Abbozzo Gallery Member of the Art Dealers Association of Canada 401 Richmond Street West Suite 128, Toronto ON, M5V 3A8 Tel: 416-260-2220 Toll Free: 1-866-844-4481 abbozzogallery.com
Catalogue by: Yodit Adonai Foreword by: Blake Zigrossi
Table of Contents About the Artist Artwork Autobiography I A/P Burning of the S.S. Viking A/P Cape Harrison, Labrador Sea 63/75 Captain Llewellyn Kean 10/75 Daybreak, The Labrador Sea 39/75 Down on the Labrador, Towing the Nickerson 17/75 & 9/75 Fire in Indian Bay 26/50 Folded Studies A/P 5/15 Folded Studies: Bonfire Night on Greenspond 33/75 For Edgar Glover the Splitting Table 48/75 Gift AP 14/15, 1994 Granda Glover on Bragg’s Island A/P 10/15 Grand Glover’s Place on Bragg’s Island AP 9/15 Great Mummer Unveiled 52/75 & 7/75 Gull Rock Breaking 49/75 & 57/75 Study for Haven June Visit 60/75 Leaving the Labrador 29/50 Loss of the Flora S. Nickerson 68/75 March Ice Offshore, Eric Bishop’s Kite 54/75
Table of Contents March Wesleyville from Bennett’s High Island 31/35 Molly Glover on Bragg’s Island 52/75 Notes from Bragg’s Island 41/75 & 49/75 On the Verandah Sophia in the Garden Study for Bonfire Night on Greenspond Study for Man Warning Two Boys 3/50 Study for Visitation on Bragg’s Island The ‘Friend’ Leaving for the Labrador 15/50 & 25/50 The ‘Lloyd Jack’ Leaving for he Labrador 14/50 The Flora S. Nickerson Coming Home from he Labrador 5/10 The Haven A/P The International Code Series “X” The Persistence of Memory Three Mummer’s on Winsor’s Point 22/50 Uncle Cluny’s Kite over Wesleyville A/P 7/10 Visitation on Bragg’s Island 45/75 Wesleyville, Cyril’s Kite Over Blackwood’s Hill 9/75 & 9/75 Yellow Phaleonopsis Price List
Foreword and Artist Bio The works of Canadian Master Printmaker David Blackwood once again return to the walls of Abbozzo Gallery for the 11th time. For decades, David Blackwood has captured and recreated the mythologies of the rugged and unforgiving East Coast of Newfoundland. Blackwood left Wesleyville to study art in Toronto in the late 50’s, but the work produced since then is almost entirely rooted in the period of his childhood in Wesleyville, Newfoundland. The oeuvre of David Blackwood depicts the collection of characters, trials, traumas, traditions, and landscapes just inland and on the Labrador Sea, with these subjects all personal to him, and often beautifully, hauntingly, intersecting with each other in his artwork. In their own sense of spirituality, those of the Methodist faith in Wesleyville found tragedy every day amongst dreary intercourse of life on the northern cape of Newfoundland: the biting winds, the unforgiving geography, the vulgar salt-fish odour that held stagnant in the streets despite the wind, and their dependence upon precarious industry for wealth and provisions. Even still, the town stood strong amid the gloom robust and populated by a resilient miscellany of characters who faced their hardships with faith, tenacity and quiet pride. Like the people of Wesleyville, the works of David Blackwood are enduring and unlike any other; shaped by the merciless, unrelenting geography that they once knew, marked by a patience and dedication unmatched, and memorializing a past and way of life that may have largely ended in practice but certainly remains, visceral as ever, in David Blackwood’s vision of Wesleyville.
David Lloyd Blackwood was born on November 7th, 1941 in Wesleyville, Newfoundland, a small outport town made up of sailors, fishermen, and those of the Methodist faith. On a scholarship from the Government of Newfoundland, David Blackwood left to study art at the Ontario College of Art in 1959. It was during this period, at 20 years old, that a curator from MoMA, William S. Lieberman, had seen David’s work and made a recommendation to the National Gallery of Canada to acquire his work for their collection. This was during a period in which OCA students weren’t even supposed to sign their own work. So began his illustrious career. David Blackwood then went on to teach and produce work as an Art Master at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario, where he continues to live today. In the early 70’s, the National Film Board of Canada approached David Blackwood and produced a short film, Blackwood, about him, his etchings, and life in Wesleyville. This film went on to get nominated for Best Short Film at the 49th Academy Awards in 1977. David Blackwood’s long, storied, and uniquely Canadian career has garnered him much acclaim, belonging to both private and public collections across the globe. This includes having major solo retrospective exhibitions at both provincial galleries the Art Gallery of Ontario and Newfoundland’s The Rooms, as well as being in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, the Uffizi Gallery (Florence, Italy) and the collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle). For his contributions to Canadian Arts and Cultural Heritage, David Blackwood was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1993.
