CANADIAN POST~WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART
MAY 17, 2011
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE VANCOUVER
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TORONTO
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OTTAWA
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MONTREAL
CANADIAN POST~WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
V ISIT
www.heffel.com
SALE TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2011, 4PM, VANCOUVER
ISBN 978~0~9811120~9~1
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HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
3/30/2011, 3:20 PM
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3/30/2011, 3:21 PM
CANADIAN POST~WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART
AUCTION TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2011 4 PM, CANADIAN POST~WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART 7 PM, FINE CANADIAN ART VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE WEST BURRARD ENTRANCE, ROOM 211 1055 CANADA PLACE, VANCOUVER PREVIEW AT GALERIE HEFFEL, MONTREAL 1840 RUE SHERBROOKE OUEST
THURSDAY, APRIL 28 & FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 11 AM TO 7 PM SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 11 AM TO 5 PM PREVIEW AT HEFFEL GALLERY, TORONTO 13 HAZELTON AVENUE THURSDAY, MAY 5 & FRIDAY, MAY 6, 11 AM TO 7 PM SATURDAY, MAY 7, 11 AM TO 5 PM PREVIEW AT HEFFEL GALLERY, VANCOUVER FRIDAY, MAY 13 THROUGH MONDAY, MAY 16, 11 AM TO 6 PM TUESDAY, MAY 17, 10 AM TO 12 PM HEFFEL GALLERY, VANCOUVER 2247 GRANVILLE STREET, VANCOUVER BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA V6H 3G1 TELEPHONE 604 732~6505, FAX 604 732~4245 INTERNET: WWW.HEFFEL.COM
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE VANCOUVER
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TORONTO
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OTTAWA
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MONTREAL
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE A Division of Heffel Gallery Limited VANCOUVER 2247 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC V6H 3G1 Telephone 604 732~6505, Fax 604 732~4245 E~mail: mail@heffel.com, Internet: www.heffel.com TORONTO 13 Hazelton Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5R 2E1 Telephone 416 961~6505, Fax 416 961~4245 MONTREAL 1840 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal, Quebec H3H 1E4 Telephone 514 939~6505, Fax 514 939~1100 OTTAWA 451 Daly Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6H6 Telephone 613 230~6505, Fax 613 230~8884 CALGARY Telephone 403 238~6505 CORPORATE BANK Royal Bank of Canada, 1497 West Broadway Vancouver, British Columbia V6H 1H7 Telephone 604 665~5710 Account #05680 003: 133 503 3 Swift Code: ROYccat2 Incoming wires are required to be sent in Canadian funds and must include: Heffel Gallery Limited, 2247 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6H 3G1 as beneficiary. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chairman In Memoriam ~ Kenneth Grant Heffel President ~ David Kenneth John Heffel Auctioneer License T83~3364318 and V11~100777 Vice~President ~ Robert Campbell Scott Heffel Auctioneer License T83~3365303 and V11~100776 Follow us on
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HEFFEL.COM DEPARTMENTS FINE C ANADIAN ART canadianart@heffel.com APPRAISALS appraisals@heffel.com ABSENTEE AND TELEPHONE B IDDING bids@heffel.com SHIPPING shipping@heffel.com SUBSCRIPTIONS subscriptions@heffel.com
CATALOGUE SUBSCRIPTIONS Heffel Fine Art Auction House and Heffel Gallery Limited regularly publish a variety of materials beneficial to the art collector. An Annual Subscription entitles you to receive our Auction Catalogues and Auction Result Sheets. Our Annual Subscription Form can be found on page 116 of this catalogue. AUCTION PERSONNEL Jacques Barbeau, QC ~ Corporate Consultant Paul S.O. Barbeau, Barbeau, Evans & Goldstein ~ Legal Advisor Audra Branigan, Elizabeth Hilson and Michelle Nowacki ~ Administrative Assistants Lisa Christensen ~ Calgary Representative Kate Galicz ~ Director of Appraisal Services Andrew Gibbs ~ Ottawa Representative Jennifer Heffel ~ Auction Assistant Patsy Kim Heffel ~ Director of Accounting Lindsay Jackson ~ Manager of Toronto Office Lauren Kratzer ~ Director of Art Index Bobby Ma ~ Director of Shipping and Framing John Maclean, Anders Oinonen and Jamey Petty ~ Internal Logistics Alison Meredith ~ Director of Online Auction Sales Jill Meredith ~ Manager of Coordination and Reporting Kirbi Pitt ~ Manager of Advertising and Marketing Tania Poggione ~ Director of Montreal Office Olivia Ragoussis ~ Manager of Montreal Office Judith Scolnik ~ Director of Toronto Office Rosalin Te Omra ~ Director of Fine Canadian Art Research Goran Urosevic ~ Director of Information Services CATALOGUE P RODUCTION Mark Cheetham, Lisa Christensen, Dr. Franรงois~Marc Gagnon, Kate Galicz, Lindsay Jackson, Lauren Kratzer, Tania Poggione, Judith Scolnik and Rosalin Te Omra ~ Essay Contributors Brian Goble ~ Director of Digital Imaging David Heffel ~ Catalogue Layout & Production Robert Heffel, Iris Schindel and Rosalin Te Omra ~ Text Editing, Catalogue Production Colleen Leonard, Max Meyer and Olivia Ragoussis ~ Digital Imaging Jill Meredith and Kirbi Pitt ~ Catalogue Layout COPYRIGHT No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval systems or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, photocopy, electronic, mechanical, recorded or otherwise, without the prior written consent of Heffel Gallery Limited. PRINTING Generation Printing, Vancouver
ISBN 978~0~9811120~9~1
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AUCTION LOCATION
PREVIEW
AUCTION
Heffel Gallery
Vancouver Convention Centre West, Burrard Entrance
2247 Granville Street, Vancouver
Room 211, 1055 Canada Place, Vancouver
Telephone 604 732~6505
VCC Main Switchboard 604 689~8232
Toll Free 1 800 528~9608
Saleroom Cell 604 418~6505
Call Alison in our Vancouver office for special accommodation rates, or email alison@heffel.com Please refer to page 120 for Toronto and Montreal preview locations
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 5 5 5 5 7 106 109 114 115 115 116 116 117 118 119
SELLING AT AUCTION BUYING AT AUCTION GENERAL BIDDING INCREMENTS FRAMING , R ESTORATION AND S HIPPING WRITTEN VALUATIONS AND APPRAISALS CANADIAN POST~WAR & CONTEMPORARY A RT CATALOGUE NOTICES FOR COLLECTORS TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS CATALOGUE ABBREVIATIONS AND S YMBOLS CATALOGUE TERMS HEFFEL ’S CODE OF BUSINESS CONDUCT, ETHICS AND P RACTICES ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION F ORM COLLECTOR PROFILE FORM SHIPPING FORM FOR PURCHASES ABSENTEE BID FORM INDEX OF ARTISTS
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SELLING AT AUCTION Heffel Fine Art Auction House is a division of Heffel Gallery Limited. Together, our offices offer individuals, collectors, corporations and public entities a full service firm for the successful de~acquisition of their artworks. Interested parties should contact us to arrange for a private and confidential appointment to discuss their preferred method of disposition and to analyse preliminary auction estimates, pre~sale reserves and consignment procedures. This service is offered free of charge. If you are from out of town, or are unable to visit us at our premises, we would be pleased to assess the saleability of your artworks by mail, courier or e~mail. Please provide us with photographic or digital reproductions of the artworks and information pertaining to title, artist, medium, size, date, provenance, etc. Representatives of our firm travel regularly to major Canadian cities to meet with Prospective Sellers. It is recommended that property for inclusion in our sale arrive at Heffel Fine Art Auction House at least 90 days prior to our auction. This allows time to photograph, research, catalogue, promote and complete any required work such as re~framing, cleaning or restoration. All property is stored free of charge until the auction; however, insurance is the Consignor’s expense. Consignors will receive, for completion, a Consignment Agreement and Consignment Receipt, which set forth the terms and fees for our services. The Seller’s Commission rates charged by Heffel Fine Art Auction House are as follows: 10% of the successful Hammer Price for each Lot sold for $7,500 and over; 15% for Lots sold for $2,500 to $7,499; and 25% for Lots sold for less than $2,500. Consignors are entitled to set a mutually agreed Reserve or minimum selling price on their artworks. Heffel Fine Art Auction House charges no Seller’s penalties for artworks that do not achieve their Reserve price.
BUYING AT AUCTION All items that are offered and sold by Heffel Fine Art Auction House are subject to our published Terms and Conditions of Business, our Catalogue Terms and any oral announcements made during the course of our sale. Heffel Fine Art Auction House charges a Buyer’s Premium calculated at seventeen percent (17%) of the Hammer Price of each Lot, plus applicable federal and provincial taxes. If you are unable to attend our auction in person, you can bid by completing the Absentee Bid Form found on page 118 of this catalogue. Please note that all Absentee Bid Forms should be received by Heffel Fine Art Auction House at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of the sale. Bidding by telephone, although limited, is available. Please make arrangements for this service well in advance of the sale. Telephone lines are assigned in order of the sequence in which requests are received. We also recommend that you leave an Absentee Bid amount that we will execute on your behalf in the event we are unable to reach you by telephone.
Payment must be made by: a) Bank Wire direct to our account, b) Certified Cheque or Bank Draft, unless otherwised arranged in advance with the Auction House, or c) a cheque accompanied by a current Letter of Credit from the Purchaser’s bank which will guarantee the amount of the cheque. A cheque not guaranteed by a Letter of Credit must be cleared by the bank prior to purchases being released. We honour payment by VISA or Mastercard for purchases. Credit card payments are subject to a maximum of $5,000, if you are providing your credit card details by fax (for purchases in North America only) or to a maximum of $25,000 if the card is presented in person with valid identification. Bank Wire payments should be made to the Royal Bank of Canada as per the account transit details provided on page 2.
