampson-Matthews silkscreen project, conceived by A.Y. Jackson and supported by the National Gallery, that adapted paintings by Canadian artists for use as silkscreen prints to decorate servicemen’s quarters in Canada and overseas during the Second World War.
53 CLARENCE ALPHONSE GAGNON, R.C.A. SMALL FARMHOUSE IN THE HILLS OF BAIE ST. PAUL, 1924 oil on panel Certified by Lucile Rodier Gagnon (no.392) 4.75 ins x 7.25 ins; 12.7 cms x 17.8 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
A.K. Prakash, Impressionism in Canada: A Journey of Rediscovery, Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany, 2014, page 583. Hélène Sicotte and Michèle Grandbois, Clarence Gagnon, 1881-1942: Dreaming the Landscape, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, 2006, pages 102, 136, 150, 152, 156, and 338. René Boissay, Clarence Gagnon, Éditions Marcel Broquet, Ottawa, 1988, page 146. $25,000–35,000 Clarence Gagnon (1881-1942) spent five years in Baie St. Paul from 1919-1924. He had, of course, spent time painting in the region before but he returned this time with a renewed approach to materials and matrimony. In June 1919, he married his second wife Lucile Rodier, whose labels affixed to the reverse of Gagnon’s little pochades are a mark of authenticity and have served scholars and collectors well in the identification of both date and place of execution of her husband’s work. While Baie St. Paul remained a rural and somewhat isolated place, certainly in contrast with Montreal which had been Lucile’s hometown, or Paris where Gagnon had been living on and off since 1904, the newlyweds enjoyed the company of many fellow painters while there. They were house-guests of Horatio Walker, with whom they stayed while on honeymoon and once they settled into their own place, welcomed guests of their own. Among the many painting friends who came to call were A.Y. Jackson, Randolph Hewton, Mabel May, Edwin Holgate, Albert Robinson and Lilias Torrance Netwon. In winter, the painters would often travel about on skis to visit villages or vantages that provided attractive opportunities for sketching, although Jackson, known as “Pere Raquette”, is said to have preferred snowshoes. Small Farmhouse in the Hills of Baie St. Paul has been dated by Lucile Rodier to ca. 1924. If accurate, the sketch would likely have been executed en plein air early in the year as by the end of that same year the Gagnon’s had decided to return to Paris.
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Works of this subject by Gagnon produced prior to his fourth return to Quebec (1919-1924) rely heavily on classic techniques associated with Impressionism, in particular as they relate to atmosphere. Hélène Sicotte points out that Gagnon “invariably shares a predilection for atmospheric effects and brilliant contrasts of light.” But paintings such as this lot mark a change in both materials and methods that cement Gagnon’s position as one of Canada’s greatest colourists. There is a “chromatic harmony” here that dominates and may be the result of new methods of paint preparation that Gagnon had adopted on his return to Quebec in 1919. Around this time, Gagnon began experimenting with various painting techniques which involved grinding his own pigments, having become disenchanted with commercial preparations which he refused to use. Sicotte notes that this involved “a considerable investment of time and energy” but allows that it was demonstrably worth it because paintings from this period “are notable for their vivacity and purity of colours”. While atmosphere is not completely absent from pictures from this period, the air is often noticeably crisper and it is clear that Gagnon metabolized the comments of British critics who in 1910 had chided Canadian painters who had participated in a Liverpool exhibit of their work for picturing their country through the filter of a European lens, urging them instead to develop their own approach to painting by “throwing off the yoke of (foreign) influence”. Gagnon’s early European subjects, particularly those of Venice or his French beach scenes can be mistaken at times for the works of other great painters of his generation; it is works from this period that become distinctly Canadian and distinctly his own. As A.K. Prakash notes of the works from the 1919-1925 Baie St. Paul period, describing works like this little pochade with its vivid colours “applied with smooth, even brushstrokes, increasingly in blocks and patches” (see Prakash, page 581 for a related Farm, Baie St. Paul subject from ca. 1924): ”It was this difference that belonged exclusively to his hand and went beyond the formulae of the French post-Impressionists.”
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
54 RANDOLPH STANLEY HEWTON, R.C.A. SAINT-JOSEPH DE LÉVIS oil on canvas 24 ins x 29 ins; 61 cms x 73.7 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Halifax
literature:
Evelyn Walters, The Beaver Hall Group and its Legacy, Dundurn Press, Toronto, 2017, page 37. $15,000–18,000 Sociable and charming, Randolph Hewton (1888-1960), who was born in Quebec, was destined for a career in art. Studying under the distinguished Canadian landscape painter, William Brymner, Hewton attended the academies of Paris where he met and travelled with Group of Seven mainstay, A.Y. Jackson and several other Canadian painters. While he exhibited regularly at the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and was an often celebrated artist, Hewton only sold one painting in his lifetime - to his aunt. Enlisting in the First World War in 1915, one of his duties was to record battle scenes in the area of Mons, France. These watercolour works later formed the basis of his solo exhibition, which ultimately led to his invitation to exhibit in the first Group of Seven show in 1920, and the founding of the Beaver Hall Group with several other Montreal based artists in that same year. Succeeding William Brymner as principal of the Art Association of Montreal, Hewton was a highly respected instructor. Yet his then unprecedented use of bright, contrasting colours in both his landscape and portrait paintings was beginning to attract negative criticism, and perhaps due to his support of the modernist aesthetic styles, by 1924 the AAM had terminated his contract. He continued painting and exhibiting throughout the next few decades, but when his beloved wife died in 1950 he gave up painting altogether and died ten years later. Remembering fondly his lifelong friend, A.Y. Jackson wrote: “He was a good companion, friendly, sympathetic and generous in his estimation of others”. Picturing a classic winter scene in a small Quebec town with a bold and lively colour palette, Saint-Joseph de Lévis is not only an excellent example of an artist exploring his home and his talents, but also demonstrates the early rise of modernism and expressionism in Canada at the time.
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
55 FRANK HANS JOHNSTON, O.S.A., A.R.C.A. OLD ELMS tempera on paperboard signed “Frank H. Johnston” 7.25 ins x 6 ins; 18.4 cms x 15.2 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $4,000–6,000
56 JEAN PAUL LEMIEUX, R.C.A. LA FAMILLE watercolour, pencil and gouache signed and dated ‘72 13.25 ins x 16 ins; 33.7 cms x 40.6 cms
provenance:
Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal Galerie Valentin, Montreal Private Collection, Montreal $10,000–12,000
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57 WILLIAM KURELEK, R.C.A. LUMBERJACK mixed media on masonite signed with monogramme and dated ‘71 11.25 ins x 11.25 ins; 28 cms x 28 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Australia (a gift of the artist) $20,000–30,000 William Kurelek (1927-1977) had a difficult relationship with his father whose expectations of physical stamina and practical resourcefulness in his sons William could not meet. After completing high school in Winnipeg, and in order to earn money for university, Kurelek went to work as a lumberjack in northern Ontario during the summer of 1946, aged nineteen. He also hoped to prove his manhood to his father, however, this experience did not improve relations with his family. In 1951, Kurelek again went to work in the lumber camps, this time in northern Quebec and Ontario, south of James Bay, to earn money for a trip to Europe.
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Much of Kurelek’s art is autobiographical and historical in nature: he painted his memories of growing up on the prairies and the history of the Ukrainian people in Canada, for example. He also recorded his experience of working as a lumberjack in paintings, some of which were accompanied by prose and published in 1974 in Lumberjack: Paintings and Story by William Kurelek (Tundra Books of Montreal). To capture the traditional way of life in the lumber camps, Kurelek relied on memory, sketches, and old photos that he had sent home to his family. The paintings also served a didactic purpose, illustrating how timber was harvested, to which his highly detailed use of mixed media was well-suited. This lot depicts a lumberjack, holding his saw in his left hand, as he selects a felled tree to cut into shorter lengths. Having chopped down a number of trees, he begins to prepare them for stacking in a cord. A full cord (a measure of firewood or pulpwood, 4 feet wide x 4 feet high x 8 feet long) is pictured in the background. The timber would be cut into 4 foot lengths, then stacked in a cradle held in place by stakes at either end. In his book, Kurelek described this work as time-consuming and frustrating, especially if the logs were slippery and slid out of the cradle.
58 EDWIN HEADLEY HOLGATE, R.C.A. SKETCH - NORTH SHORE oil on panel signed with initials; also signed and titled on the reverse 8.5 ins x 10.75 ins; 21.6 cms x 27.3 cms
provenance:
Continental Galleries of Fine Art, Montreal Private Collection, New Brunswick
exhibited:
Manoir Richelieu Art Exhibition, Manoir Richelieu, Quebec, no. 22. $50,000–60,000 Edwin Holgate (1892-1977) was a key figure in the development of modern art in Canada. Born near Barrie, Ontario, he studied at the Art Association of Montreal under William Brymner, then in Paris until the outbreak of war in 1914. After serving in the army, Holgate founded the Beaver Hall Group in 1920 with several other young Montreal artists, in response to the first exhibition of the Group of Seven held in Toronto that spring. In the early 1920s, Holgate studied with Russian émigré artist Adolf Milman in Paris; Milman’s emphasis on strong colour, drawing, and formal structure had a lasting impact on the young artist. Back in Canada, Holgate sketched with A.Y. Jackson along the St. Lawrence River and in 1926, on the Skeena River in British Columbia. Exhibiting in several Group of Seven exhibitions as an invited contributor, he became a member of the Group in 1929. In 1930, (and again in 1932) on his way to Labrador, Holgate stopped at the small fishing village of Natashquan on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Here he painted a number of sketches, one of which was exhibited in the 1930 Group of Seven show. Many of these feature the small white shacks used by fisherman, known as magasins du galet, and now preserved as heritage sites. This particular sketch, entitled simply “North Shore,” focuses on the bridge that spans the Petite rivière de Natashquan. It is a bold composition, in which the viewer faces the river at a slight angle so that the bridge cuts across the picture from the lower right quadrant. The bridge is solidly drawn and its colours heightened for emphasis. A lively interplay of colours—pink, ochre and red, against the large patch of blue water—attracts the eye and carries it into the background, populated by fishermen’s houses. The painting was loaned to an exhibition at the Manoir Richelieu at Murray Bay (La Malbaie) probably in the 1930s.