Blake Zigrossi Abbozzo Gallary
Autobiography I A/P, 1969, Etching and Aquatint “19.75 x 31.75” Unframed
Burning of the S.S. Viking A/P, 1970, Etching “20 x 32”
Cape Harrison, Labrador Sea 63/75, 2004, Etching “7 x 12”
Captain Llewellyn Kean 10/75, 2003, Etching “14 x 12”
Daybreak, The Labrador Sea 39/75, 2003, Etching “16 x 20”
Down on the Labrador, Towing the Nickerson 17/75, 20030, Etching “24 x 36”
Fire in Indian Bay 26/50, 1979, Etching “19.5 x 31.5”
Folded Studies AP 5/15, 1993, Etching “1/4 x 34”
Folded Studies: Bonfire Night on Greenspond 33/75, 2002, Etching “15 x 36”
For Edgar Glover the Splitting Table 48/75 , 1999, Etching “23.75 x 35.75”
The Gift AP 14/15, 1994, Etching “9 x 12”
Granda Glover on Bragg’s Island A/P 10/15, 1994, Etching “11 x 14”
Granda Glover’s Place on Bragg’s Island A/P 9/15, 2002, Etching “15 x 36”
Great Mummer Unveiled 52/75, 2002, Etching “12 x 18”
Gull Rock Breaking 49/75, 2001, Etching “13 x 18”
Study for Haven, 1994, Graphite “20 x 32”
June Visit 60/75, 2000, Etching “8 x 10”
Leaving the Labrador 29/50, 2011, Etching “24 x 36”
Loss of the Flora S. Nickerson 68/75, 1993, Etching “32 x 20”
March Ice Offshore, Eric Bishop’s Kite 54/75, 1998, Etching “15 x 36”
March Wesleyville from Bennett’s High Islands 31/35, 1976, Etching “19.5 x 31.5”
Molly Glover on Bragg’s Island 52/75, 1997, Etching “32 x 20”
Notes from Bragg’s Island 41/75, 1992, Etching and Aquatint “14 x 33”
On the Verandah, Watercolour “29 x 21”
Sophia in the Garden, Watercolour “20.5 x 26.25”
Study for Bonfire Night on Greenspond, 1999, Graphite “11.25 x 14.5”
Study for Man Warning Two Boys 3/50, 1982, Etching “11 x 14”
Study for Visitation on Bragg’s Island, 1996, Graphite “19 x 26.5”
The ‘Friend’ Leaving for the Labrador 15/50, 2007, Etching “20 x 32”
The ‘Lloyd Jack’ Leaving for the Labrador 14/50, 2012, Etching “24 x 36”
The Flora S. Nickerson Coming Home from the Labrador, 1979, Etching and Aquatint “11 x 14�
The Haven A/P, 1994, Etching “20 x 32”
The International Code Series “X”, 2007, Oil on Canvas “12 x 12”
The Persistence of Memory, 2009, Watercolour “18.25 x 23.25”
Three Mummer’s on Winsor’s Point 22/50, 1979, Etching and Aquatint “20 x 32” Unframed
Uncle Cluny’s Kite over Wesleyville AP 7/10, 1989, Etching “15 x 36”/
Visitation on Bragg’s Island 45/75, 1997, Etching “20 x 16”
Wesleyville, Cyril’s Kite Over Blackwood’s Hill 9/75, 1996, Etching “15 x 36”
Yellow Phaleonopsis, 1996, Watercolour “26 x 20”
Price List 1. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Autobiography I A/P 1969 Etching and aquatint 19 3/4 x 31 3/4 in. $4,500.00
7. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Fire in Indian Bay 26/50 1979 Etching 19 1/2 x 31 1/2 in. $8,000.00
2. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Burning of the S.S. Viking 1970 Etching 20 x 32 in. $7,000.00
8. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Folded Studies AP 5/15 1993 Etching 14 x 34 in. $6,000.00
3. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Cape Harrison, Labrador Sea 63/75 2004 Etching 7 x 12 in. $3,800.00
9. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Folded Studies: Bonfire Night on Greenspond 33/75 2002 Etching 15 x 36 in. $6,000.00
4. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Captain Llewellyn Kean 10/75 2003 Etching 14 x 12 in. $2,100.00
10. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 For Edgar Glover the Splitting Table 48/75 1999 Etching 23 3/4 x 35 3/4 in. $10,000.00
5. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Daybreak, The Labrador Sea 39/75 2003 Etching 16 x 20 in. $5,000.00
11. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Gift A/P 14/15 1994 Etching 9 x 12 in. $3,500.00
6. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Down on the Labrador, Towing the Nickerson 17/75 2003 Etching 24 x 36 in. $12,500.00
12. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Granda Glover on Bragg’s Island A/P 10/15 1994 Etching 11 x 14 in. $6,500.00
13. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Granda Glover’s Place on Bragg’s Island AP 9/15 2002, Etching 15 x 36 in. $9,500.00
19. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Leaving the Labrador 29/50 2011 Etching 24 x 36 in. $10,500.00
14. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Great Mummer Unveiled 52/75 2002 Etching 12 x 18 in. $4,000.00
20. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Loss of the Flora S. Nickerson 68/75 1993 Etching 68 x 75 in. $15,000.00
15. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Great Mummer Unveiled 52/75 2002 Etching 12 x 18 in. $3,750.00
21. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 March Ice Offshore, Eric Bishop’s Kite 54/75 1998 Etching 15 x 36 in. $9,500.00
16. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Gull Rock Breaking 49/75 2001 Etching 13 x 18 in. $3,500.00
22. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 March Wesleyville from Bennett’s High Islands 31/35 1976 Etching 19 1/2 x 31 1/2 in. $11,000.00
17. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Haven 1994 Graphite 20 x 32 in. $12,500.00
23. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Molly Glover on Bragg’s Island 52/75 1997 Etching 32 x 20 in. $8,000.00
18. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 June Visit 60/75 2000 Etching 8 x 10 in. $3,500.00
24. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Notes from Bragg’s Island 41/75 1992 Etching and aquatint 14 x 33 in. $6,500.00
25. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 On the Verandah Watercolour 29 x 21 in. $12,500.00
31. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 The ‘Lloyd Jack’ Leaving for the Labrador 14/50 2012 Etching 24 x 36 in. $10,500.00
26. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Sophia in the Garden Watercolour 20 1/2 x 26 1/4 in. $12,500.00
32. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 The Flora S. Nickerson Coming Home from the Labrador 1979 Etching & aquatint 11 x 14 in. $4,900.00
27. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Study for Bonfire Night on Greenspond 1999 Graphite 11 1/4 x 14 1/2 in. $7,500.00
33. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 The Haven AP, 1994 Etching 20 x 32 in. $7,500.00
28. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Study for Man Warning Two Boys 3/50 1982 Etching 11 x 14 in. $5,500.00
34. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 The International Code Series X 2007 Oil on canvas 12 x 12 in. $12,500.00
29. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Study for Visitation on Bragg’s Island 1996 Graphite 19 x 26 1/2 in. $12,500.00
35. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 The Persistence of Memory 2009 Watercolour 18 1/4 x 23 1/4 in. $12,500.00
30. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 The ‘Friend’ Leaving for the Labrador 15/50 2007 Etching 20 x 32 in. $6,500.00
36. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Three Mummer’s on Winsor’s Point 22/50 1979 Etching and aquatint 20 x 32 in. $4,200.00
37. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Uncle Cluny’s Kite over Wesleyville AP 7/10 1989 Etching 15 x 36 in. $9,500.00 38. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Visitation On Bragg’s Island 45/75, 1997 Etching 20 x 16 in. $7,000.00 39. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Wesleyville, Cyril’s Kite Over Blackwood’s Hill 9/75 1996 Etching 15 x 36 in. $9,500.00 40. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Wesleyville, Cyril’s Kite Over Blackwood’s Hill 9/75 1996 Etching 15 x 36 in. $9,500.00 41. Blackwood, David , b. 1941 Yellow Phalaenopsis Watercolour 26 x 20 in. $12,500.00
Abbozzo Gallery Member of the Art Dealers Association of Canada 401 Richmond Street West Suite 128, Toronto ON, M5V 3A8 Tel: 416-260-2220 Toll Free: 1-866-844-4481 abbozzogallery.com
Catalogue by: Yodit Adonai Foreword by: Blake Zigrossi