GENERAL BIDDING INCREMENTS Bidding typically begins below the low estimate and generally advances in the following bid increments: $100 ~ 2,000 .............................. $100 $2,000 ~ 5,000 ........................... $250 $5,000 ~ 10,000 ......................... $500 $10,000 ~ 20,000 ................... $1,000 $20,000 ~ 50,000 ................... $2,500 $50,000 ~ 100,000 ................. $5,000 $100,000 ~ 300,000 ............. $10,000 $300,000 ~ 1,000,000 .......... $25,000 $1,000,000 ~ 2,000,000 ....... $50,000
INCREMENTS
$2,000,000 ~ 5,000,000 ..... $100,000
FRAMING, RESTORATION AND SHIPPING As a Consignor, it may be advantageous for you to have your artwork re~framed and/or cleaned and restored to enhance its saleability. As a Purchaser, your recently acquired artwork may demand a frame complementary to your collection. As a full service organization, we offer guidance and in~house expertise to facilitate these needs. Purchasers who acquire items that require local delivery or out of town shipping should refer to our Shipping Form for Purchases on page 117 of this publication. Please feel free to contact us to assist you in all of your requirements or to answer any of your related questions. Full completion of our Shipping Form is required prior to purchases being released by Heffel.
WRITTEN VALUATIONS AND APPRAISALS Written valuations and appraisals for probate, insurance, family division and other purposes can be carried out in our offices or at your premises. Appraisal fees vary according to circumstances. If, within five years of the appraisal, valued or appraised artwork is consigned and sold through either Heffel Fine Art Auction House or Heffel Gallery Limited, the client will be refunded the appraisal fee, less incurred “out of pocket” expenses.
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE VANCOUVER
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TORONTO
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OTTAWA
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MONTREAL
The Purchaser and the Consignor are hereby advised to read fully the Terms and Conditions of Business and Catalogue Terms, which set out and establish the rights and obligations of the Auction House, the Purchaser and the Consignor, and the terms by which the Auction House shall conduct the sale and handle other related matters. This information appears on pages 109 through 115 of this publication. All Lots can be viewed on our Internet site at: http://www.heffel.com Please consult our online catalogue for information specifying which works will be present in each of our preview locations at: http://www.heffel.com/auction If you are unable to attend our auction, we produce a live webcast of our sale commencing at 3:50 PM PDT. We do not offer real~time Internet bidding for our live auctions, but we do accept Absentee and prearranged Telephone bids. Information on Absentee and Telephone bidding appears on pages 5 and 118 of this publication. We recommend that you test your streaming video setup prior to our sale at: http://www.heffel.tv Our Estimates are in Canadian funds. Exchange values are subject to change and are provided for guidance only. Buying 1.00 Canadian dollar will cost approximately 1.03 US dollar, 0.74 Euro, 0.64 British pound, 84 Japanese yen and 8.02 Hong Kong dollars as of our publication date.
CANADIAN POST~WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART
CATALOGUE
Featuring Important Works from The Estate of Edgar and Dorothy Davidson The Estate of AndrĂŠe Lavigne~Trudeau The College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia & other Important Private Collections
SALE TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2011, 4:00 PM, VANCOUVER
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
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BERTRAM CHARLES (B.C.) BINNING BCSFA CGP CSGA OC RAIC RCA
1909 ~ 1976
Four Ships in Variable Weather No. 1 oil on board, signed and dated 1949 and on verso signed, titled on a label and inscribed on a label Collection: Oscar Erickson, also inscribed with Binning’s address 2968 Mathers Cr., West Vancouver 12 x 18 in, 30.5 x 45.7 cm P ROVENANCE : Oscar Erickson, Vancouver By descent to the family of Arthur Erickson, Vancouver
L ITERATURE : Doreen E. Walker, B.C. Binning, A Classical Spirit, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1986, the 1948 oil on board entitled Four Ships in Variable Weather reproduced catalogue #1, unpaginated Abraham J. Rogatnick et al, B.C. Binning, 2006, page 126
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, B.C. Binning painted a group of works based on the sea and ships. Binning sailed his boat up Indian Arm just after the War and discovered a number of World War II ships tied up in one of the coves there. Their large hulls towering above his small boat made an indelible impression on him ~ he found their presence regal as they floated motionless on the calm water. This elegant yet playful painting contains this important motif of towering hulls, along with other nautical details such as rigging and pennants. Although formal and architectural in its arrangement of elements, Four Ships in Variable Weather No. 1 possesses a spirit of joy that is unmistakable amid the formality of the work. Binning wrote affectionately of the boats that were such important motifs in his work, “They can be lyric, no doubt about that, grand and elegant with dignity and power, or jolly and happy for joy. They abstract well.” This work was a gift from the artist to Oscar Erickson, renowned architect Arthur Erickson’s father. Both men were Binning’s friends, thus they had access to Binning’s best works.
E STIMATE : $35,000 ~ 45,000
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L ITERATURE : Do You Own a Canadian Painting?, Vancouver Art Gallery, Women’s Auxiliary, 1951, listed page 1, for $60
E XHIBITED : Vancouver Art Gallery, Do You Own a Canadian Painting? Fourth Annual Sale and Exhibition of Contemporary Paintings, organized by the Women’s Auxiliary,1951 This vibrant B.C. Binning painting was acquired from the Women’s Auxiliary at the Vancouver Art Gallery, whose yearly sales / exhibitions were organized with the intent of encouraging collectors to bring Canadian art into their homes.
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BERTRAM CHARLES (B.C.) BINNING BCSFA CGP CSGA OC RAIC RCA
1909 ~ 1976
Two Ships with Orange Sun oil on board, signed and on verso titled on the artist’s label and inscribed $60 on the exhibition label, circa 1950 13 1/4 x 12 in, 33.7 x 30.5 cm P ROVENANCE : Collection of the Artist Women’s Auxiliary, Vancouver Art Gallery, Fourth Annual Sale and Exhibition, 1951 Acquired by Mrs. L. Hopen from the above exhibition deVooght Galleries Ltd., Vancouver Private Collection, Vancouver
Binning was a pioneer West Coast modernist, involved in all aspects of the arts. He was the head of the Fine Arts Department at UBC, an architect, an artist and an arts advocate. Primarily a draughtsman in his early career, Binning depicted West Coast life in his drawings. In 1948, he began to paint predominantly in oil; his subjects were ships and the sea, perhaps inspired by his own sailboat, which he named Skookumchuck. By 1950, Binning had developed a semi~abstract style that still relied on his nautical subjects. Massive architectural forms of ships at anchor dominated his works from this period. This whimsical painting with two large pared~down boats bobbing under the vibrant orange sun is a superb example of Binning’s work from this highly sought~after era.
E STIMATE : $20,000 ~ 30,000
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EDWARD JOHN (E.J.) HUGHES BCSFA CGP OC RCA
1913 ~ 2007
Nanaimo Boat watercolour on paper, signed and dated 2000 and on verso signed, titled and dated 18 x 24 in, 45.7 x 61 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Victoria
L ITERATURE : The E.J. Hughes Album, The Paintings Volume I, 1932 ~ 1991, 2011, the 1955 oil Nanaimo Boat reproduced page 23 Around 1991, E.J. Hughes turned his full attention to watercolour, often using previous oils for his compositions. Nanaimo Boat revisits one of Hughes’s most important and visually arresting subjects from the late 1940s into the 1960s ~ the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Princess line of coastal steamers, a fleet which plied the waters around Vancouver Island
and up the West Coast. The fleet was at its height in the 1930s, but by the 1950s was in decline, although some ships continued sailing until the 1970s. Hughes admired these ships, and was very concerned about the authenticity of his depiction of them, using photographs provided by Canadian Pacific to ensure all the details were accurate. The passage of a ship in the distance was a compositional device Hughes often used, creating a sense of the poignant longing and mystery of a voyage. A strong sense of motion comes from both the forward thrust of the powerful ship, emphasized by the billowing smoke streaming behind it, and the white~capped ocean surging forward and crashing against the shore. This fine watercolour, based on Hughes’s 1955 oil also entitled Nanaimo Boat, compels nostalgia for the time when these unique and graceful ships sailed through the beauty and grandeur of the waters of the West Coast.
E STIMATE : $30,000 ~ 40,000
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EDWARD JOHN (E.J.) HUGHES BCSFA CGP OC RCA
1913 ~ 2007
Finlayson Arm, Saanich Inlet watercolour on paper, signed and dated 1997 and on verso signed, titled and dated 18 x 24 in, 45.7 x 61 cm P ROVENANCE : Dominion Gallery, Montreal; Private Collection, Vancouver
L ITERATURE : Ian M. Thom, E.J. Hughes, Vancouver Art Gallery, 2002, page 163 Jacques Barbeau, A Journey with E.J. Hughes, 2005, the 1963 graphite drawing for this image entitled Overlooking Finlayson Arm reproduced page 92 The E.J. Hughes Album, The Paintings Volume I, 1932 ~ 1991, 2011, the 1965 oil entitled Finlayson Arm reproduced page 44, the 1973 oil entitled Looking South over Finlayson Arm reproduced page 61, and the 1983 acrylic entitled Above Finlayson Arm reproduced page 79
This striking watercolour is related to three previous paintings ~ Finlayson Arm from 1965, Looking South over Finlayson Arm from 1973 and Above Finlayson Arm from 1983. In the 1990s, E.J. Hughes was primarily working in watercolour, and often used previous oils as his subjects. Finlayson Arm, Saanich Inlet contains elements of all his previous paintings of this view, but it is most closely aligned to the 1965 oil in its detailing. Living in Duncan on Vancouver Island, Hughes did not have to travel far to find stunning coastal panoramas such as the one depicted in this exquisite, finely delineated watercolour. Inspired by the landscape he inhabited, Hughes stated, “One of the main reasons that I paint is because I think nature is so wonderful…I feel that when I am painting, it is a form of worship.” A beguiling element of this layered composition is the distant pleasure boats on the ocean. There is a sense of the sublime in Hughes’s West Coast panoramas ~ nature is peaceful and man’s relationship with it harmonious ~ and Hughes’s delight in this beauty is palpable. Reproduced with lot 72 in this sale is a photograph of E.J. Hughes working on the 1978 oil Looking South from Malahat Drive, also a view of this scene.