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
59 JEAN PAUL LEMIEUX, R.C.A. LES ENFANTS DE LA PAIX oil on canvas signed 24 ins x 36 ins; 61 cms x 91.4 cms
provenance:
Joyner Fine Art Inc., Toronto, May 1991 (Lot 126) Private Collection, Toronto $125,000–175,000 Jean Paul Lemieux (1904-1990) was born in Quebec City. In 1917, the family moved to Montreal where Lemieux would study at the École des Beaux-Arts beginning in 1926. After graduating, Lemieux taught in Montreal and then Quebec City from 1937 until he retired in 1965. Although he was aware of developments in abstract art that were taking place in Montreal during the late 1940s, Lemieux did not participate, and developed an individual, figure-based style of his own. He is best known for the works of his “classic” period (1956-70) in which simplified figures inhabit sparse, horizontal spaces. In the later, so-called “Expressionist phase,” (1970-1990) of his work, Lemieux vented his distress at the state of the world and the future of the human race. Paintings of the 1980s dealt with themes of war, hell and anguish. Also in the 1980s, Lemieux illustrated several books, in which the mood is somewhat lighter. These included Jean Paul Lemieux retrouve Maria Chapdelaine (1981) and Canada-Canada (1985). The former contained photo-lithographs made from paintings that illustrate Louis Hémon’s story of Maria Chapdelaine, and Canada-Canada, which included twelve serigraphs, each depicting a different part of the country. Les Enfants de la Paix was probably painted around 1982. The subject is a group of twelve children, seemingly at play, their hands joined to form a circle. The circle opens to admit another child entering from the right. The title and composition suggest that the painting marked the International Day of Peace, initiated in 1981 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, and first observed in September 1982. In the midst of his pessimism, Lemieux may have looked upon this event as offering some hope for the future. Symbolic of hope are the smiling children from different racial backgrounds, who live and play in harmony with each other. Behind them, a gap in the trees allows sunshine and light to fall upon these “children of peace.”
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
60 GERSHON ISKOWITZ, R.C.A. AUTUMN-H oil on canvas signed, titled and dated 1982 on the reverse 54 ins x 45 ins; 137.2 cms x 114.3 cms
provenance:
Miriam Shiell Fine Art, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
The Gershon Iskowitz Foundation, The Gershon Iskowitz Prize: 1986-2006, Transcontinental Litho Acme, Montreal, 2009. Joan Murray, Canadian Art in the Twentieth Century, Dundurn Press, Toronto, 1999, page 133. $25,000–30,000 Born in a small city in Poland, Gershon Iskowitz (1921-1988) immigrated to Canada in 1949. A survivor of the Holocaust, he remained haunted by unspeakable memories until the early 1950s, and his work from this earlier period shows him struggling with such themes in vivid, traumatic detail. In 1967, however, he received a Canada Council for the Arts travel grant that allowed him to hire a helicopter and fly from Winnipeg to Churchill. Having never before seen the landscape from above, Iskowitz was moved and inspired, and this momentous journey would inform the rest of his practice. Colour became paramount to his work, and he began favouring abstraction over representational form. Iskowitz had realized the transcendent power of art. Chosen to represent Canada at the 1972 Venice Biennale, Iskowitz and his work were regarded as the embodiment of the triumph of light over darkness. Autumn-H is the eighth work in the extended Autumn series. Here, colours erupt onto the canvas with radiant joy. By the 1980s, Iskowitz was electrifying his compositions, adding intensity to his contrasts and sharpening the delineation of form. In 1982, the year this work was painted, Gershon Iskowitz was given a major one-man retrospective exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Curated by David Burnett, the show then travelled to the art galleries of Windsor, Montreal, London, Calgary and to Canada House in London, England.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
61 DORIS JEAN MCCARTHY, O.S.A., R.C.A. STORM CLOUDS OF KEEL, 1999 oil on canvas signed; titled on the overflap 36 ins x 48 ins; 91.4 cms x 121.9 cms
provenance:
Wynick/Tuck Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Stuart Reid, “Island Sketches: Thoughts on Watercolour Paintings of Doris McCarthy,” In Celebrating Life: The Art of Doris McCarthy, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, 1999. Doris McCarthy, A Fool in Paradise: An Artist’s Early Life, Macfarlane Walter & Ross, Toronto, 1990. $20,000–30,000 Doris McCarthy (1910-2010) studied at the Ontario College of Art under the supervision of several noted Group of Seven members, eventually becoming a teacher in the art department at Central Technical School in 1932, where she remained for forty years. Teaching afforded her a newfound independence, and her lifelong curiosity is manifest in her evolving aesthetic approach. McCarthy experimented with form continually, reducing, stretching, and synthesizing it to its essential structure of line, shape and colour, allowing herself to be influenced both by those she was working with and the evolving face of art movements over the years. What remained constant in her work was her dedication to the representation of landscape and the continuum of an event, that is the perception of a space over a period of time. McCarthy travelled to Britain and Ireland repeatedly throughout her lifetime, documenting what she saw in both oils and watercolour. At times picturing the landscape as formidable and foreboding, she always placed the vantage point as hovering slightly above the ground. The painting Storm Clouds of Keel, creates a sense of place that is at once familiar and distant. Reminiscent of Group of Seven landscape compositions, McCarthy captures the jutting rock cliffs of the far western shores of Ireland in richly applied oils, using various shades of green and blue to convey depth and a sense of drama. While ostensibly a painting about storm clouds, we are immediately drawn to the striking hillside that also commands our attention. Through a beautifully articulated understanding of the importance of colour and shape, McCarthy transports us a great distance, if only in our imagination.
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
62 JEAN PAUL LEMIEUX, R.C.A. LE VACANCIER oil on canvas signed 20 ins x 16 ins; 50.8 cms x 40.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal $45,000–60,000
Jean Paul Lemieux (1904-1990) is among the most beloved of Québecois painters and a list of his achievements, accolades, one man shows, favourable reviews, and publications is extensive, contributing to our rich knowledge of both the man and his practice. Solitary figures set in a stark, even forlorn, simplified landscape are his signature and while an argument is often made for the compatibility of these figures with their harsh surroundings, nonetheless, such works can often leave a viewer feeling disquieted. By contrast, in Le Vacancier, Lemieux takes a holiday from such solemn narratives picturing instead a gaily dressed vacationer, set on a beach, with an inviting body of water framing his figure. It’s the hat that makes the man, so says the old adage and in many of Lemieux’s portraits, as in Le Vacancier, haberdashery sets the mood and establishes personality, identity or status. There are many examples of Lemieux’s reliance on this: the top hats of his Father’s of Confederation; the kerchief, caps and tuques of his humbler figures; the floral confections that sit atop his young madamoiselles; or the hairbands and oversize bows on figures such as L’Orpheline. Such devices serve a formal compositional purpose but also help establish, in a very efficient way, the role of sitter, a strategy that dates back centuries to formal commissioned portraits. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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63 WILLIAM RONALD, R.C.A. BLUES IN THE NIGHT oil on canvas signed and dated ‘94 44 ins x 53 ins; 111.8 cms x 134.6 cms
provenance:
La Parete Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto $14,000–18,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
William Ronald (1926-1998) was one of the founding members of Painters Eleven, an abstract group of Toronto artists active from 1953 to 1960. He practiced a form of Abstract Expressionism that was well received in New York where he moved in 1955. Refusing to shift to Pop Art, which was in the ascendant in the 1960s, Ronald moved back to Toronto in 1965. After taking a number of different approaches to his work in the intervening years, Ronald returned to non-objective painting with renewed vigour in the 1990s. Blues in the Night was painted in 1994, when Ronald was again living in Toronto. The overall treatment and bold brushwork are reminiscent of his abstract expressionist work of the 1950s, as is the reference to jazz in the title. The organizing structure and improvisational elements present in his early abstractions were influenced by bebop jazz. In this canvas, colours and forms find parallels in the jazzy rhythms of composer Harold Arlen’s Blues in the Night (1941). Splotches of white and red punctuate a blue field, and the ladder-like motif rising up the centre could be read as the “train a-calling,” as it “whistles across the trestle .”
64 FRANK HANS JOHNSTON, O.S.A., A.R.C.A. OLD MILL, QUE. oil on canvas board signed; titled on the reverse 7 ins x 9 ins; 30.5 cms x 38.1 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Maple, ON
literature:
Roger Burford Mason, A Grand Eye for Glory: A Life of Franz Johnston, Dundurn Press, Toronto, 1998, page 13. $4,000–6,000 In Old Mill, Que., Franz Johnston (1889-1949) offers fresh perspective on what was at the time a well documented motif, the Canadian lumber mill. Johnston expertly contrasts purples, pinks, yellows and dark greens. The light, swirling sky above emphasizes the vastness of the Canadian landscape, while the subtle and finely painted saplings in the foreground suggest the continual cycle of growth, decay and rebirth; themes that would have resonated with a Canadian public, having to come to terms with the aftermath of the Second World War.
65 JOHN WILLIAM BEATTY, O.S.A., R.C.A. LANDSCAPE WITH RIVER, SUMMER oil on panel signed 8.5 ins x 10.5 ins; 21.6 cms x 26.7 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Newmarket, ON $6,000–8,000
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66 ALFRED JOSEPH CASSON, O.S.A., P.R.C.A. BELOW MARSHES FALLS, 1974 - OXTONGUE RIVER oil on board signed; also signed, titled and dated 1974 on the reverse 12 ins x 15 ins; 30.5 cms x 38.1 cms
provenance:
Roberts Gallery Limited, Toronto Private Collection, Maple, ON $15,000–18,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
A.J. Casson (1898-1992) often painted on the Oxtongue River which flows into Algonquin Park. He painted both Ragged Falls and the smaller Marshes Falls, and in this painting, the area below the falls. Here, the artist has selected the point at which the current has slowed down, and beyond which the water lies still enough to reflect the foliage growing along the shore. Casson focuses attention on the two large rocks, their surfaces a patchwork of muted pinks and greys. The cool tones that dominate the foreground, expressive of cold bare rock and fresh moving water, contrast with the warm hues in the upper half of the canvas where the mood is one of quiet and stillness. Casson’s modernism took the form of simplification and attention to the formal qualities of the picture.