E STIMATE : $20,000 ~ 30,000
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DAVID LLOYD BLACKWOOD CPE CSGA CSPWC OSA RCA
1941 ~
Barbour’s Seabird Leaving Newtown oil tempera on board, signed and dated 1995 and on verso signed, titled and dated 35 x 42 5/8 in, 88.9 x 108.3 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, St. John’s, Newfoundland
L ITERATURE : Letter from David Blackwood to Heffel Gallery Limited, March 19, 1998 Katherine Lochnan, Black Ice: David Blackwood ~ Prints of Newfoundland, Art Gallery of Ontario, 2011 David Blackwood was born and raised in Wesleyville at the northern end of Bonavista Bay, a descendant of a long line of master mariners that plied the waters of the Atlantic from Newfoundland up to Labrador. Sealing and the cod fishery made Wesleyville a thriving fishing centre; at its height it was the home port for over 60 schooners. It is hard to believe today the stories of the richness of the seas and the struggle between man and nature in the harvesting of it which were experienced by the people of Newfoundland. From this way of life emerged close~knit communities and a long tradition of storytelling. No one has been a greater visual storyteller of this life than Blackwood, for whom narrative informs every image. He spent his summers off the coast of Labrador aboard his father’s schooner, the Flora S. Nickerson, or on Bragg’s Island with his grandparents or lobster fishing around Wesleyville. Winter was the time when people gathered and filled the long nights with tales of the sailors out on the ice and sea, as well as events in the communities, and these tales emerge through Blackwood’s work. Through his portrayals of events both tragic and joyous and his sensitive images of a people shaped by their environment and social conditions, we experience a deep insight into a centuries~old way of life that has largely disappeared. Circa 1983, Blackwood was painting watercolours around Newtown and was forced to take refuge from a rainstorm in the house of Elsie Barbour. There he saw a painting of the Seabird done by a local man for Elsie’s father Captain Edward Barbour, and made a small watercolour from it. This was the basis for a rare group of paintings and an etching produced in 1998. Among the many stories of the Seabird is one concerning how she came to be acquired by Captain Barbour. In 1901, Barbour attended the coronation of King Edward VII as part of the Newfoundland delegation, and heard that Lord Dunraven of England, burdened by gambling debts, was selling the Seabird. This finely fitted ship had been part of the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes and had carried Queen Victoria to the Isle of Wight. Barbour bought it on the spot for cash. As Blackwood relates, “Captain Job Kean Barbour (Captain Edward’s son) told me that his father
David Lloyd Blackwood Barbour’s Seabird Leaving Newtown etching, edition of 75, 1998, 24 x 36 in, 61 x 91.4 cm Not for sale with this lot; currently available for private sale at Heffel Gallery, Vancouver
was overwhelmed after taking the ship out for a sail. He was also tremendously impressed by the mahogany and brass fittings.” The arrival of this stunning vessel in Newtown on Bonavista Bay was an impressive event. As the Barbours were involved in the cod fishery, they converted the Seabird into a working vessel and she sailed until being lost at sea in the early 1950s. In this powerful painting, the Seabird fills the picture plane and dominates its environment, leaving an impression of its magnificence. The ship’s design is sleek, and the variety of its rigging and its masts bedecked with colourful sails is striking. The flags flown on the Seabird include the Red Ensign of the merchant navy, the Barbour house flag and the Loyal Orange Lodge flag of Newtown. Similar to Blackwood’s etchings, the sea and sky have a bluish grey and grey~green radiance, capturing an atmosphere peculiar to Newfoundland. Blackwood’s brushwork creates textural surfaces, particularly in the sails and the sky, where darkening clouds indicate changing weather. It is a stunning painting that communicates a sense of pride in the history of Newfoundland maritime life. In 2000, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto announced the creation of the Blackwood Research Centre within the Marvin Gelber Print and Drawing Centre, which houses a large collection of Blackwood’s work. The Art Gallery of Ontario is mounting a major retrospective of Blackwood’s work from February 5 to June 12 of this year and has published a companion catalogue entitled Black Ice: David Blackwood ~ Prints of Newfoundland.
E STIMATE : $20,000 ~ 25,000
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RAYMOND JOHN MEAD CGP CSGA P11
1921 ~ 1998
Objects oil on canvas, signed and dated 1952 and on verso signed, titled and inscribed 9 Hill Heights Court, Toronto / $100 28 x 36 in, 71.1 x 91.4 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Ontario Objects was acquired directly from the artist ~ perhaps as an exchange or as a gift ~ by a gentleman who credited Mead with helping him get his first job in the advertising industry. It has remained in the possession of
that man’s family ever since. At first glance, one may associate this 1952 painting with a Cubist aesthetic, but Mead was clearly still in the thrall of his Slade School instructor, Patrick Heron, and the other young moderns who formed the nexus of Cornwall’s St. Ives School. Here we do not have multiple views but one pared~down view of still life objects; perhaps a ripe melon, a shiny apple and a yellow jug on a dark table, standing on a green carpet. The rich yet controlled colour range, the flattened format and strong curved shapes are more reminiscent of British artists Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth than of Pablo Picasso or Georges Braque.
E STIMATE : $20,000 ~ 30,000
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WILLIAM KURELEK ARCA OC OSA
1927 ~ 1977
Cookee Making Dinner Call in Canadian Bush Camp mixed media on board, initialed and dated 1972 and on verso titled 9 3/8 x 13 3/4 in, 23.8 x 34.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Acquired directly from the Artist By descent to the present Private Collection, Nova Scotia William Kurelek’s compelling work often contains subtle religious themes that reflect his life’s experience. This work is multi~layered, with the first impression being a rambunctious depiction of men at a logging camp responding hungrily to the summons for dinner. They are
half~dressed, with one eager fellow dashing along the boardwalk in his underwear. This occupies our attention, yet in the upper left corner, a barn door reveals a nativity scene. Mary and her baby are haloed in gold, watched over by the camp horse, while three sledges point towards the scene, almost seeming to kneel in the snow outside. Their symbolism is obvious once we notice it, but the men are oblivious to this, caught up in their own lives. Tree stumps are a symbol of some frequency in Kurelek’s work; the firewood and lumber is given by the tree, but the tree is left dead. Will the loggers see that this practice is self~defeating and that the landscape will soon be barren? Or will they notice the moment of grace just behind them as it unfolds?
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000
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JACK LEONARD SHADBOLT BCSFA CGP CSPWC OC RCA
1909 ~ 1998
Fetish Mask Motifs ink and acrylic collage on matt board, signed and dated 1969 and on verso signed, titled and dated 29 7/8 x 40 1/2 in, 75.9 x 102.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Bau~Xi Gallery, Vancouver Private Collection, Vancouver
L ITERATURE : Scott Watson, Jack Shadbolt, 1990, page 118 The late 1960s found Jack Shadbolt re~evaluating his past imagery while assembling his 1969 retrospective at the Vancouver Art Gallery, which included native themes of the late 1940s and ritual and fetish themes of the 1950s. In the winter of 1968 / 1969, he painted at his summer home at Downes Point on Hornby Island. Once used by First Nations people
as a graveyard, the point was also said to be haunted by the spirit of a female shaman. Shadbolt was also working out his feelings about Emily Carr and the spell her work had cast on him. Out of this fertile ground emerged the Fetish series. Shadbolt described it as a “ritual presentation through fetishistic masks and devices”, and produced works on this theme until the early 1970s. Dominated on the left by a towering headdress~like form, this dramatic work also includes biomorphic forms that undulate on the right, painted with rich purple, pink, yellow and orange. Fetish Mask Motifs is an important early example of what would become Shadbolt’s highly acclaimed Fetish series. Mysterious and powerful, Fetish Mask Motifs manifests Shadbolt’s inner shaman ~ the artist who mediates between the worlds.
E STIMATE : $8,000 ~ 10,000
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Pollock, Franz Kline or Riopelle just threw their paint at the canvas. We are left with a ‘wall of paint’ which is also a window open on the world around us. Riopelle always refused to choose between these two paradigms of modern art. The first one, as we know, was suggested by Honoré de Balzac in his short story The Unknown Masterpiece of 1831, which tells of young Nicolas Poussin and François Porbus’s visit to the old master Frenhofer, who complained about having worked ten years on a painting without succeeding in giving life to it. When he showed it to his visitors, they were astounded to see nothing but ‘a wall of paint’, where a foot in the bottom of the composition was the only recognizable object.
Portrait de Jean~Paul Riopelle (Portrait of Jean~Paul Riopelle) circa 1947, silver print, Premo, R.O. & C., N.Y. Photograph: Maurice Perron Collection Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec
greatest concentration of mind possible. Some sessions, we are told, could last up to 24 hours. There is a Robert Doisneau photograph from 1956 showing Riopelle in front of his large painting Pavane, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, with a heap of empty oil paint tubes in front of him. He smiles at the camera, and it is a triumphant smile, the smile of somebody who has tamed the risk and not lost control of the painting. Nothing is further from the truth than the idea sponsored by cartoonists that modern artists like Jackson
The painting seen as a window open on the world, on the other hand, is a metaphor as old as the Renaissance, since one finds it in Leon Battista Alberti’s treatise Della pittura (On Painting). In the modern era, this idea was defended by the Surrealists, and by André Breton in particular. Needless to say, Riopelle was vividly aware of both paradigms. He was close enough to the Surrealists and to Breton to share their view on the idea of a window open on an indefinite vista. And as an admirer of the late Claude Monet, he could have seen a perfect example of the ‘wall of painting’ mentioned by Balzac. Suffering from cataracts on both eyes and scared to death of the needed operation, Monet at the end of his life could not distinguish colour as before, and even when painting very familiar scenes in his garden at Giverny produced barely readable paintings. The result was both troubling and premonitory of the abstract revolution ahead in the works of American painters like Sam Francis, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Joan Mitchell and, of course, Riopelle himself. The result is clear in our Sans titre. It is not possible to choose between the two directions ~ both are present and in competition with each other. The ‘wall of paint’ opens on tous les matins du monde ~ all the mornings of the world. We thank François~Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
E STIMATE : $900,000 ~ 1,200,000
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JEAN~PAUL RIOPELLE AUTO CAS OC QMG RCA SCA
1923 ~ 2002
Vieille lune oil on canvas, signed and dated 1958 and on verso signed, titled and dated on the stretcher and with three Pierre Matisse Gallery labels 23 1/4 x 28 3/4 in, 59 x 73 cm P ROVENANCE : Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York Private Collection, Paris By descent to the present Private Collection, Florida
L ITERATURE : Guy Robert, Riopelle, Chasseur d’images, 1981, page 95 Yseult Riopelle, Jean Paul Riopelle Catalogue Raisonné, Volume II, 2004, reproduced page 289, catalogue #1958.033H.1958
Jean~Paul Riopelle experimented with various methods of applying paint to canvas. Vast amounts of paint were used all at once, letting it drip and flow on the surface of the work. He used paint straight from the tube, squeezing blobs onto the canvas and trailing the tail of liquid to create ribbons of pattern. A palette knife was also utilized to trowel paint directly onto the canvas, blending colours in a simple, smooth motion. Vieille lune employs this latter technique, wherein the deepest layers of paint are blended flat, smoothing their colours together so that they recede into space. Additional colour and texture has been added in the surface marks, which have also been made with a palette knife or perhaps the pointed end of a painting knife held at varying angles to cut, swirl and slide through the paint. At this time, Riopelle began to give his work titles again, as he did here with Vieille lune (Old Moon), evoking thoughts of inky night~time colours, waxing and waning, and the daytime world as it appears obscured by the darkness of night.