67 MANLY EDWARD MACDONALD, R.C.A. MILL IN WINTER oil on canvas signed 27 ins x 40 ins; 68.6 cms x 101.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $9,000–12,000
Manly MacDonald (1889-1971) was born at Point Ann in Prince Edward County, Ontario and spent most of his painting life capturing the villages that dot this pretty part of Southern Ontario. One of the features of this area, particularly in the quiet village of Lonsdale off the Marysville Road, is the use of limestone as a building material. This lot, which portrays an old mill - probably the mill on the Salmon River still extant at Lonsdale - was a subject MacDonald would paint from a variety of angles and in various seasons. Here, seen in winter, the mill’s pale stone seems to be responding to the colours in the still, icey river, the shadow-laden snow and sky above. Known to burst into life come spring, with roadsides lined with heavy lilac blossoms, this region can also be unforgiving in cold winter weather. But in this snowy rendition, MacDonald emphasizes the picturesque and we can imagine the prospect of a friendly neighbour inviting the artist in for a cup of hot tea by the fire.
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68 ALAN CASWELL COLLIER, O.S.A., R.C.A. BEYOND THE LIMIT OF THE TREES, ABOVE LAKE O’HARA, B.C. TOWARD CATHEDRAL MT. oil on canvas signed; titled on the stretcher 30 ins x 40 ins; 76.2 cms x 101.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $8,000–12,000
A hiker-friendly region, Lake O’Hara and its environs have attracted the attention of artists as diverse as F.M. Bell-Smith, J.E.H. MacDonald and Walter J. Phillips among others, all of whom have found inspiration in the subject of this lot. Alan Collier (1911-1990) visited the area one year after joining the faculty of the Ontario College of Art (1955), when he and his family travelled there by car and trailer on a three-month sketching trip to western Canada. More journeys would follow. Collier studied at the college under J.E.H. MacDonald, Franklin Carmichael and others from 1929-1933 and many consider him to be a prodigy of the Group of Seven. His work exhibits a strong preference for simple land forms often reduced to abstract shape and pattern. But as MacDonald and Lismer had learned a few decades earlier, there is nothing simple about Cathedral Mountain or its surroundings. In this lot, the artist has tackled the subject with a composition rich in bold angular forms and layered colour. A moody sky suggests it is late afternoon and perhaps time to descend from the exposed and precipitous ledge. This year Collier was the subject of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre’s Road Trip: Across Canada with Alan C. Collier (April 29-August 6, 2017).
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
69 SAMUEL BORENSTEIN ON DORCHESTER STREET, MONTREAL oil on board signed and dated 1936; inscribed “On Dorch St., Montreal” on the reverse 17.5 ins x 18 ins; 44.5 cms x 45.7 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Quebec $10,000–15,000
Sam Borenstein (1908-1969) was born in Lithuania and arrived in Montreal with his father and sister to join the rest of their family in 1921. He was encouraged to learn a trade, and by the early 1930s was working as a cutter in a Montreal textile factory. Borenstein, who began painting in 1930, was largely self-taught and inspired by the artists he befriended in local cafés, particularly the Russian painter, Alexander Bercovitch. He admired the European Expressionist painters (van Gogh, Soutine, Vlaminck), and was called the “Canadian Expressionist” based on his work from the later 1940s. In its subject matter (an urban scene) and free brushwork (the utility poles lean at precarious angles), this early painting anticipates Borenstein’s later work, whereas the artist later painted using bright colours in thick impasto with gestural brushwork, here he has applied muted tones in thin layers that allow the support (board) to show through. The view is southwest down Dorchester Boulevard in Montreal (now Boulevard René-Lévesque) from around Avenue du Parc, just before a bend in the road. In the distance rises the Sun Life Building, the tallest edifice in Montreal when it was completed in 1931 until the 1960s. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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70 FRANK HANS JOHNSTON, O.S.A., A.R.C.A. GOING HOME, STURGEON RIVER COUNTRY oil on masonite signed; also signed and titled on the reverse 25 ins x 30 ins; 68.6 cms x 82.6 cms
provenance:
G. Blair Laing Limited, Toronto Private Collection, Ontario
literature:
Roger Burford Mason, A Grand Eye for Glory: A Life of Franz Johnston, Dundurn Press, Toronto, 1998, page 55. $12,000–18,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Franz Johnston’s (1888-1949) well known decision to leave the Group of Seven after a single public group exhibition consumed both sides of the debate over traditionalism versus modernism in Canada among art cognoscenti and the general public alike. The Toronto Star went so far as to publish the headline “Canadian artist deserts the extremist Group of Seven” while others saw Johnston as abandoning the cause in the great march towards modernization. But Johnston’s traditionalism was rooted in the rigorous training he had undergone in academic painting, which is often beautifully realized by an aesthetic that tends toward the atmospheric and decorative in contrast to other Group members. These ideological and stylistic differences, the offer and acceptance of a principal teaching position at the Winnipeg School of Art, and his feeling that the publicity surrounding the Group might potentially affect his sales, contributed to his decision to leave the Group in 1924. Johnston turned increasingly towards 19th century realism in his later career. Going Home, a pastoral winter scene, captures this affinity for more traditional theme and style.
71 JOHN LITTLE, R.C.A KIDS SKATING, CHARLEVOIX COUNTY oil on canvas board signed 8 ins x 11 ins; 22.9 cms x 30.5 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $5,000–7,000
72 NORMAND HUDON LE CHEVAL DE FACTEUR oil on masonite signed, titled and dated ‘90 16 ins x 20 ins; 40.6 cms x 50.8 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal $5,000–7,000
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73 JOHN LITTLE, R.C.A RICHMOND STREET VERS GRAND TRUCK, POINTE ST. CHARLES, MONTREAL oil on canvas signed; also signed, titled and dated ‘77 on the stretcher 12 ins x 16 ins; 30.5 cms x 40.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, British Columbia $7,000–9,000 Written on the reverse of this lot are the names of six influential jazz artists, most notably Oscar Peterson. Richmond Street is located in Little Burgundy, which was home to Montreal’s oldest established working class and English speaking black community. In the late 1960s, Little Burgundy underwent a period of urban renewal as condemned buildings were demolished and replaced by social housing development.
74 RITA MOUNT, A.R.C.A. SHELTERED HARBOUR oil on canvas signed 24 ins x 32 ins; 61 cms x 81.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $7,000–9,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
75 ALFRED JOSEPH CASSON, O.S.A., P.R.C.A. WOODLAND - OXTONGUE LAKE, 1971 oil on board signed; also signed, titled and dated 1971 on the reverse 12 ins x 15 ins; 30.5 cms x 38.1 cms
provenance:
Roberts Gallery Limited, Toronto Private Collection, Maple, ON $15,000–18,000
A.J. Casson (1898-1992) painted Oxtongue Lake in the Algonquin Highlands, near Huntsville, many times during his long career. It was a place frequented by other members of the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson. In this version, Casson has focused on a wooded area near the lake, without including the lake itself. While the style is characteristic of his oil sketches from this later period, the subject and composition are reminiscent of work by the Group of Seven which had influenced Casson early in his career. By the 1970s, Casson had become the historian and spokesman for the Group, and had gained considerable renown. 1970 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Group, giving rise to popular nostalgia for their work. Woodland—Oxtongue Lake is a typical Group of Seven view in which the simplified forms of trees, some displaying their vivid autumn colours, are silhouetted against a background of hills and cloudy sky. A pronounced flatness and patterning signal this as a later work.
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76 ALEXANDER YOUNG JACKSON, O.S.A., R.C.A. NOVEMBER MORN, NR. OTTAWA, 1945 oil on panel signed; also signed, titled and dated on the reverse 10.5 ins x 13.5 ins; 26.7 cms x 34.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Maple, ON
literature:
Dennis Reid, Alberta Rhythm: The Later Work of A.Y. Jackson, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1982. $12,000–15,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
In this painting, A.Y. Jackson (1882-1973) returned to a motif which he had favoured before the First World War: a landscape receding behind a screen of trees. Around 1914, working with Tom Thomson in Algonquin Park, his paintings were closed in, due to the nature of the landscape. In the late 1930s and through the 1940s, Jackson was travelling a great deal. In addition to his annual painting trips to familiar spots (Quebec, Georgian Bay), he travelled to Alberta, the Northwest Territories, and British Columbia where he encountered a variety of different landscapes—broad expanses of land in the prairies with majestic mountains in the distance, for example. In the autumn of 1945, he had been to Kamloops, the Cariboo Region of British Columbia, and southern Alberta. Returning to more familiar territory, Jackson must have been struck by the contrast between what he had experienced in the west with the more cultivated landscape of eastern Ontario. He chose a view that captured that experience.
77 MOLLY LAMB BOBAK, R.C.A. LIVING ROOM oil on canvas signed “Molly Lamb B” 30 ins x 40 ins; 76.2 cms x 101.6 cms
provenance:
Art Sale and Rental Service, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Cindy Richmond, Molly Lamb Bobak: A Retrospective, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, 1993. $8,000–12,000 Molly Lamb Bobak (1922-2014) attended the Vancouver School of Art and flourished under the tutelage and encouragement of her teacher, Jack Shadbolt (see lot 84). Shadbolt would become a lifelong artistic mentor and friend. His most significant impact on her work would be his insistence on the logic of composition, that is the way the relationship between shape, form and space within the picture plane work together to create meaning. Yet despite this theoretical grounding, Bobak was devoted to the empirical world around her, and this tension between esoteric and the ordinary is what makes her practice so fascinating.
78 ROBERT WAKEHAM PILOT, P.R.C.A. THE SUNWAPTA GLEN, COLUMBIA ICE FIELDS oil on canvas signed, titled and dated 1949 19 ins x 24 ins; 48.3 cms x 61 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Hamilton, ON $5,000–7,000
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79 JOHN LITTLE, R.C.A PRINTEMPS, RUE LAVAL, MONTRÉAL oil on canvas signed; also signed, titled and dated ‘80 on the stretcher 24 ins x 30 ins; 61 cms x 76.2 cms
provenance:
Continental Galleries Inc., Montreal Private Collection, Quebec $15,000–18,00
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Rue Laval is among the many picturesque streets of Montreal’s Plateau neighbourhood and is lined with brightly coloured duplexes with oriel windows and balconies. While John Little (b.1928) executed the work in 1980 there is something of a “days of old” feel to the composition, probably relating to the retro shape of the vehicles parked curbside. Little has made a choice here to emphasize memory and nostalgia over the empirical, selecting out the less picturesque aspects of his subject such as telephone wires or parking signs.