E STIMATE : $100,000 ~ 150,000
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JACK LEONARD SHADBOLT
Scott Watson, Jack Shadbolt, 1990, page 84
and inspired by the light, colour and warmth of the region. Shadbolt’s sojourns in the Mediterranean were times of discovery and catharsis, and these emotions manifested themselves in his artwork. The painterly qualities of colour, light and surface treatment were given a newfound interest, and Shadbolt brought these new sensibilities home with him. Following his return from the Mediterranean, he began to use a darker palette to correspond to the climate and culture of the West Coast. As Scott Watson describes, “Many paintings that had been initially brightly coloured were repainted with a much darker palette. He wanted the works to smolder like embers and to have the deep glowing quality of a slow burn.” It is likely this richly painted work is from this group. With their cool exteriors and warm, passionate interiors, these paintings can be seen as paralleling Shadbolt’s personal experience of cathartic release as a result of his experiences in the Mediterranean.
Jack Shadbolt’s 1957 and 1960 trips to the Mediterranean were transformative experiences. He was shaped by the new sensations he felt
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000
BCSFA CGP CSPWC OC RCA
1909 ~ 1998
Untitled oil on canvas, signed and on verso inscribed SE01763 on the stretcher, circa 1960 ~ 1962 36 x 43 in, 91.4 x 109.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Estate of the Artist By descent to the present Private Collection, Vancouver
L ITERATURE :
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LAWREN STEWART HARRIS ALC BCSFA CGP FCA G7 OSA RPS TPG
1885 ~ 1970
LSH 83 oil on board, signed and on verso signed, titled, dated 1957, inscribed F30 / RG 1609 and stamped Lawren Harris LSH Holdings Ltd 83 24 x 29 in, 61 x 73.7 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Toronto Of all the Group of Seven artists, Lawren Harris was the most evolutionary. From the early 1920s, his involvement in the esoteric spiritualism of Theosophy opened his perception to the energy that animates all matter. After moving to Hanover, New Hampshire in 1934,
he explored transcendental painting and began to paint abstract works. In 1938, Harris, along with Raymond Jonson, Bill Lumpkins and Emil Bisttram, founded the Transcendental Painting Group in Sante Fe. When he returned to Canada, settling in Vancouver in 1940, the process continued. In the late 1940s, Harris had seen the work of the American Abstract Expressionists, and his excitement over the colour field paintings of Mark Rothko would take this influence into his work. During the mid~1950s, he began to move in a direction that increasingly dissolved form. This transcendent work, in which elegantly curved lines give loose definition to autonomous forms that float in soft, painterly colour fields, is an outstanding example of this path. LSH 83 is a dance of calligraphic, gestural lines in which Harris expresses a pure, spiritual state of being.
E STIMATE : $25,000 ~ 35,000 26
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KAZUO NAKAMURA CGP CSGA CSPWC P11
1926 ~ 2002
Morning oil on canvas, signed and dated 1962 and on verso signed, titled on the gallery label, dated and inscribed Toronto 41 3/4 x 37 in, 106 x 94 cm P ROVENANCE : Equinox Gallery, Vancouver Private Collection, Montreal
L ITERATURE : Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2007, page 115 Kazuo Nakamura was a member of Painters Eleven but, unlike the other members of this ground~breaking group, his work did not follow the
gestural approach of the Abstract Expressionists, but a precise and subtle treatment of his pictorial elements. Nakamura worked simultaneously on both abstract and representational works, and was known for his monochromatic String paintings, illusionary Block Structure works and delicately abstracted landscapes, such as this fine early work from his important Hemlock series. Typical of this series is Morning’s predominantly blue~green palette and fracturing of the water and reflections into softly modulated planes. This fracturing revealed his interest in patterns in nature. He stated, “I think there’s a sort of fundamental universal pattern in all art and nature. Painters are learning a lot from science now. In a sense, scientists and artists are doing the same thing. This world of pattern is a world we are discovering together.” Nakamura encompasses both the natural world and abstraction in the water; by focusing on reflective pattern in soft nuances of monochromatic colour, he creates an illusion of flatness, and by taking the eye from realism to abstraction, creates a sense of visual delight.
E STIMATE : $20,000 ~ 30,000
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CHARLES GAGNON ARCA
1934 ~ 2003
The Sound oil on aluminum on board, on verso signed, titled on the gallery label, dated 1966 and inscribed Montreal 32 x 32 in, 81.3 x 81.3 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal Estate of Andrée Lavigne~Trudeau, Montreal
L ITERATURE : Gilles Godmer, Charles Gagnon, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, 2001, reproduced page 83 Tiffany Bell et al, Light in Architecture and Art: The Work of Dan Flavin, The Chinati Foundation, 2002, essay by Dave Hickey, “The Luminous Body: Sourceless Illumination as a Metaphor for Grace”, pages 147 ~ 148 and 153 ~ 154
E XHIBITED : Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Charles Gagnon, February 8 ~ April 29, 2001, catalogue #58 Charles Gagnon was one of the most highly respected and influential Canadian artists of that remarkable generation born in Quebec in the 1930s. Revered for his expressive abstract paintings and also for his expertise in photography, assemblage and film, Gagnon and his work remain unique. In 2002, his achievements were recognized by a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. Gagnon lived in New York City for a full five years, from 1955 to 1960. There he took in the range of experimental work ~ dance, film, photography and, of course, Abstract Expressionism in painting ~ and returned to Montreal to disseminate this legacy. The Sound boldly yet lyrically exemplifies not only his knowledge of the art centre’s most advanced practices in the 1950s but also his up~to~the~minute awareness of ongoing experimentation in and around painting. This work’s unusual medium ~ oil on aluminum ~ is tellingly of its mid~1960s moment yet remains contemporary in its sensibilities. The American art critic Dave Hickey ~ writing on Dan Flavin and Donald Judd particularly ~ describes the typically American fascination and play with “…technologies of incarnation: epoxies, plastics…all this glowing, hard stuff, the translucency of colour film, the embodiment of images” of that time.
21 Aluminum, both as a support and a pigment, was one of these luminous experimental mediums, used in the United States most memorably by Andy Warhol and in Canada by Les Levine and Jack Chambers. Gagnon’s The Sound was first shown at the Galerie Agnès Lefort in Montreal, which promoted progressive and often abstract work. In the following year, Chambers exhibited his “silver” paintings there. The feathered, shiny surface of The Sound stands in luminescent contrast to the central form, a perfectly but not mechanically incised black square. This assertive geometrical form sits precisely within the larger square of the painting as a whole and seems to pose questions to us. On the formal level, it asks how this hard~edged element relates to the fleeting, almost cloud~like swirl of pigment in which it sits. Is it flat ~ a barrier ~ or is it a darkened portal? Because Gagnon uses an aluminum support that changes with the light as we move by it, the black square or void seems stationary, a fixed point in a contrasting universe. Yet these realms are linked, not least by the black pigment distributed across the silvery surface. Do these strands fly out from or return to the black void, aided by what appears to be the impression of a hand in the upper right of the painting? With a highly informed artist such as Gagnon, it is fruitful to reflect historically as well as optically. The central black square is reminiscent of the Suprematist compositions of Kazimir Malevich from the early twentieth century, paintings that drew on mystical sources to assert new social relationships. More proximate is the allusion to ~ we might better say the harmonization with ~ American Abstract Expressionist Barnett Newman. The connection follows not only from Newman’s use of geometrical form but from the sound in works such as The Voice, 1950, in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gagnon’s The Sound likewise builds its effects through synesthesia, the combination of sight, touch and sound. We thank Mark Cheetham, Professor of Art History at the University of Toronto, for contributing the above essay. Andrée Lavigne~Trudeau was married to Charles Elliott Trudeau, brother of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Charles was a Harvard~trained architect, and was one of the partners responsible for designing Ottawa City Hall in 1958. Gagnon’s family was friends with the couple, and they attended cultural events together.
E STIMATE : $40,000 ~ 60,000
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DENNIS EUGENE NORMAN BURTON 1933 ~
Bye Bye Blackbird oil on board, signed and dated 1958 and on verso signed, titled, dated February ~ June 1958 and inscribed by the artist Reworked, repaired, restored, Dec. 1991, Vancouver, BC 36 x 48 in, 91.4 x 121.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Vancouver Bye Bye Blackbird can be seen as a culmination of Dennis Burton’s interests at the time in abstraction and jazz. Following William Ronald’s first one~man show at the Hart House Gallery in Toronto in 1954, Burton recalled being so excited by what he saw that he and fellow artist Gordon Rayner returned to their studio vowing never to paint representational artwork again (although Burton did later return to representational work,
becoming renowned for his Garterbeltmania series in 1965). Burton, who played saxophone, was one of the founding members of the Artists’ Jazz Band which played at The Isaacs Gallery. Playing in the band was important for Burton and his fellow artist~musician colleagues such as Richard Gorman, Graham Coughtry, Nobuo Kubota and Robert Markle. Jazz was a language that they shared and they regarded their artwork as being parallel to jazz improvisation. Completely non~figurative, except for the title, this stunning work reads like the free jazz of the late 1950s and early 1960s, in which metre, beat and formal symmetry all disappear into the loose harmony of the work.
E STIMATE : $8,000 ~ 12,000
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HAROLD BARLING TOWN CGP CPE CSGA OC OSA P11 RCA
1924 ~ 1991
Abstract oil and lucite 44 on board, signed and dated 1958 and on verso signed and dated 1958 ~ 1959 15 1/2 x 17 in, 39.4 x 43.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Les galeries St. Laurent, Ottawa Private Collection, Toronto
L ITERATURE : David Burnett, Town, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1986, page 98 The late 1950s were creatively fecund for Harold Town. His unique graphics produced from 1952 to 1959, which he dubbed Single Autographic Prints, brought him both national and international
recognition when they were shown at, among other venues, the Venice Biennale, the Ljubljana Drawings and Prints International and the Milan Triennale, culminating with the Arno Prize for graphic art at the 1957 São Paulo Bienal. These monotypes would influence the collages and paintings that were to follow, as is evident in this work. Abstract may be compact in its dimensions but, typical of Town, not in the scope of its intent and execution or what it conjures in the viewer’s mind. Are we looking through a window or a magnifying glass…are we inside looking out or outside looking in? David Burnett writes: “He does not use the area of the picture as a neutral, lightly resistant plane, but as a complete, vital form…in which each part must realize its own character and yet not fail the whole.” This painting, energized by gestural brushwork, is from the important Painters Eleven time period.
E STIMATE : $8,000 ~ 10,000
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GORDON APPELBE SMITH BCSFA CGP CPE OC RCA
1919 ~
Winter acrylic on paper on board, signed and on verso titled and dated 1991 29 x 39 in, 73.7 x 99 cm P ROVENANCE : Bau~Xi Gallery, Vancouver Private Collection, Vancouver
L ITERATURE : Ian M. Thom and Andrew Hunter, Gordon Smith, The Act of Painting, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1997, page 50
E XHIBITED : Bau~Xi Gallery, Vancouver, Gordon Smith, 1991
Throughout Gordon Smith’s career, his work has moved towards and away from the landscape; however, he has never been able to fully escape it, as the landscape has been his great love. This vibrant painting from 1991 is one of the earliest works from Smith’s highly sought~after Winter series and was created shortly after his second studio was completed in 1990. Like his first, smaller studio, the second studio was built in his West Vancouver home. From here, Smith had a view of the North Shore, including the wooded and often snowy backdrop of Cypress Mountain, which was perhaps the inspiration for this painting. Ian Thom describes how, during this period, “Smith was able to take a series of visual cues from the landscape, his viewing of the world, and build an aesthetic which referred to but surpassed the immediate observations of the eye.”
E STIMATE : $12,000 ~ 15,000
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TONI (NORMAN) ONLEY BCSFA CPE CSPWC RCA
1928 ~ 2004
Polar #28 oil and canvas collage, signed and dated 1962 and on verso titled 36 x 42 in, 91.4 x 106.7 cm P ROVENANCE : Collection of the Artist Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art Inc., Vancouver The Isman Collection, Vancouver, 1981 By descent to the present Private Collection, Vancouver
L ITERATURE : Rosalyn Porter, Toni Onley: Major Works from the Sixties, Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art Inc., 1981, reproduced and listed, unpaginated
E XHIBITED : Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art Inc., Vancouver, Toni Onley: Major Works from the Sixties, February 26 ~ March 14, 1981
Toni Onley’s long association with Kenneth Heffel was highlighted by an important 1981 exhibition held at his gallery on Granville Street. Toni Onley: Major Works from the Sixties was a significant show that focused on the productive early 1960s period of Onley’s career and included this engaging piece, Polar #28. The early sixties was a dynamic period in Onley’s career as he began with the Polar series of collages influenced by Abstract Expressionism. Dissatisfied with the direction of his paintings at the time, Onley began to rip them up and then proceeded to reassemble the torn pieces into collages. The resulting canvases were powerful mixtures of accidental and purposeful intentions, yet energetic and rhythmical in their composition. Such paintings were enthusiastically received, and a work from the series entitled Polar #1, 1961, resides in the permanent collection of the Tate Modern in London, England. Included with this lot is a copy of the 1981 Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art Inc. exhibition catalogue, Toni Onley: Major Works from the Sixties.
E STIMATE : $20,000 ~ 30,000
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P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Edmonton
L ITERATURE : Karen Wilkin, editor, Jack Bush, 1984, essay by Clement Greenberg, page 7 In the early 1950s, a group of Toronto~based painters banded together to promote the development of abstraction in Canada and, as a result, Painters Eleven was born. Arguably the most successful painter to emerge from the group was Jack Bush. He was an artist of international status and had a lengthy and fruitful relationship with the iconic art critic Clement Greenberg. It was Greenberg who suggested that Bush simplify his abstract paintings and develop more thinly painted shapes. The feather~shaped arc of Purple Thrust is consistent with paintings produced in the mid 1970s, a period that brought Bush tremendous critical reception and a major retrospective at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1976. His masterful use of colour is evident in the bands of vibrant hues in the central motif. As a result, the work projects the distinct visual rhythm that Bush was so adept at creating. Greenberg believed that, over time, the colours in Bush’s work only improved and, after the artist’s untimely death in 1977, he wrote, “I can’t think of any recent art in which I’ve witnessed quite such fruitful aging. Monet’s ‘Lily Pad’ murals are the nearest precedent I can think of in my own experience.”
E STIMATE : $20,000 ~ 30,000
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JACK HAMILTON BUSH ARCA CGP CSGA CSPWC OSA P11
1909 ~ 1977
Purple Thrust gouache on paper, inscribed 1.30 and on verso signed, titled, dated July 1974 and inscribed B0833 / DG3696 30 x 22 1/4 in, 76.2 x 56.5 cm
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TAKAO TANABE OC
1926 ~
Skeena Series A
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TAKAO TANABE OC
1926 ~
Skeena Series G
acrylic on canvas, on verso signed, titled, dated October 1971 and inscribed New York, City on the stretcher and NY on the canvas 34 x 34 in, 86.3 x 86.3 cm
acrylic on canvas, on verso signed, titled on the stretcher, dated September 1971 and inscribed NY 34 x 34 in, 86.3 x 86.3 cm
P ROVENANCE :
P ROVENANCE :
Acquired directly from the Artist by the present Private Collection, Calgary
Acquired directly from the Artist by the present Private Collection, Calgary
Takao Tanabe is extremely familiar with the British Columbian landscape; as the son of a commercial fisherman, Tanabe spent his summers at fishing camps on the Skeena River. Both Skeena Series A and Skeena Series G are excellent examples of the non~representational landscape works that Tanabe produced while in New York from 1969 to 1972. During this period, he experimented with flat and hardened edges to achieve geometric abstraction. In both pieces, the crisp colours and curvature of the corners pay homage to the Skeena River of his native province while embracing the abstract energies of New York.
E STIMATE : $8,000 ~ 12,000
E STIMATE : $8,000 ~ 12,000
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RODOLPHE (JAURAN) DE REPENTIGNY LP
1926 ~ 1959
Sans titre oil on canvas on board, 1954 22 x 18 1/8 in, 55.9 x 46 cm P ROVENANCE : Estate of the Artist
E XHIBITED : L’Échourie, Montreal, Plasticiens, February 11 ~ March 2, 1955 Le Musée des beaux~arts de Sherbrooke, Plasticiens, June 24 ~ September 4, 2005
In the 1950s, the Plasticiens decided to propose a compelling alternative to Automatism. Influenced by Piet Mondrian’s Neoplasticism and European geometric abstraction, Montreal’s Plasticiens ~ Rodolphe de Repentigny (known as Jauran), Louis Belzile, Jean~Paul Jérôme and Fernand Toupin ~ wanted to liberate painting from any expressionistic heaviness and create a new spatial language and aesthetics through their rigorous use of the pure “plastic” elements of tone, texture, form and line. Similar to Borduas’s role in the Automatists, but through a different artistic approach, Jauran was truly the artist~theoretician who led the Plasticien movement, having written the manifesto in 1955. The shift signalled by Jauran and the Plasticiens is considered to be the second important event in Quebec’s contemporary art history which paved the way for its post~1955 artistic evolution.
E STIMATE : $10,000 ~ 15,000
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JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN AANFM RCA
1923 ~ 1999
Élégie criblée de gris no. 6 oil on canvas, signed and on verso signed, titled and dated 1986 60 x 120 in, 152.4 x 304.8 cm P ROVENANCE : Waddington & Gorce Inc., Montreal Private Collection, Montreal
L ITERATURE : Constance Naubert~Riser, Jean McEwen, Colour in Depth, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1987, page 49
Jean McEwen’s paintings illustrate that colour cannot be read as a two~dimensional element, as exemplified in Élégie criblée de gris no. 6. This fine work is from his Elegy series which he began in 1986. McEwen dedicated his career to exploring the qualities of colour. As seen in this work, with its double~depth effect, McEwen attempts to provide a structure for his colours as a means of exposing the intensity intrinsic to the colours themselves. Constance Naubert~Riser states that McEwen’s works “contain effects of depth that push the possibilities offered by the medium to their very limits.” To create his paintings, McEwen would coat successive layers of opaque pigment on top of one another, which blended together seamlessly to create a sense of chromatic beauty. His layers of paint stretch almost to the edges of the canvas and pull back slightly in the corners to reveal the depth embedded within the colour fields.
E STIMATE : $20,000 ~ 30,000
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ULYSSE COMTOIS 1931 ~1999
Two Works a) Silhouette oil on board, signed and dated 1964 and on verso signed, titled and dated 12 x 10 in, 30.5 x 25.4 cm
b) Untitled Sculpture oil on wood, stamped with the artist’s signature 10 x 7 1/2 x 6 in, 25.4 x 19 x 15.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal; Private Collection, Toronto The painting Silhouette and the accompanying untitled sculpture are clearly bound by a shared aesthetic vision, and are also linked by a shared
22b
history. Before the sale of the painting was completed some time in 1964, Mira Godard, the owner of Galerie Agnès Lefort since 1962, suggested that the purchaser consider having both works since they seemed to belong together ~ and happily, he agreed. The bright and playful application of colour on both the painting and its three~dimensional companion invite us to view the two works as siblings or romantic partners in the midst of what might either be a lively conversation or a stubborn stand~off. The bright stripes applied to the unexpected curves of the carved wood form invest it with a personality to match that of the abstract figure that boldly emerges from the painting’s blue and green backdrop. These two works confirm Ulysse Comtois’s equal skills as painter and sculptor and point out the consistency of style and content he could convey in different media.