80 GORDON APPELBE SMITH, R.C.A. UNTITLED acrylic on canvas signed; inscribed “Jan 75 B-10” on the stretcher 25 ins x 38 ins; 92.7 cms x 61 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, British Columbia
literature:
Ian M. Thom, Gordon Smith: The Act of Painting, Vancouver and Toronto, Douglas & McIntyre, 1997, pages 22-23. $6,000–8,000 Building upon the geometric tendencies of his previous work, Gordon Smith’s (b. 1919) paintings from the 1970s are inspired by his walks along west coast beaches. In these works, he pictures a simplified landscape view through blocked sections, visible brushstrokes and layered paint to suggest the play of light and shadow, despite emphasizing the flatness of the picture plane. This lot epitomizes this semi-abstract aesthetic, where the horizontal bands, textured surfaces and treatment of paint doubly suggest a seawall landscape while also accentuating his contemplation with the formal issues of painting itself. Smith’s work at this time conforms to his mandate of “abstraction going towards nature rather than nature going towards abstraction”, which views the act and fact of paint on canvas, rather than the subject matter, with greater importance.
81 ANTHONY (TONY) MORSE URQUHART, A.R.C.A. OBJECT IN BLUE oil on canvas signed and dated /60; titled on the backing 40 ins x 36 ins; 101.6 cms x 91.4 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $3,000–5,000
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82 GORDON APPELBE SMITH, R.C.A. ABSTRACT - LITTLE PICTURE GOLD mixed media collage on board signed 9 ins x 12 ins; 22.9 cms x 30.5 cms
provenance:
Ladies’ Committee Sale of Contemporary Canadian Art, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal Private Collection, Cobourg $4,000–5,000 Abstract-Little Picture Gold, falls within a period of great experimentation in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and demonstrates Gordon Smith’s (b. 1919) strong command of both composition as well as the handling of paint and use of colour. In the 1960s, Smith introduced more rich and sensuous colours to his palette, such as gold and intense blood reds. Before, during and after he completed this piece, Smith’s aesthetic style changed dramatically as he grappled with his own artistic insecurities and internal drive to keep moving forward with his practice, as such, this piece is a unique example of a temporal moment of intense artistic reflection and experimentation.
83 WILLIAM RONALD, R.C.A. SWEETS, 1983 oil on canvas signed; titled and dated on the reverse 24 ins x 24 ins; 61 cms x 61 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $3,000–4,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
84 JACK LEONARD SHADBOLT, R.C.A. OF BIRDS AND BUSH #2 acrylic on canvas signed and dated ‘80 48.75 ins x 66 ins; 167.6 cms x 121.9 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Dundas
literature:
Sarah Milroy, “Shadbolt’s often dark vision balanced by ravishing colours,” The Globe and Mail, 25 November 1998. Scott Watson, Jack Shadbolt, Douglas & McIntyre, Toronto, 1990, page 172. $20,000–30,000 In 1927, Jack Shadbolt (1909-1998) enrolled at the Victoria College where he was introduced to the art of Emily Carr. Indigenous art and culture and the creation of a true Canadian modernist aesthetic, ideas which so inspired Carr, would come to engross Shadbolt as well. Shadbolt experimented extensively with his style, slowly metamorphosing from social realist murals to watercolour surrealism to oil painted abstraction, but it was his dramatic decision in 1969 to confront head on the “spell” Emily Carr had on him that a real artistic transformation occurred. In order to achieve this end, he exiled himself, embraced her work in its entirety, and produced a set of drawings in homage to the artist who had once so consumed his practice. It was, effectively, a kind of exorcism. In 1978, Shadbolt returned to his summer home on Hornby Island and painted the series Wild Grass Suite, which marked his return to highly abstracted, energetic and physically demanding painting. Of Birds and Bush #2, painted only two years later, exemplifies Shadbolt’s abandoned and expressive approach at this time. An explosive splatter of colour, paint and carnal energy, this piece demonstrates Shadbolt’s lifelong preoccupation with form. While likely created in automatistic fervor, repetition and rhythm are paramount while the addition of birds and blue sky in the upper portion suggest a narrative structure. In these Grass pieces, Shadbolt articulates, in painted form and rhythm, his experiences of running through the fields of Victoria. Rather than portray a sensation, Shadbolt wanted to create an immersive experience, and through scale, colour and vibrancy, Of Birds and Bush #2 does just that. Explaining the work of Jack Shadbolt, Scott Watson notes: “The themes are of transformation. Forms are giving birth, being torn apart, bursting. His work is so emblematic of the way we experience landscape here. There is a lot of terror and anxiety.”
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
85 PAUL VANIER BEAULIEU, R.C.A. NATURE MORTE oil on canvas signed and dated ‘82 22 ins x 28 ins; 55.9 cms x 71.1 cms
provenance:
Yves Laroche D’art Inc., Montreal Private Collection, Montreal
exhibited:
Hommage à Paul Vanier Beaulieu (1910-1996), Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal, 2009, no. 37. $7,000–9,000
86 HAROLD BARLING TOWN, R.C.A. TOY HORSE #37 mixed media on illustration board signed and dated 1977 28 ins x 36 ins; 68.6 cms x 91.4 cms
provenance:
Waddington Galleries, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto $3,500–4,000
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87 DAPHNE ODJIG, R.C.A. WALKING WITH DONALD acrylic on canvas signed and dated /81 39.75 ins x 32 ins; 101 cms x 81.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, British Columbia
exhibited:
The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig: A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Canada (in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Sudbury), 2007-2010, catalogue no.55.
literature:
Bonnie Devine, et al., The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig: A Retrospective Exhibition (catalogue), National Gallery of Canada (in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Sudbury), 2007, reproduced in colour, catalogue no.55, unpaginated. $15,000–20,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
A highly respected, feminist Anishnaabe artist, Daphne Odjig (1919-2016) made an important contribution to contemporary Indigenous art in Canada. Born at Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve, Manitoulin Island, Ontario in 1919, she was a largely self-taught artist whose early work was strongly influenced by Picasso. Her first solo exhibitions, which took place in the 1960s, introduced her work to a wider public. In the 1970s, along with six other Indigenous artists including Alex Janvier, Norval Morrisseau and others, Odjig founded the Professional Native Indian Artists Inc., a collective whose aim was to encourage the development of Indigenous art in Canada. Influenced by the murals and large paintings that she produced at this time, her work became bolder and less tied to the Woodland style of painting. Walking with Donald exemplifies Odjig’s personal form of abstraction as it had evolved by the early 1980s with its stylized figures and use of circular motifs.
88 LÉON BELLEFLEUR, R.C.A. METAMORPHOSE I oil on canvas signed and dated ‘62 39.25 ins x 32 ins; 99.7 cms x 81.3 cms
provenance:
Galerie du siecle Inc., Montreal Private Collection, Montreal
literature:
Guy Robert, Bellefleur: The Fervour of the Quest, Iconia, Montreal, 1988, pages 47 and 85. $20,000–30,000
In the early 1940s, debate raged between two giants of the Montreal art world: Paul-Émile Borduas and Alfred Pellan. Essentially the debate involved ideological differences around surrealism. Léon Bellefleur (1910-2007) not only had allegiances to both leading figures, but also exhibited with each side as well. This awkward position amid a highly charged intellectual atmosphere served Bellefleur well, however, and as his reading and interest in esoterism grew, his exploration of the mysterious unknown enriched his practice. Bellefleur’s first major exhibition came in 1950 at a group show at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, with paintings inspired by the concept of surrealist automatism, where subconscious dreams are brought out through instinct and improvisation. By 1957 Bellefleur radically “broke with the nocturnal world to paint a brighter, more luminous diurnal universe” and began experimenting with the faceted style, whereby he used a spatula to build and apply paint, giving his compositions a much more angular appearance than his previous work. His use of the spatula, which was to become his signature mark, signifies a landmark shift. This change allowed him a “more direct way of conveying the impulses of his inspiration”, imbuing his work from 1957 onwards with a new spontaneity. Painted in 1962, Metamorphose is a synthesis of artistic ideas, and its very title hints at the shifting metamorphosis of spontaneous thought as it evolves on the canvas from concept to physical manifestation. A lyrical outburst of colour and line, the sliding paint in dark shades of purple, blue and black, and sharp agitated angles is offset and illuminated by splattered bright yellows, greens and a splash of vibrant red; it is clear that Bellefleur is revelling in the potential of the spatula to be an extension of his swirling imagination.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
79
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
89 HAROLD BARLING TOWN, R.C.A. HEAT SEAT mixed media collage signed, titled, dated 79-80 and stamped by the estate, on the reverse 9.75 ins x 8.5 ins; 24.8 cms x 21.6 cms
provenance:
Estate of the artist Private Collection, Toronto Through collage, a medium at which Harold Town (1924-1990) excelled, Town wryly comments here on the libidinous 1950s rebel without a cause, referencing Levi jeans and the ubiquitous backpocket comb. $5,000–7,000
90 GORDON RAYNER ESCAPE, 1983 oil and mixed media signed and dated ‘83 9.5 ins x 10 ins x 5.5 ins; 24.1 cms x 25.4 cms x 14 cms
provenance:
Isaacs Gallery Limited, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto $2,000–3,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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91 OTTO DONALD ROGERS, R.C.A. ANTHEM oil on canvas signed, titled and dated 1978 on the reverse 60 ins x 60 ins; 152.4 cms x 152.4 cms
provenance:
Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto/Calgary Private Collection, Toronto $6,000–8,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
92 JACK BEDER SPIKED FORM (SCULPTURE #11) walnut, paint and brass tacks signed, titled and dated 1964 on the base 44 ins x 13.75 ins x 11.75 ins; 111.8 cms x 34.9 cms x 29.8 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario
literature:
Lydia Ferrabee Sharman, Design and Innovation in Montreal through the 1960s and 1970s, Material Culture Review, Volume 1, Spring 2005. $3,000–4,000 Jack Beder (1910-1987) immigrated to Montreal from Poland in 1926, where he quickly became known for his paintings of bustling street scenes in a variety of media. Beder worked and exhibited all across North America, most notably at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, but by the 1950s and ‘60s the art world had changed dramatically. The influx of European aesthetic trends and American Abstract Expressionism informed the Canadian art scene. At the same time, industrial design was gaining popularity across the country, and with the construction of the decidedly modern Montreal Metro in the 1960s, it was clear that a new wave of design was taking hold of the nation. After the Soviet Union withdrew from hosting the World’s Fair, the opportunity was awarded to Canada in late 1962. Opening in 1967 in Montreal, Expo ‘67 marks and celebrates Canada’s centennial year and is largely considered to be the most successful World’s Fair to date. Canada at this time, with the inauguration of a new flag, the Quiet Revolution in Quebec, reformation of the welfare state, and even a Stanley Cup win by the Toronto Maple Leafs, was standing on the threshold of great change, establishing itself as a major global player in the cultural, political and economic sectors. From this period of continuous growth and development, Beder’s Spiked Form (Sculpture #11) was created, hinting at his involvement in new industrial design ideas and motifs. Made from walnut, paint and brass tacks, the sculpture evokes Canada’s burgeoning modernization and the increasing number of new buildings being erected across the country’s major urban centres. As one of the most expensive natural woods, walnut is a temperamental medium, yet Beder’s sharp, defined woodcuts show mastery of the material. Considered “Montreal’s best kept secret”, Jack Beder’s fluency in a variety of artistic materials allowed him to showcase the essential diversity of the country as it evolved throughout the modern period.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
83
93 SYDNEY HOLLINGER WATSON, P.R.C.A. UNTITLED COMPOSITION collage signed and dated /70 28.5 ins x 35.5 ins; 72.4 cms x 90.2 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $2,000–3,000 Sydney Watson (1911-1981) studied at Central Tech and at the Ontario College of Art (OCA), ultimately becoming its President in 1955. Under his administration, OCA became the number one art school in the country. This lot, completed during Watson’s final year as president of the college, explores the perception of depth and space through its colourful arrangement of geometric felt shapes, demonstrating the popularity and ubiquity of minimalism by the 1970s.