E STIMATE : $5,000 ~ 7,000
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JEAN~PAUL ARMAND MOUSSEAU AANFM AUTO CAS QMG
1927 ~ 1991
Suspended Lamp fibreglass and coloured resin light fixture, signed and dated 1960 32 x 19 x 18 in, 81.3 x 48.3 x 45.7 cm P ROVENANCE : Estate of Andrée Lavigne~Trudeau, Montreal
L ITERATURE : Pierre Landry et al, Mousseau, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, 1996, similar works reproduced pages 110, 111 and 112 Towards the end of the 1950s, Jean~Paul Mousseau took a new direction in his artistic approach. After 20 years of painting, Mousseau wanted to go beyond the limits of the opacity of paint and the support of canvas.
This decision was certainly very audacious for the artist, and the innovations that resulted were impressively modern and in sync with the cultural revolution of the time. Mousseau became involved in different collaborative projects: set design for the theatre, architectural murals and design art in schools, metro stations, corporate and government buildings and restaurants, to name only a few. Throughout his career, from the Automatist period until the multidisciplinary projects of the 1960s, the notion of light had always been at the core of his work, probably more so than the notion of space. The light fixtures Mousseau created during this time are an integral part of his creative and modern energy and his will to explore even more the artistic possibilities of light and colour. The fibreglass and coloured resin light fixtures became true light sculptures, combining the utilitarian and the aesthetic.
E STIMATE : $8,000 ~ 10,000
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RITA LETENDRE ARCA OC QMG
1928 ~
Épopée barbare oil on canvas, signed and dated 1962 and on verso signed, titled, dated and inscribed Paris ~ 1962 25 1/2 x 31 7/8 in, 64.8 x 81 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie Camille Hébert, Montreal, inventory #RL 10 Private Collection, Montreal Rita Letendre’s early association with the Automatist movement produced remarkable works such as Épopée barbare, with layers of thick paint that have been applied and then scraped away and reapplied, almost as if they have been molded on the canvas. This gestural application of
bold colour characterizes her early work, of which this is a prime example. The final result ~ the painting itself ~ was the goal, not the painting’s subject or form or any sort of preconceived idea. For Letendre, the act of painting was the primary and only objective. She often worked with black, here using orange~yellow and blue together with it which, by virtue of being mixed on the canvas, adds a rich, inky green. The 1960s were a time of recognition for her work, and Letendre was the focus of a solo show at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1961. She has since exhibited widely across Canada as well as internationally. In 1962, Letendre traveled to Europe, visiting Paris, Rome and then Israel. She continued to paint during this time, as we see from the “Paris ~ 1962” inscription on this work.
E STIMATE : $20,000 ~ 30,000
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GORDON APPELBE SMITH BCSFA CGP CPE OC RCA
1919 ~
SA 13 Landscape oil on canvas, signed and on verso titled, circa 1965 25 1/2 x 30 in, 64.8 x 76.2 cm L ITERATURE : Ian M. Thom and Andrew Hunter, Gordon Smith: The Act of Painting, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1997, a similar circa 1966 canvas entitled Blue Still Life reproduced page 83 Gordon Smith is one of Canada’s most important early modernist painters; his work has always existed in a procession of evolutionary styles. His period of abstraction began after he studied with abstract painter Elmer Bischoff at the California School of Fine Arts in 1951. Seeing American Abstract Expressionists such as Clyfford Still caused
him to examine the qualities of paint itself, and he immersed himself in colour, texture and brushwork. A new direction emerged in 1965 that incorporated bold colour and a dynamic tension between forms and lines that expanded from the center and encountered the limitation of the edge of the canvas. These works, of which this is an outstanding example, were imbued with a kind of nervous energy, activated by a vivid colour palette that included brilliant reds, blues and greens. Explosive central forms hovered on rich colour fields as Smith painted with a daring eloquence. An initiatory 1965 oil from this group entitled Red Wizard, Red was reproduced in Time magazine. In 1966, a retrospective of Smith’s work was mounted at the University of British Columbia Fine Arts Gallery, including works from this series, further establishing Smith’s importance in British Columbia’s artistic community.
E STIMATE : $20,000 ~ 30,000
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JEAN~PAUL RIOPELLE AUTO CAS OC QMG RCA SCA
1923 ~ 2002
Sans titre oil on canvas, signed and dated 1955 and on verso signed 44 3/4 x 57 1/4 in, 113.7 x 145.4 cm P ROVENANCE : Acquired directly from the Artist by A.R. Laing (Laing Galleries), Toronto Lawrence T. Porter, St. Andrews East, Quebec Sold sale of The Collection of the late Lawrence T. Porter, St. Andrews East, Quebec, Joyner Fine Art Inc., November 25, 1987, lot #27 Private Collection, Ontario
L ITERATURE : G. Blair Laing, Memoirs of an Art Dealer, 1979, pages 210 and 211 Yseult Riopelle, Jean Paul Riopelle Catalogue Raisonné, Volume II, 2004, reproduced full page colour page 213, catalogue #1955.078H.1955
E XHIBITED : Centre culturel de Lachute, Quebec, Centennial Exhibition, 1967 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Another major Jean~Paul Riopelle at Heffel! Another surprise! This work was originally acquired from Laing Galleries in Toronto by Lawrence T. Porter, an important early collector of modern Canadian art. Sans titre is typical of Riopelle’s so~called mosaic style. Warm in tone, opened at the top by an unexpected yellow sky, this rather dark painting in brown and black remained a ‘Sans titre’. Admittedly, there is something frustrating in this habit of many modern artists to leave their work untitled, or to call them simply Painting, or Composition. Riopelle was particularly prone to this, even allowing critics or friends to give titles to his paintings. It seems to imply that these images, as moving or powerful as they are, are without content, or are “Pictures of Nothing”, to quote the title of a series of lectures given in 2003 by John Kirk Varnedoe, Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the same breath, we are told that it is a bad habit to look for content in an abstract painting, as bad as finding subject matter in music. In fact, is it so? The ancient Greeks used to distinguish between praxis and poesis to designate two different ways to produce something. In the case of praxis, the thing produced was simply the product of a will to produce, without regard to a possible meaning of the form of the object, or for that matter, to the need of the spectator to understand what it was all about.
34 The key word here is the will, or the desire to produce. The only justification of such a thing is that it reflects the will of its maker. Poesis was a different concept. The thing produced by poesis was intended to express something, to have a meaning, to speak to the spectator. In poesis, the content was important. Poesis aspired to unveil a truth, to manifest an aspect of the world shared both by the artist and the spectator. At the same time, poesis was contributing to the creation of a world, in the sense of a spiritual world, of a culture, of a way to perceive and enjoy the world around us. Even if it may seem paradoxical, many figurative paintings could be defined as the typical product of praxis. Their content is not really important; they serve only the ego of the one who produced it, and they do not add much to our understanding of the world around us. A pure imitation of a scene does not reveal much more than the scene itself! It is true that it detaches the spectator from the scene and gives him the opportunity to study it at leisure, but at the price of losing a grip on the experience of the actual scene. On the other hand many abstract paintings, like this magnificent Riopelle, could be defined as the product of poesis. In fact, its surge towards light, its joyful celebration of the early sun that puts an end to the darkness of the night, is more meaningful, has more content, than many superficial figurative paintings which are only anecdotal or purely decorative. In Riopelle’s Sans titre, it is our world which is manifested, unveiled. After all, the word for truth in Greek was alètheia, meaning unveiling. It is well known that Riopelle never attached too much importance to the distinction between figurative and non~figurative art. He had indeed often crossed the border in one direction and the other. Our Sans titre is more on the side of abstract art, even of what in France was called abstraction lyrique, as opposed to geometric abstraction. But one knows of many figurative paintings, in particular an extensive bestiary, by Riopelle. In fact, one could say that in this Sans titre what we hear is a voice, not words about this or that, but the mighty voice of nature, the voice of every morning on the Earth. Not for nothing was so much brown, dark red and black ~ the colours of the earth ~ introduced here. At the same time, no direct clues are given of the exact intention of the painter. The extraordinary thing is that through this voice we also hear the voice of the painter. Each stroke of the palette knife is witness to his presence. Each stroke of paint represents a decision, and a risk overcome. Riopelle was known to work in a single session with his big paintings, in the
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LAWREN STEWART HARRIS ALC BCSFA CGP FCA G7 OSA RPS TPG
1885 ~ 1970
LSH 83 oil on board, signed and on verso signed, titled, dated 1957, inscribed F30 / RG 1609 and stamped Lawren Harris LSH Holdings Ltd 83 24 x 29 in, 61 x 73.7 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Toronto Of all the Group of Seven artists, Lawren Harris was the most evolutionary. From the early 1920s, his involvement in the esoteric spiritualism of Theosophy opened his perception to the energy that animates all matter. After moving to Hanover, New Hampshire in 1934,
he explored transcendental painting and began to paint abstract works. In 1938, Harris, along with Raymond Jonson, Bill Lumpkins and Emil Bisttram, founded the Transcendental Painting Group in Sante Fe. When he returned to Canada, settling in Vancouver in 1940, the process continued. In the late 1940s, Harris had seen the work of the American Abstract Expressionists, and his excitement over the colour field paintings of Mark Rothko would take this influence into his work. During the mid~1950s, he began to move in a direction that increasingly dissolved form. This transcendent work, in which elegantly curved lines give loose definition to autonomous forms that float in soft, painterly colour fields, is an outstanding example of this path. LSH 83 is a dance of calligraphic, gestural lines in which Harris expresses a pure, spiritual state of being.
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Pollock, Franz Kline or Riopelle just threw their paint at the canvas. We are left with a ‘wall of paint’ which is also a window open on the world around us. Riopelle always refused to choose between these two paradigms of modern art. The first one, as we know, was suggested by Honoré de Balzac in his short story The Unknown Masterpiece of 1831, which tells of young Nicolas Poussin and François Porbus’s visit to the old master Frenhofer, who complained about having worked ten years on a painting without succeeding in giving life to it. When he showed it to his visitors, they were astounded to see nothing but ‘a wall of paint’, where a foot in the bottom of the composition was the only recognizable object.
Portrait de Jean~Paul Riopelle (Portrait of Jean~Paul Riopelle) circa 1947, silver print, Premo, R.O. & C., N.Y. Photograph: Maurice Perron Collection Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec
greatest concentration of mind possible. Some sessions, we are told, could last up to 24 hours. There is a Robert Doisneau photograph from 1956 showing Riopelle in front of his large painting Pavane, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, with a heap of empty oil paint tubes in front of him. He smiles at the camera, and it is a triumphant smile, the smile of somebody who has tamed the risk and not lost control of the painting. Nothing is further from the truth than the idea sponsored by cartoonists that modern artists like Jackson
The painting seen as a window open on the world, on the other hand, is a metaphor as old as the Renaissance, since one finds it in Leon Battista Alberti’s treatise Della pittura (On Painting). In the modern era, this idea was defended by the Surrealists, and by André Breton in particular. Needless to say, Riopelle was vividly aware of both paradigms. He was close enough to the Surrealists and to Breton to share their view on the idea of a window open on an indefinite vista. And as an admirer of the late Claude Monet, he could have seen a perfect example of the ‘wall of painting’ mentioned by Balzac. Suffering from cataracts on both eyes and scared to death of the needed operation, Monet at the end of his life could not distinguish colour as before, and even when painting very familiar scenes in his garden at Giverny produced barely readable paintings. The result was both troubling and premonitory of the abstract revolution ahead in the works of American painters like Sam Francis, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Joan Mitchell and, of course, Riopelle himself. The result is clear in our Sans titre. It is not possible to choose between the two directions ~ both are present and in competition with each other. The ‘wall of paint’ opens on tous les matins du monde ~ all the mornings of the world. We thank François~Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
E STIMATE : $900,000 ~ 1,200,000
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JEAN~PAUL RIOPELLE AUTO CAS OC QMG RCA SCA
1923 ~ 2002
Vieille lune oil on canvas, signed and dated 1958 and on verso signed, titled and dated on the stretcher and with three Pierre Matisse Gallery labels 23 1/4 x 28 3/4 in, 59 x 73 cm P ROVENANCE : Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York Private Collection, Paris By descent to the present Private Collection, Florida
L ITERATURE : Guy Robert, Riopelle, Chasseur d’images, 1981, page 95 Yseult Riopelle, Jean Paul Riopelle Catalogue Raisonné, Volume II, 2004, reproduced page 289, catalogue #1958.033H.1958
Jean~Paul Riopelle experimented with various methods of applying paint to canvas. Vast amounts of paint were used all at once, letting it drip and flow on the surface of the work. He used paint straight from the tube, squeezing blobs onto the canvas and trailing the tail of liquid to create ribbons of pattern. A palette knife was also utilized to trowel paint directly onto the canvas, blending colours in a simple, smooth motion. Vieille lune employs this latter technique, wherein the deepest layers of paint are blended flat, smoothing their colours together so that they recede into space. Additional colour and texture has been added in the surface marks, which have also been made with a palette knife or perhaps the pointed end of a painting knife held at varying angles to cut, swirl and slide through the paint. At this time, Riopelle began to give his work titles again, as he did here with Vieille lune (Old Moon), evoking thoughts of inky night~time colours, waxing and waning, and the daytime world as it appears obscured by the darkness of night.
E STIMATE : $100,000 ~ 150,000
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JACK LEONARD SHADBOLT
Scott Watson, Jack Shadbolt, 1990, page 84
and inspired by the light, colour and warmth of the region. Shadbolt’s sojourns in the Mediterranean were times of discovery and catharsis, and these emotions manifested themselves in his artwork. The painterly qualities of colour, light and surface treatment were given a newfound interest, and Shadbolt brought these new sensibilities home with him. Following his return from the Mediterranean, he began to use a darker palette to correspond to the climate and culture of the West Coast. As Scott Watson describes, “Many paintings that had been initially brightly coloured were repainted with a much darker palette. He wanted the works to smolder like embers and to have the deep glowing quality of a slow burn.” It is likely this richly painted work is from this group. With their cool exteriors and warm, passionate interiors, these paintings can be seen as paralleling Shadbolt’s personal experience of cathartic release as a result of his experiences in the Mediterranean.
Jack Shadbolt’s 1957 and 1960 trips to the Mediterranean were transformative experiences. He was shaped by the new sensations he felt
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000
BCSFA CGP CSPWC OC RCA
1909 ~ 1998
Untitled oil on canvas, signed and on verso inscribed SE01763 on the stretcher, circa 1960 ~ 1962 36 x 43 in, 91.4 x 109.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Estate of the Artist By descent to the present Private Collection, Vancouver
L ITERATURE :
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JEAN~PAUL RIOPELLE AUTO CAS OC QMG RCA SCA
1923 ~ 2002
Sans titre (Série Bridgehampton) watercolour and ink on paper, signed and on verso dated 1960 on the Pierre Matisse Gallery label 17 3/4 x 23 5/8 in, 45.1 x 60 cm P ROVENANCE : Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York; Private Collection, Paris By descent to the present Private Collection, Florida
L ITERATURE : Robert Bernier, Riopelle, des visions d’Amérique, 1997, page 103 Yseult Riopelle, Jean Paul Riopelle Catalogue Raisonné, Volume III, 2009, reproduced full page colour page 239, catalogue #1960.010P.1960
E XHIBITED : Didier Imbert Fine Art, Paris, Riopelle, Les années 60, May 18 ~ July 13, 1994, catalogue #2
In 1960, Jean~Paul Riopelle was living in East Hampton, Connecticut. This small community was a haven for Abstract Expressionist painters. Willem de Kooning had his studio there, and Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner lived just outside the town. Riopelle had left Canada in 1947 and had lived in Paris and New York, exhibiting in both places. His work had undergone several important changes in style, but never diverged from the ideas expressed in the Refus global. In this series of works, Riopelle would concentrate on the play of primary and secondary colours against black and white. Sans titre (Série Bridgehampton) is executed in ink and watercolour, media that could not be layered in the way oil paints could. There was no possibility for the trowel or knife, no buildup of thick layers to obscure or partially hide what had been applied before, no texture, no impasto. Instead Riopelle used the opaque blackness of ink together with the translucency of watercolour on white paper. What is especially interesting is that the distinct hand of Riopelle is just as clear in the ink and watercolour.
E STIMATE : $25,000 ~ 35,000
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KENT MONKMAN 1965 ~
Kindred Spirits Share Mysteries of the Ancient Ones acrylic on canvas, signed and dated 2008 36 x 48 in, 91.4 x 121.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Ontario Based in Toronto and accomplished in multiple artistic disciplines, Kent Monkman is an undeniable force in the contemporary art community. Monkman, who is of Cree and Irish ancestry, is successful at challenging the historical narratives that have been written and painted by the non~native population. His strength is to infuse traditional, iconic images with his own distinct voice that is at times heavy with controversial and hyper~sexualized tones, yet always presented with a hint of satire. In Kindred Spirits Share Mysteries of the Ancient Ones, an idealized assimilation of the non~native and native population is presented in lieu of accentuating the ruinous and tumultuous histories between the two. Such a significant interrelationship is prominently featured in this work and is one of the multiple narratives that Monkman so impressively constructs. In this piece, Monkman tackles the great masters of American realist painting, notably Asher Brown Durand, Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Eakins. First, the title is derived from a painting by Hudson School painter Durand entitled Kindred Spirits (1849) which illustrates the founder of the Hudson River School Thomas Cole in discussion with poet William Cullen Bryant. Kindred Spirits places both men in deep conversation, with the Catskill Mountains in the distance. Given the belief shared by the Hudson River School that the American landscape was sanctified by God, Durand’s painting is loaded with religious values. By referring to this well~known painting in his own title, Monkman is raising concerns regarding the power of projecting idealizations onto the painted landscape. Therefore such a landscape is not representational nor
39 realistic but, in fact, ideological. Second, the backdrop of the painting is a reference to the Hudson River School painter Bierstadt and his sweeping landscapes of the American West, a subject matter he painted prolifically. Monkman effectively captures the kind of lush and luminous surface that Bierstad was renowned for creating. However, the most recognizable artistic reference may be to that of Eakins’s masterpiece The Swimming Hole (1884 ~ 1885) with a group of men depicted in the lower left. As opposed to the non~native men iconically featured in Eakins’s piece, the individuals in Monkman’s work are of European and First Nations status and are stripped of any clothes or other articles that may enhance their cultural differences. Interestingly, their poses are stiff and their gestures are unnatural and highly choreographed, which is a further reference to the classical model positions found in paintings of the past. Submerged in the majestic lake and enchanting surroundings, the looming sea monster is the focus of the men’s attention. The Mishibizhiw or Mishepishu (Great Lynx or Underwater Panther) would be recognized by the indigenous people of the Great Lakes district. Kindred Spirits Share Mysteries of the Ancients Ones is illustrating a cohesive, if not hyper~idealized, relationship between the native and non~native population. In doing so, the artist is combining alternate narratives with “mysteries of the ancient ones”. Ultimately, Monkman is leading his audience into a conversation of unwritten histories and the narratives that are widely excluded from the canon he so proficiently studies. Such a discussion would not be possible without the strength of such a talented instigator and a painting such as this.
E STIMATE : $30,000 ~ 40,000
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DAVID BIERK 1944 ~ 2002
British Columbia Foothills: Purple Sky oil and gold leaf on canvas, initialed and on verso signed, titled and dated 10 March 1989 44 1/2 x 68 1/4 in, 113 x 173.3 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Toronto David Bierk was well versed in art history, having studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland (now the California College of the Arts) and having received an MFA in painting and photography from Humboldt State University in Arcata. Bierk immigrated to Canada in 1972 and began to teach in Peterborough before devoting himself full~time to painting in 1987. Executed in 1989, this painting makes an artistic reference to the American romantic landscape painters of the nineteenth century, a theme that heavily recurs in his work. British Columbia Foothills: Purple Sky transports the viewer to a luscious and engaging landscape, but re~contextualizes such a traditional landscape through the addition of text. Bierk employed signature words to float in his work such as ‘HISTORY’ and, as featured here, ‘MEMORY’. However, such universal words that are loaded with multiple meanings often create more questions instead of providing answers for the viewer. Thus, not only is the work a departure from traditional representational landscapes that often provide clear narratives, it is also an excellent example of Bierk’s achievements in the post~modern genre, which in return brought him international success.