94 HENRY SAXE ULYSSES acrylic on aluminum signed, titled and dated 2011 on the reverse overall 36.25 ins x 36.25 ins; 91.4 cms x 91.4 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal
exhibited:
Henry Saxe: Hommage aux peintres, Galerie d’art du Centre culturel de l’Université de Sherbrooke, Montreal, Quebec, April 2012. $6,000–8,000 With gouges, impresssions, tears and splashes of colourful paint, Ulysses reflects and absorbs light, subverting ideas of balance and harmonious composition. The threedimensionality of this sculpted painting thrusts us into the work. As a result, we become implicated in much the same unstructured and chaotic way as in James Joyce's Ulysses, which chronicles the meetings, encounters and events over the course of a single, ordinary day. So, too, are we invited to embark on a journey of discovery with no certain destination into Saxe’s painted and sculptural art forms.
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
recto
verso
95 SOREL ETROG, R.C.A. THE COUPLE bronze height 13.75 ins; 34.9 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $8,000–12,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
85
96 GREGORY RICHARD CURNOE RETURN FROM OTTAWA #5, 1964 collage dated “Jan 29/64” 11 ins x 8.5 ins; 27.9 cms x 21.6 cms
provenance:
Wynick/Tuck Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto $4,000–6,000 The London Regionalists were a collective of artists, musicians, filmmakers, poets and authors who worked to articulate the turbulent changes happening in Canadian society in the 1960s and 1970s. At the centre of this group was the artist Greg Curnoe (1936-1992) whose voice helped to spark and ultimately shape the grassroots movement of artist run galleries and magazines.
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
The London Regionalists subverted the trope and condemnation of “provincialism” by embracing and exploring their own peripheral position and perspective. Rather than simply picturing the local landscape around them, the London Regionalists were committed to experimentation and creating new forms of artistic production based primarily on the experience of their local surroundings and the city’s burgeoning sense of collectivism. Such experimentation can be seen in Return from Ottawa #5, a colourful collage that overlays a diary entry, a shoe store postal address and a Maclean’s magazine headline “The New Birth Control”. The piece was featured in the film R34 by another founding member of the London Regionalists, Jack Chambers, wherein he juxtaposes Curnoe’s work with his daily routines. R34 has been praised by the legendary filmmaker Stan Brakhage as: “the greatest film on the creative process I’ve yet seen”. Drawing inspiration from the Dada and nihilists movements of the early 20th century, this work blends a heightened political moment in Canadian history with Curnoe’s own quotidian experience. Curnoe was committed to documenting the ephemera of his daily lived experience, and this work can be read as just that, everything he encountered on his return from Ottawa; however his use of Dada-style collage motifs and birth control headline, which was not yet legalized in Canada in 1964, hint at his more activist and politically charged inclinations.
97 JEAN-PAUL RIOPELLE, R.C.A. DERRIÉRE LE MIROIR, 1966 (NO. 98) AND 1968 (NO. 131) DELUXE EDITIONS SOLD TOGETHER WITH A 1974 EDITION Maeght Éditeur, Paris 1966 and 1968 luxe editions in rigid portfolios with matching slipcases 15.5 ins x 11.5 ins; 39.4 cms x 29.2 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, New Brunswick
As a promotional feature to accompany exhibitions, Aimé Maeght of the famous Galerie Maeght in Paris, developed a programme of fine print and book publishing featuring original work by the artists the gallery represented. In 1946, Maeght published the first volume of Derriére le Miroir (Behind the Mirror). These periodicals included original prints, usually lithographs, unbound so they could be framed (without the pinholes caused by binding). Subscribers enjoyed the information provided by the publication and the opportunity to acquire original print work by great artists. Aimé and his son Adrien were both accomplished lithographers and worked cooperatively with the artists they featured. An unanticipated consequence of this collaboration was that artists began to develop a better understanding and appreciation of this media.
$800–1,000
sample pages from this lot MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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98 JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN, R.C.A. BEIGE, NOIR, BRUN acrylic on canvas signed and dated 1965; also signed and dated on the reverse, titled on the overflap and inscribed “Mais que pour marcher droit, Tu chausses Muse, un cothurne étroit - Gautier” 52 ins x 46 ins; 132.1 cms x 116.8 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $9,000–12,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
The inscription on the reverse comes from a stanza in Theophile Gautier’s poem Art. There are many translations of this poem but one version interprets it as: “For false rules, we’ve no use! But to go straight as an arrow, Muse, your shoes need to be narrow.” Gautier (1811-1872) was, among other pursuits, a very highly esteemed poet, dramatist and art critic.
99 MAURICE GALBRAITH CULLEN, R.C.A. QUEBEC FROM LÉVIS - TWILIGHT pastel signed and dated ‘04, Cullen inventory no. 854 21.25 ins x 28.75 ins; 58.4 cms x 71.1 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal
literature:
Sylvia Antoniou, Maurice Cullen, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, 1982, cover illustration for a related subject, Lévis from Quebec, 1906, and pages 16 and 18. $25,000–35,000
Maurice Cullen (1866-1934), like so many other great Canadian artists from this period, went overseas to further his training at which time he would have been exposed to many of the leading proponents of French impressionism in Paris. Considered one of the fathers of Canadian impressionism, Cullen returned to Canada in 1902 and after 1903 regularly exhibited works executed in pastel, like this lot. He had learned the technique while at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris and made his own pastel sticks from pigments he ground himself. He was a perfectionist when it came to his materials and Sylvia Antoniou notes: “Cullen’s pastel drawings are quite unique in that they have stood up to time as well as the oils.” She comments further that “Until 1910, the Quebec area seems to have been his preferred painting ground.” Indeed, the subject of this lot - the stretch of seaway that separates Quebec City from Lévis, with a backdrop of the ramparts of the fortified city - was a favourite subject of Cullen, Pilot and colleagues, such as James Wilson Morrice, who also famously painted the ferry boats that transported goods and people from one shore to the other with picturesque views of Lévis from Quebec, or Quebec from Lévis.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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100 FREDERICK SIMPSON COBURN, R.C.A. THE LOGGING TRAIL oil on canvas signed 21.5 ins x 30.25 ins; 54.6 cms x 76.2 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Evelyn Lloyd Coburn, F. S. Coburn: Beyond the Landscape, The Boston Mills Press, Erin, Ontario 1996, pages 75-78. $10,000–15,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Frederick Simpson Coburn (1871-1960) was inspired to create compositions similar to The Logging Trail during moments of quiet contemplation of the view outside his Melbourne, Quebec studio window. One winter’s day, he noticed a team of horses hauling fire wood, a familiar sight in this part of Quebec. The scene triggered an interest verging on an obsession and Coburn was to devote much of his life to painting these classic winter moments.
101 FREDERICK ARTHUR VERNER, O.S.A., A.R.C.A. BUFFALO GRAZING watercolour, mounted to card signed and indistinctly dated 1897 13 ins x 22 ins; 33 cms x 55.9 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario $7,000–9,000 Ontario-born Frederick Verner (1836-1928) made his first trip west in the early 1860s after returning from four years of study at London’s Hetherleys Academy of Arts (1856-60). Verner travelled through Ojibway country to Fort Garry and the Nelson River. Subsequently, much longer journeys were taken across the prairies and mountains in 1870 and 1873. Like his artistic hero and later friend Paul Kane (1818-71), the aspiring young artist travelled by canoe, horseback and Red River cart compiling a portfolio of drawings and watercolours which he would draw upon for inspiration throughout his career.
102 FREDERICK ARTHUR VERNER, O.S.A., A.R.C.A. AUTUMN - BEECH WOODS watercolour signed and dated 1895; also signed and titled on the reverse 21.5 ins x 30 ins; 54.6 cms x 76.2 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $7,000–9,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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103 CORNELIUS KRIEGHOFF ABOVE THE ST. ANNE FALLS oil on board 18.5 ins x 25 ins; 47 cms x 63.5 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario
literature:
Dennis Reid, Krieghoff: Images of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1999, page 73 and pages 110-111, colour plates 50 and 51, for the National Gallery of Canada’s versions of this subject, reproduced in colour. $50,000–70,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872) moved to Quebec City around 1853 and proceeded to paint virtually every waterfall within any proximity to the city. The National Gallery of Canada acquired two such works in 1995, depicting the St. Anne Falls, one of which is a view from above the falls similar to this lot, with a figure, or figures, dwarfed by the majestic landscape. Later Krieghoff would paint the falls of Chaudière, Shawinigan and Niagara (used as the back cover illustration to Reid’s 1999 catalogue Krieghoff: Images of Canada). Such awesome scenes of nature were in vogue mid-century, as were visits to the great cataracts themselves, and Krieghoff shrewdly responded to the demand. However, unlike other subjects which became “pot-boilers” – works churned out strictly for the quick and easy sales they generated – in the hands of Krieghoff, these falls subjects can be what Reid calls a “magnificent orchestration of natural effects”. Indeed, in this lot the artist has successfully struck the right note marrying the dramatic effects of the approaching storm with the undulating rock and racing water below.
104 JAMES HENDERSON MOTHER AND CHILD oil on canvas signed 18.24 ins x 14.25 ins; 48.3 cms x 35.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Winnipeg
literature:
Dan Ring, James Lanigan et al. James Henderson, Wicite Owapi Wicasa, The Man Who Paints Old Men, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, 2010, page 35, page 40 for lot (fig. 23) and the related photograph of Eliza Ryder and Child (fig. 24), reproduced in colour as well as pages 186, 187 and 216 for other images of Eliza Ryder and her child . $12,000–15,000
Dan Ring writes “The representation of Indigenous peoples by artists is woven into the fabric of colonization of North America...” Indeed, artists such as Paul Kane, Edmund Morris, Father Henry Metzger, Emily Carr and Nicholas de Grandmaison among others have sought to capture - for a variety of purposes - the image of Canada’s first people. As Ring points out, some of these purposes now “encapsulate the contradictory and problematic nature of the genre of historical Indigenous portraits from a contemporary perspective.” However, at the peak of his career, James Henderson (1871-1951) was enormously successful and his paintings were in great demand. Henderson’s “Indian Madonnas”, like this lot, were based on a favourite model, Eliza Ryder, and her child. Such works exist apart from the “Vanishing Indian” trope of other painters and characterize Henderson as an artist who was, according to Ring, less interested in recording factual details (which he would often freely modify from painting to painting) than in creating “Classically European portrait modes of nobility, virtue, strength, and stoicism.”
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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105 MARC-AURÈLE DE FOY SUZOR-COTÉ, R.C.A. LA PORTAGEUR bronze signed and dated 1922, also inscribed “Roman Bronze Works, N.Y.” and “Copyright Canada & U. States, 1922” on the base height 16 ins; 40.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, New York
literature:
Laurier Lacroix, Suzor-Coté: Light and Matter, Le Musée du Québec, Québec, 2002, page 268, and page 269, cat.114 for The Portage, reproduced in colour. Pierre L’Allier, Suzor-Coté: L’oeuvre Sculpté (catalogue), Le Musée du Québec, Québec, 1991, page 63 and page 62, fig. 14 for Le Portageur, reproduced. $12,000–18,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
This bronze depicts the character Francois Paradis from Louis Hémon’s Maria Chapdelaine. Pierre L’Allier notes that as in most works by the artist, this subject is not presented as a stock type but rather “est ici tres personalisé”. L’Allier continues: “La physionamie contribue de façon importante a préciser le caractére psychologique du portageur. L’homme transportant sur son dos les vivres necessaires a sa subsistence en foret, semble a la fois determine et perseverant dans sa demarche.” Suzor-Coté had tackled this subject in his illustration for Maria Chapdelaine (1916) but there are distinct differences between the graphic work and sculpture. (See website for additional information).
106 CORNELIUS KRIEGHOFF BAVARIA oil on canvas signed 11.75 ins x 16.5 ins; 29.8 cms x 41.9 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario $6,000–8,000 While this work is not dated, we know Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872) who had lived in Schweinfurt, Bavaria as a child - returned to Europe around 1854 to refresh his painting skills. He had visited Europe prior to this trip, to copy masterworks in major art galleries, but it is in 1854 that he is documented as visiting Bavaria, which is the subject of this lot.
107 JOHN A. HAMMOND, R.C.A. CATTLE IN STREAM oil on canvas signed and indistinctly dated 20 ins x 34.5 ins; 50.8 cms x 87.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario $6,000–8,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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108 PAUL PEEL, R.C.A. LADY IN SATIN CAPE WITH PINK ROSE, CA. 1880 oil on canvas signed 18 ins x 14 ins; 35.6 cms x 20.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Oakville, ON $25,000–30,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
Victoria Baker suggests that the sitter in this portrait may be the artist’s elder sister, Mildred, as Paul Peel (1860-1892) often used his siblings as subjects for his early portrait paintings. Stylistically, Lady in Satin Cape can be dated to circa 1880, when Peel’s father, John Robert Peel Sr., was using his London, Ontario business connections to both encourage and promote his son’s artistic skill with portrait commissions, whilst seeking out local buyers. The Lady in Satin Cape is rendered with a style that emphasizes Peel’s key painterly interests at this time with keen attention to surface light effects - the figure’s complexion is porcelain-like in its perfection - and the compositional choice of placing the figure in the outdoors.
109 PEGI NICOL MACLEOD SEATED NUDE oil on panel with a typed authentication signed by the artist’s daughter attached to the frame 24 ins x 19.25 ins; 61 cms x 48.9 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Laura Brandon, Pegi Nicol By Herself: The Life of Pegi Nicol, Canadian Artist, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal and Kingston, 2005, page 3. $5,000–6,000 Spontaneity and swirling, curvilinear lines, bright colours and gestural freedom were a trademark of Pegi Nicol MacLeod (1904-1949). MacLeod prioritized her craft and neither marriage, motherhood nor privation thwarted her ambition. Drawing inspiration from her immediate surroundings and everyday experiences, MacLeod’s steadfast documentation of her private sphere lends intimacy to her work. Between 1925 and 1939 MacLeod painted her self-portrait more than two dozen times, illustrating with frank detail her own sexual development and awakening. The painting Seated Nude, could be a self-portrait as it bears a striking resemblance to the artist. In this work, a woman is positioned seated, tilted forward. There is a vitality or momentum to the subject, a tactile realism that stands in contrast to the mannequin-esque depictions of women by her male contemporaries at the time. MacLeod’s nude breathes in life and exhales the secrets of self discovery.
110 WILLIAM GOODRIDGE ROBERTS, R.C.A PAYSAGE VERT oil on masonite signed 25 ins x 32 ins; 63.5 cms x 81.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Ottawa $6,000–8,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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111 EDWIN HEADLEY HOLGATE, R.C.A. UNTITLED - BOATS WITH LANTERNS AT NIGHT, VENICE CA. 1913 oil on panel signed with initials 16.25 ins x 12.5 ins; 41.3 cms x 31.8 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, United Kingdom Private Collection, Toronto
literature:
Brian Foss and Rosalind Pepall, Edwin Holgate, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, 2005, pages 14 and 166. $5,000–7,000
Boats with Lanterns stands apart from the majority of portraits, nudes and landscapes so readily associated with Edwin Holgate (1892-1977). In fact, at first glance the painting can prompt a moment of doubt, assuaged only once the work is correctly contextualized. Boats with Lanterns was likely painted when Holgate was first embarking on his career as an artist. In 1912, at the age of twenty, Holgate travelled to France to further his education, encouraged by William Brymner under whom he had studied at the Art Association of Montreal. In 1913, he cycled through Europe with two friends, setting out from France and stopping in Switzerland and Italy, including Venice. As a young painter, Holgate was impressed by the American painter James McNeill Whistler. While visiting Venice, he remarked on Whistler’s interpretation of the city’s great basilica San Marco, noting that Whistler was a master because “He chose the time when (the basilica) showed to best advantage – at night”. Perhaps inspired by his idol, in this lot Holgate has also chosen a time of day that emphasizes deep contrast. The densely silhouetted black boats (possibly gondolas) and the beautiful skyline (possibly looking towards the Giudecca from the Bacino) are suggested but not quite fully described, provide the contrast between light and dark that Holgate appreciated. The green-blue tones are of course ones he favoured in his work and appear throughout his career. (See website for additional information).
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
112 ARMAND TATOSSIAN, R.C.A. CHILDREN PLAYING oil on canvas signed 30 ins x 40 ins; 76.2 cms x 101.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $8,000–10,000
113 STANLEY MOREL COSGROVE, R.C.A. STILL LIFE, CA. 1962 oil on canvas signed 18.25 ins x 24.25 ins; 45.7 cms x 61 cms
provenance:
Galerie Art & Style, Montreal Private Collection, Montreal $4,000–5,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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114 PETER CLAPHAM SHEPPARD, O.S.A., R.C.A. AUTUMN oil on board signed 13 ins x 16 ins; 33 cms x 40.6 cms
provenance:
Estate of the Artist Private Collection, Toronto $5,000–7,000
115 PETER CLAPHAM SHEPPARD, O.S.A., R.C.A. TUGBBOATS, WATERFRONT, TORONTO oil on board signed 10.5 ins x 13.75 ins; 26.7 cms x 34.9 cms
provenance:
Kaspar Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Ontario $3,000–4,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
116 FREDERICK HENRY BRIGDEN, O.S.A., R.C.A. SKETCH ON THE TOWN LINE (MARKHAM ROAD) oil on canvas board signed 9 ins x 11.5 ins; 22.9 cms x 29.2 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, New Brunswick
exhibited:
Annual Exhibition, Ontario Society of Artists, Toronto, 1916. $1,000–1,500
117 HAL ROSS PERRIGARD, A.R.C.A. THE BRIDGE AND THE BROOK EASTERN TOWNSHIPS, WINTER oil on canvas board signed 9 ins x 12 ins; 22.9 cms x 30.5 cms
provenance:
Michel de Kerdour, Quebec Private Collection, New Brunswick $1,000–1,500
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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118 ADRIEN HÉBERT, R.C.A. SAINT SAUVEUR DES MONTS oil on canvas signed 30.5 ins x 25.25 ins; 76.2 cms x 61 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal $7,000–9,000
119 PELEG FRANKLIN BROWNELL, O.S.A., R.C.A. LANDSCAPE WITH WORKERS IN THE FIELDS oil on canvas signed 15.25 ins x 18.25 ins; 38.1 cms x 45.7 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal $4,000–6,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
120 ADAM SHERRIFF SCOTT, R.C.A. ÉRABLIÈRE AU CANADA (SUGAR SHACK) oil on canvas signed; also signed on the reverse 12 ins x 16 ins; 30.5 cms x 40.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario $1,000–1,500
121 BERTHE DES CLAYES THE END OF THE DAY AT HILL ACRES, MELBOURNE, P.Q. oil on panel signed; titled on the reverse 14 ins x 18 ins; 35.6 cms x 45.7 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal $3,500–4,500
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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122 FRANK SHIRLEY PANABAKER, A.R.C.A. THE RED SLEIGH oil on masonite signed 18 ins x 24 ins; 45.7 cms x 61 cms $2,500–3,000
123 ERIC RIORDON, A.R.C.A. SUNLIT VALLEY oil on canvas board signed 16 ins x 20 ins; 40.6 cms x 50.8 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario $2,500–3,500
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
124 SAMUEL BORENSTEIN CORNER GAS STATION gouache on paper signed and dated “May 1942” 14 ins x 23.25 ins; 35.6 cms x 59.1 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto $3,000–4,000
125 DORIS JEAN MCCARTHY, O.S.A., R.C.A. ONTARIO BARN oil on panel signed; with an unfinished pencil sketch and titled on the reverse 11.5 ins x 13.5 ins; 29.2 cms x 34.3 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario (acquired directly from the artist) $3,500–5,000
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
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126 CLARENCE ALPHONSE GAGNON, R.C.A. NUDE STUDIES conté with atelier stamp; with additional studies on the reverse 9 ins x 14 ins; 22.9 cms x 35.6 cms
provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal $1,500–2,000
127 ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM ARMSTRONG FISHING CAMP IN THE BUSH watercolour, mounted to card 8.25 ins x 20.25 ins; 21 cms x 51.4 cms
provenance:
Jacoby’s of Montreal, October 1970 (Lot 57) Private Collection, Quebec $4,000–6,000
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Canadian Fine Art Auction
While not signed, in 1970 this lot was offered for sale by Jacoby’s of Montreal as “Fishing Camp in the Bush” fully attributed to William Armstrong (1822-1914). Some years later the current owner began researching this work to determine whether the location could be more precisely identified. While the suggestion has been made that the scene depicts a Governor General on a salmon fishing trip, an inscription on the backing of the painting suggests another possibility: “According to National Archives, Canada (Jim Burrant) (Nov. 16, 2005. Examined in Person). Picture by Lucius O’Brien, R.C.A. 1832-1899, Matapedia River Salmon Fishing.“ Works such as this one, though they seem sharply familiar to connoisseurs of this period of Canadian painting, can be confoundingly difficult to attribute with certainty, given the similarities in styles of artists from this period, many of whom received similar formal training, painted within the same decade, and used the same media and palette to record nearly identical scenes of young Canada.
Artist Index A
D
Armington, Franklin Milton (1876-1941)…18 Armstrong, Attributed to William (1822-1914)…127
De Grandmaison, Nicholas (1892-1978)…28 De Tonnancour, Jacques Godefroy (1917-2005)…49 Des Clayes, Berthe (1877-1968)…121
B Bayefsky, Aba (1923-2001)…31 Beatty, John William (1869-1941)…65 Beaulieu, Paul Vanier (1910-1996)…85 Beder, Jack (1910-1987)…92 Bellefleur, Léon (1910-2007)…5, 88 Blackwood, David Lloyd (b.1941-)…2-3 Bobak, Bruno Joseph (1923—2012)…32 Bobak, Molly Lamb (1922-2014)…77 Borenstein, Samuel (1908-1969)…69, 124 Brigden, Frederick Henry (1871-1956)…116 Brownell, Franklin (1857-1946)…119
E Etrog, Sorel (1933-2014)…95
F Fairley, Barker (1887-1986)…22 Forrestall, Thomas De Vany (b.1936)…4 Fox, John Richard (1927-2008)…42 Franck, Albert Jacques (1899-1973)…39
G C Casson, Alfred Joseph (1898-1992)…13, 16, 23, 46, 52, 66, 75 Coburn, Frederick Simpson (1871-1960)…100 Collier, Alan Caswell (1911-1990)…68 Comfort, Charles Fraser (1900-1994)…21 Cosgrove, Stanley (1911-2002)…9, 17, 113 Cullen, Maurice Galbraith (1866-1934)…99 Curnoe, Gregory Richard (1936-1992)…96
Gagnon, Clarence Alphonse (1881-1942)…53, 126 Gaucher, Yves (1934-2000)…6 Gauthier, Joachim George (1897-1988)…1
H Hammond, John A. (1843-1939)…107 Hébert, Adrien (1890-1967)…118 Henderson, James (1871-9151)….104 Hewton, Randolph Stanley (1888-1960)…43, 54 Holgate, Edwin Headley (1832-1977)…8, 58, 111 Hudon, Normand (1929-1997)…72
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
107
I/J
R
Iskowitz, Gershon (1921-1988)...60 Jackson, Alexander Young (1882-1974)... 26, 35, 41, 50, 76 Johnston, Frank Hans (1888-1949)...44, 51, 55, 64, 70
Rayner, Gordon (1935-2010)…90 Richard, René (1895-1982)…25, 37 Riopelle, Jean-Paul (1923-2002)…97 Riordon, Eric (1906-1948)…123 Roberts, William Goodridge (1926-1998)…110 Rogers, Otto Donald (b. 1935)…91 Ronald, William (1926-1998)…63, 83
K Kasyn, John (1926-2008)…20 Krieghoff, Cornelius (1815-1872)…103, 106 Kurelek, William (1927-1977)…57
S L Lemieux, Jean Paul (1904-1990)…56, 59, 62 Lewis, Maud (1903-1970)…15, 29-30 Lismer, Arthur (1885-1969)…48 Little, John (b.1928-)…10, 40, 71, 73, 79
M MacDonald, James Edward Hervey (1873-1932)…47 MacDonald, Manly Edward (1889-1971)…24, 34, 38, 67 MacLeod, Pegi Nicol (1904-1949)…109 May, Henrietta Mabel (1877-1971)…19, 45 McCarthy, Doris Jean (1910-2010)…7, 12, 36, 61, 125 McEwen, Jean Albert (1923-1999)…98 Mount, Rita (1888-1967)…74
O/P Odjig, Daphne (1919-2016)…11, 87 Panabaker, Frank Shirley (1904-1992)…122 Peel, Paul (1860-1892)…108 Perrigard, Hall Ross (1891-1960)…117 Phillips, Walter Joseph (1884-1963)…27 Pilot, Robert Wakeham (1898-1968)…78
108
Canadian Fine Art Auction
Saxe, Henry (b.1937)…94 Scott, Adam Sherriff (1887-1980)…120, 33 Seiden, Regina (1897-1991)…14 Shadbolt, Jack Leonard (1909-1998)…84 Sheppard, Peter Clapham (1882-1965)…114 Smith, Gordon Applebe (b.1919)…80, 82 Suzor-Coté, Marc-Aurèle de Foy (1869-1937)…105
T Tatossian, Armand (1948-2012)…112 Town, Harold Barling (1924-1990)…86, 89
U/V/W Urquhart, Anthony (Tony) Morse (b.1934)…81 Verner, Frederick Arthur (1836-1928)…101-102 Watson, Sydney Hollinger (1911-1981)…93
Selling at Waddington’s waddington’s commission rates
insurance
Items selling for $2,501 to $7,500 15%
cites
Items selling for $7,501 or more 10%
Items selling for $251 to $2,500 20% Items selling for $250 or less 25% *There is a minimum handling charge of $20 per item
canadian art department commission rates Items selling for $7,500 or more 10% Items selling for $2,501 to $7,499 15% Items selling for $2,500 or less 20% *There is a minimum handling charge of $20 per item
A 1% insurance charge, based on the hammer price of the property, will be applied to all accounts.
Restrictions exist regarding the import and export of species protected under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). This includes but is not limited to items made of or containing bone (whalebone etc.), ivory, tortoise shell, seal skin, rhinoceros horn and any other animal part and is strictly controlled or forbidden by most countries. Please review your country’s laws before bidding on pieces made of or containing these restricted items. It is the sole responsibility of the buyer to inquire about and obtain the proper permits for artwork purchased that may contain restricted materials, if such permit can be obtained. Please contact the department for further assistance. All Narwhal Tusks must have a Marine Harvest Number or a Marine and Mammal Transport number to be sold at Waddington’s. For more information please visit: www.cites.org
Paintings, drawings, prints, furniture, jewellery and all forms of decorative arts and collectibles may be brought to our Toronto office where we can provide you with preliminary auction estimates and consignment procedures. Please visit our website at www.waddingtons.ca for details on our various departments and how to contact the specialists. We also accept mailed and emailed requests for advice on the marketability of objects. A photograph and phone number must accompany a full description of each item. Our specialists regularly travel to major Canadian cities to meet with prospective consignors. For further information, or to arrange an appointment, please contact our Toronto office. Property normally arrives at Waddington’s at least three months before the sale in order to allow our specialists time to research, catalogue, photograph and promote the items. Consignors will receive a contract to sign, setting forth terms and fees for our services.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2017
109
Buying at Waddington's
All lots will be offered and sold subject to the Conditions of Sale which appear in this catalogue as well as any Glossary and posted or oral announcement. By bidding at auction, bidders are bound by those Conditions and Glossary, as amended by any oral announcement or posted notices, which together form the contract of sale between the successful bidder (buyer), Waddington’s™ and the consignor (seller) of the lot. Descriptions or photographs of lots are not warranties and each lot is sold “as is” in accordance with the Conditions of Sale.
condition of lots
All of the items are to be considered, unless otherwise noted in the description, in good condition. The definition of “good” when used in reference to condition, describes an object as having had no major damage or repair but as with the nature of the material, may show minor surface wear, discolouration etc., which indicates the acceptable wear that the piece may acquire with age. If you are particular about minor flaws, you should examine the pieces in person or have our staff answer any questions before bidding. Sizes are approximate. It is the sole responsibility of the bidder to inquire as to the condition of a lot before bidding. Condition reports are available upon request by phone, fax, email or in person. You are advised to make any requests well in advance of the sale.
bidding
To bid in person at the auction, you must register for a bidding number by showing identification acceptable to the Auctioneer upon entering the salesroom. Your number will identify you if you are the successful bidder. You will be responsible for all lots purchased on your bidding number. Banking information may be requested by Waddington’s™. You may submit an Absentee Bid Form if you are unable to attend the sale. Bidding by telephone, in limited circumstances, can be arranged prior to the sale. While we are pleased to offer absentee and telephone bidding as a service to our clients, and take great care in their commission, the Auctioneer will not be responsible for technical difficulties, errors or failure to execute bids. The Auctioneer may also execute bids on behalf of the consignor to protect the reserve. The reserve is the confidential minimum price the seller is willing to accept for his or her property, below which it will not be sold.
shipping
Frames on artwork are not included as part of purchase or condition.
The Auctioneers will not undertake packing or shipping. The purchaser must designate and arrange for the services of an independent shipper and be responsible for all shipping, insurance expenses and any necessary export permits that may apply. The Auctioneers will, upon request, provide names of professional packers and shippers but will not be held responsible for the service or have any liability for providing this information. Reliable pre-auction estimates of shipping costs of lots offered in this sale may be obtained from:
buyers premium
PakShip
A premium of 20% of the successful bid price of each lot. Canadian Art Auction Invaluable Live! clients will be charged a buyer’s premium of 25% of the successful bid price of each lot. Concrete Contemporary Art Auction ARTSY clients will be charged a buyer’s premium of 25% of the successful bid price of each lot. A charge of 13% HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) is applicable on the hammer price and buyer’s premium, except for purchases exported from Canada. In the case where purchases are shipped out of the province of Ontario, the HST or GST is charged based on the tax status of that province.
payment
Payment for purchases must be by cash, INTERAC direct debit (Cdn clients in person only), certified cheque (U.S. & Overseas not applicable), travelers cheque, bank draft, electronic transfer (fee applies), VISA or Mastercard (up to $25,000). ALL PRICES IN CANADIAN FUNDS
110
Concrete Contemporary Art Auction
905.470.6874 / 905.470.6875 / 416.293.8225
taurus@pakship.ca www.pakship.ca Envoy 416.299.3367, 416.299.9750 ph@envoy.ca www.envoypackandship.com Fero Transport 514.453.1462, 514.543.7585 www.ferotransport.ca
removal of purchases
Purchases must be paid for within 48 hours of the date of the sale, and removed from premises within 10 days of the date of sale (see Conditions of Sale, conditions 8 to 15). Clients are advised that packing and/or handling of purchased lots by our employees or agents is undertaken solely as a courtesy for the convenience of clients.
Conditions of Sale 1. All lots are sold “AS IS”. Any description issued by the auctioneer of an article to be sold is subject to variation to be posted or announced verbally in the auction room prior to the time of sale. While the auctioneer has endeavoured not to mislead in the description issued, and the utmost care is taken to ensure the correct cataloguing of each item, such descriptions are purely statements of opinion and are not intended to constitute a representation to the prospective purchasers and no warranty of the correctness of such description is made. An opportunity for inspection of each article is offered prior to the time of sale. No sale will be set aside on account of lack of correspondence of the article with its description or its reproduction, if any, whether colour or black & white. Some lots are of an age and/ or nature which preclude their being in pristine condition and some catalogue descriptions make reference to damage and/or restoration. The lack of such a reference does not imply that a lot is free from defects nor does any reference to certain defects imply the absence of others. Frames on artwork are not included as part of purchase or condition. It is the responsibility of prospective purchasers to inspect or have inspected each lot upon which they wish to bid, relying upon their own advisers, and to bid accordingly. 2. Each lot sold is subject to a 20% buyers premium as part of the purchase price.
Canadian Art Auction Invaluable Live! clients will be charged a buyer’s premium of 25% of the successful bid price of each lot. Concrete Contemporary Art Auction ARTSY clients will be charged a buyer’s premium of 25% of the successful bid price of each lot. 3. Unless exempted by law, the buyer is required to pay Harmonized Sales Tax on the total purchase price including the buyer’s premium. For international buyers, taxes are not applicable when purchases are shipped out of country. Items shipped out of Ontario, the buyer is required to pay taxes as per the tax status of that province, whether it HST or GST (Goods and Services Tax). 4. The auctioneer reserves the right to withdraw any lot from sale at any time, to divide any lot or to combine any two or more lots at his sole discretion, all without notice. 5. The auctioneer has the right to refuse any bid and to advance the bidding at his absolute discretion. The auctioneer reserves the right not to accept and not to reject any bid. Without limitation, any bid which is not commensurate with the value of the article offered, or which is merely a nominal or fractional advance over the previous bid may not be recognized. 6. Each lot may be subject to an unpublished reserve which may be changed at any time by agreement between the auctioneer and the consignor. The auctioneer may bid, or direct an employee to bid, on behalf of the consignor as agreed between them. In addition, the auctioneer may accept and submit absentee and telephone bids, to be executed by an employee of the auctioneer, pursuant to the instructions of prospective purchasers not in attendance at the sale. 7. The highest bidder accepted by the auctioneer for any lot shall be the buyer and such buyer shall forthwith assume full risk and responsibility for the lot and must comply with such other Conditions of Sale as may be applicable. If any dispute should arise between bidders the auctioneer shall have the absolute discretion to designate the buyer or, at his option, to withdraw any disputed lot from the sale,
or to re-offer it at the same or a subsequent sale. The auctioneer’s decision in all cases shall be final. 8. Immediately after the purchase of a lot, the buyer shall pay or undertake to the satisfaction of the auctioneer with respect to payment of the whole or any part of the purchase price requested by the auctioneer, failing which the auctioneer in his sole discretion may cancel the sale, with or without re-offering the item for sale. 9. The buyer shall pay for all lots within 48 hours from the date of the sale, after which a late charge of 2% per month on the total invoice may be incurred or the auctioneer, in his sole discretion, may cancel the sale. The buyer shall not become the owner of the lot until paid for in full. Items must be removed within 10 days from the date of sale, after which storage charges may be incurred. 10. Each lot purchased, unless the sale is cancelled as above, shall be held by the auctioneer at his premises or at a public warehouse at the sole risk of the buyer until fully paid for and taken away. 11. Notwithstanding condition no. 1, if the buyer, prior to removal of a lot, makes arrangements satisfactory to the auctioneer for the inspection of such lot by a fully qualified person acceptable to the auctioneer to determine the genuineness or authenticity of the lot, to be carried out promptly following the sale of the lot, and if, but only if, within a period of 14 days following the sale a written opinion of such person is presented to the auctioneer to the effect that the lot is not genuine or authentic, accompanied by a written request by the buyer for rescission of the sale, then the sale of the lot will be rescinded and the sale price refunded to the buyer. 12. Payment for purchases must be by cash, INTERAC direct debit (Cdn clients in person only), certified cheque (U.S. & Overseas not applicable), travelers cheque, bank draft, electronic transfer (fee applies), and VISA or Mastercard (up to $25,000). 13. In the event of failure to pay for or remove articles within the aforementioned time limit, the auctioneer, without limitation of the rights of the consignor and the auctioneer against the buyer, may resell any of the articles affected, and in such case the original buyer shall be responsible to the auctioneer and the consignor for: (a) any deficiency in price between the re-sale amount and the amount to have been paid by the original buyer; (b) any reasonable charge by the auctioneer for the storage of such articles until payment and removal by the subsequent buyer; and (c) the amount of commission which the auctioneer would have earned had payment been made in full by the original buyer. 14. It is the responsibility of the buyer to make all arrangements for insuring, packing and removing the property purchased and any assistance by the auctioneer or his servants, agents or contractors, in packing or removal shall be rendered as a courtesy and without any liability to them. 15. The auctioneer acts solely as agent for the consignor and makes no representation as to any attribute of, title to, or restriction affecting the articles consigned for sale. Without limitation, the buyer understands that any item bought may be affected by the provisions of the Cultural Property Export Act (Canada). 16. The auctioneer reserves the right to refuse admission to the sale or to refuse to recognize any or all bids from any particular person or persons at any auction.
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Concrete Contemporary Art Auction
Specialist Departments ASIAN ART
CONTEMPORARY ART
INUIT ART
DECORATIVE ARTS
Austin Yuen
Stephen Ranger
Christa Ouimet
416-847-6195
416-847-6194
416-847 6184
ay@waddingtons.ca
skr@waddingtons.ca
co@waddingtons.ca
Bill Kime Silver, Glass and Ceramics
Chih-En Chen Department Consultant cc@waddingtons.ca
Kristin Vance Fine Art Administrator
JEWELLERY, WATCHES & NUMISMATICS Don P. McLean 416-847-6170
416-847-6187
dpm@waddingtons.ca
sq@waddingtons.ca
Susan Robertson
Christa Lambert Jewellery Administrator
Andrew Brandt Rugs & Carpets
416-847-6179
416-847-6190
416-847-6168
sr@waddingtons.ca
jewellery@waddingtons.ca
ab@waddingtons.ca
FINE PRINTS & PHOTOGRAPHY
“OFF THE WALL” MONTHLY FINE ART
FINE WINE & SPIRITS
Holly Mazar-Fox Fine Art Administrator hmf@waddingtons.ca
Doug Payne
416-847-6194
kv@waddingtons.ca
416-847-6185
asianart@waddingtons.ca
INTERNATIONAL ART
CANADIAN FINE ART Linda G. Rodeck canadianart@waddingtons.ca Anna Holmes Fine Art Administrator 415-504-5100
canadianart@waddingtons.ca Rochelle Konn Client Services
bk@waddingtons.ca Sean Quinn Sculpture, Decorations, Clocks & Lighting
416-847-6178
Amelia Zhu
416-847-6189
416-847-6180
dp@waddingtons.ca
416-847-6167
Stephen Ranger skr@waddingtons.ca Joann Maplesden 416-847-6182
jmm@waddingtons.ca
416-847-6191
canadianart@waddingtons.ca
Devin Hatfield 416-847-6181
dh@waddingtons.ca
Operational Staff PRESIDENT
DESIGN & PRODUCTION MANAGER
ONLINE AUCTION SUPPORT & ACCOUNT MANAGER
COMMUNICATIONS
Elda Pappada
416-847-6171
adm@waddingtons.ca
Julia Deo jcd@waddingtons.ca
VICE PRESIDENT
TECHNICAL SERVICES
Stephen Ranger
Otto Lam ol@waddingtons.ca
Duncan McLean 416-847-6183
416-847-6194
skr@waddingtons.ca VICE PRESIDENT FINE ART Linda G. Rodeck canadianart@waddingtons.ca
PHOTOGRAPHER John Macdonald 416-847-6192
GENERAL MANAGER
jm@waddingtons.ca
Duane Smith
ACCOUNTS MANAGER
416-847-6172
das@waddingtons.ca
416-847-6177
tm@waddingtons.ca
MANAGER, APPRAISALS & CONSIGNMENTS
COLLINGWOOD
Ellie Muir
705-445-8811
416-847-6196
Solomon Alaluf sa@waddingtons.ca
Karen Sander 416-847-6173
ks@waddingtons.ca
Tess McLean
em@waddingtons.ca CLIENT SERVICES Holly Mazar-Fox 416-847-6167
hmf@waddingtons.ca Andrew Brandt 416-847-6168
ab@waddingtons.ca
Valerie Brown vb@waddingtons.ca P.O. BOX 554 Collingwood ON L9Y 4B2 VANCOUVER Jacqui Dixon 778-837-4588
jd@waddingtons.ca