E STIMATE : $20,000 ~ 25,000
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WILLIAM KURELEK ARCA OC OSA 1927 ~ 1977
Near Dawson Creek mixed media on board, on verso titled and dated 1973 on The Isaacs Gallery label 47 1/2 x 48 3/4 in, 120.6 x 123.8 cm P ROVENANCE : The Isaacs Gallery Ltd., Toronto Anglo Canadian Pulp & Paper Company, Quebec, 1974 Private Collection, Toronto Private Collection, Vancouver
E XHIBITED : Burnaby Art Gallery, A Prairie Painter in the Mountains, 1973
During William Kurelek’s lifetime he painted Canada from coast to coast. His childhood on the Prairies on farms in Alberta and Manitoba gave him a love and awe for the expansiveness of skies and horizons and the power of the forces of nature over the land. He most often depicted people or their habitations as small in a large landscape, as with this finely detailed farm scene. Kurelek was very religious, which imbued his work with a sense of a mystical union with nature. Certainly that feeling is present in this idyllic panorama with its glorious sky and heightened, almost surreal, green. Kurelek captured the essence of Canada’s vast beauty. This work is accompanied by a letter from The Isaacs Gallery detailing the history of the painting.
E STIMATE : $60,000 ~ 80,000
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WILLIAM KURELEK
Private Collection, Montreal Private Collection, Toronto
Kurelek wrote about this scene: “It was chilly. The skies hung heavy and gray as William, his brother, John, and his sister, Winnie, joined other children on the highway, schoolbound. The crows had been loitering around in great flocks, quarrelling, cawing, and raiding farmers’ cornfields. Now they were finally leaving. They flew south every fall about this time to escape the harsh prairie winter. In the cow pasture the leaves had fallen from the white poplars and the oaks, leaving the crows’ nests bare in the high branches. It would be five months before one of those noisy black birds came flapping back over the pasture bush to announce the end of winter.”
L ITERATURE :
E STIMATE : $30,000 ~ 35,000
ARCA OC OSA
1927 ~ 1977
Manitoba Crows Migrating South mixed media on board, initialed and dated 1972 and on verso titled 13 x 13 in, 33 x 33 cm P ROVENANCE :
William Kurelek, A Prairie Boy’s Winter, 1973, a similar work entitled Crows Leaving for Winter reproduced, unpaginated
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CHRIS CRAN 1949 ~
Self~Portrait Just Two Maos Down from Some Guy with a Goddamned Tea Cosy on his Head oil on canvas, on verso signed, titled, dated 1985 and inscribed hang 1 1/2 feet from floor 66 1/4 x 108 1/4 in, 168.3 x 274.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection
L ITERATURE : Grant Arnold, Chris Cran: Loved by Millions, Art Gallery of Windsor, 1989, reproduced plate 3 Victoria Baster, Chris Cran: Heads, The University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, 1993, reproduced page 15 Barbara Racker et al, From Soup to Nuts: Pop Art and Its Legacy, from the Collection of the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Eastern Washington State Historical Society and University of Lethbridge, 1998, reproduced page 72
E XHIBITED : Stride Gallery, Calgary, Chris Cran: Paintings, April 1986 Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Inherent Vice, December 5, 1987 ~ January 24, 1988
Art Gallery of Windsor, Chris Cran: Loved by Millions, 1989 University of Lethbridge, From Soup to Nuts: Pop Art and Its Legacy, from the Collection of the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, 1998, traveling in 1998 ~ 2000 to Cheney Cowles Museum, Spokane, Washington and J. Wayne Stark University Center Galleries, Texas A&M University University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Artist’s Artists, June 5 ~ September 22, 2006 Chris Cran’s explorations of popular culture, artistic authorship, fame and the politics of high art are expressed incisively in the large format Self~Portrait series executed in the mid and late 1980s. In this one, he places himself in context with Mao Tse~tung and Andy Warhol. Cran appears as the well~heeled artist on the left, whose respectful viewing of the red Mao has been interrupted as he notices and glances with disapproval at the defiant figure on the right who crosses his arms over his chest and stares directly, we presume, into the face of the blue Mao. Yellow Mao’s gaze captures ours, and an interesting moment of art psychology unfolds as he seems to ask our opinion on this situation. The size of the figures in the work underscores this as, relative to us, they are almost life size; thus we might be standing in another room in the same gallery, gazing in. The smoothly painted surface of the work, cleanly executed in primary colours with black and white, speaks of Pop Art, as does the incongruous message the work sends.
E STIMATE : $25,000 ~ 35,000
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MAXWELL BENNETT BATES ASA CGP CSGA OC RCA 1906 ~ 1980
Street Scene oil on board, signed and dated 1968 and on verso signed, titled and inscribed 931 Lakeview Ave., Victoria, BC on the frame 48 x 30 in, 121.9 x 76.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Toronto Maxwell Bates studied Abstract Expressionism with Max Beckmann in New York. This left an indelible mark on Bates’s work, most strongly in terms of colour and composition. Bates was also affected by his experiences as a prisoner of war in Germany; his stark drawings from that time are an insightful window on the human condition. In his figurative work, he is deftly able to give us a sense of the character of his subjects in the glance of their eyes, the set of their lips, their posture and the colour of their skin. His placement of them in relation to one another is key to their particular story. Street Scene shows us a man with a world~weary face, a working class woman and a smaller, upward~glancing figure who stuffs something ~ perhaps money ~ into his pocket. The man and woman face us, his heavily lidded eyes direct in their gaze. This moment on a street corner is a classic example of Bates’s interest in the human condition, the relationships between social classes and the relationships of everyday people with each another.
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000
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CHARLES PACHTER OC
1942 ~
Love Pat acrylic and pastel on canvas, signed and on verso signed 24 x 35 3/4 in, 61 x 90.8 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Toronto
L ITERATURE : Bogomila Welsh~Oncharov, Charles Pachter, 1992, page 1 Charles Pachter’s aesthetic persona is eloquently summed up by Bogomila Welsh~Oncharov, the author of the monograph devoted to the first 30 years of his career: “With continuing grand gestures infrequently
seen in the often skeptical Canadian art world, he has staked out cultural territory of his own and celebrated it unabashedly. Much of his work is an apparent contradiction, for he is a serious~minded humourist…he possesses the gift to be poignant and roguish at once.” Published in 1992, that statement still provides an apt introduction to Pachter’s images, so many of which ~ like his 1972 painting, Noblesse Oblige: Queen on Moose ~ have endured as iconic symbols of the culture and personality of Canada. In this more recent take on two of Canada’s symbols of majesty, Pachter’s image invites us to imagine a warm greeting between a citizen~beast and a smiling Queen, both sporting their finest headgear, set against a reminder of this country’s cold northern landscape.
E STIMATE : $30,000 ~ 40,000
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CHARLES PACHTER OC
1942 ~
Flag acrylic on canvas, signed and dated 1998 on verso signed and dated 36 x 24 in, 91.4 x 61 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Toronto Charles Pachter began The Painted Flag series in 1980, beginning with studies of his own Canadian flag mounted on an improvised pole on his southern Ontario farm. His first exhibition of large flag paintings took place in 1981 in a remarkable space ~ a former supermarket transformed by the artist into what was probably the first art gallery to settle on Toronto’s Queen Street West strip. Pachter has returned to this subject often since then, and his depictions of it have evolved into true portraits of a significant Canadian symbol. He has captured the myriad wind~borne movements of the cloth rectangle, sometimes allowing it to fly free of its anchoring pole, turning it in all directions and placing it on minimalist backdrops ranging from brilliant blue to sombre black. In this work, the viewer stands far below the flag, making it seem a delicate swatch of fabric struggling to free itself from the towering, foreshortened flagpole.
E STIMATE : $12,000 ~ 15,000
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IAIN BAXTER& RCA
1936 ~
Mount Rundle ~ Banff, Alberta acrylic paint on vacuum~formed plastic embossed with the artist’s name and dated 1965 in the plastic and on verso signed, titled and dated 32 x 37 1/2 in, 81.3 x 95.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Toronto Iain Baxter& (the ampersand is legally part of his name) is considered the forefather of conceptual art in Canada. Related to the theories of the notable Marcel Duchamp and Canada’s own Marshall McLuhan, it was ‘the idea as concept’ that shaped the last half of the twentieth century in art and literature. In 1965, Baxter& organized an exhibition entitled The
Medium is the Message alongside Arthur Erickson, Helen Goodwin and Takao Tanabe. Baxter& would go on to achieve major popularity abroad in the 1960s with the creation of the art collective N.E. Thing Co. Mount Rundle ~ Banff, Alberta is an important work from the 1965 vacuum~formed series. It is a bas~relief crafted out of molded plastic. His subject matter ranged from familiar landscapes to everyday still life objects such as bleach bottles and tools. Baxter&’s pieces are housed in prestigious collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Baxter&’s work has inspired Vancouver School photographers like Ian Wallace and Jeff Wall to develop from the conceptual groundwork he established 45 years ago. The Art Gallery of Ontario will be hosting a major retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work in 2012.
E STIMATE : $12,000 ~ 15,000
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LAWREN STEWART HARRIS ALC BCSFA CGP FCA G7 OSA RPS TPG
1885 ~ 1970
The Spirit of Remote Hills oil on board, on verso signed and dated 1957 22 1/8 x 30 in, 56.2 x 76.2 cm P ROVENANCE : A gift directly from the Artist to Dr. John Elliot, Vancouver
L ITERATURE : Dennis Reid, Atma Buddhi Manas: The Later Work of Lawren S. Harris, 1985, Art Gallery of Ontario, the related circa 1957 ~ 1960 canvas entitled The Spirit of Remote Hills reproduced page 101, catalogue #80 Peter Larisey, Light for a Cold Land, Lawren Harris’s Work and Life ~ An Interpretation, 1993, the canvas The Spirit of Remote Hills reproduced plate 57 This glowing painting was a gift from Lawren Harris to Dr. John Elliot in gratitude for heart surgery performed in April of 1958. The painting was
reserved for Dr. Elliot from a Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition, catalogue #64, possibly a British Columbia Society of Artists’ exhibition held there in 1960. Included with this lot is the original 1959 letter from Harris to Dr. Elliot. At this time, Harris was pulling ideas from sources such as Tantric Buddhist images from Tibet, Abstract Expressionism, his Theosophical beliefs and Eastern mandalas. The Spirit of Remote Hills is an outstanding example of his harmonious compositions of abstracted landscapes. The hills are reduced to elegantly curving lines and geometric shapes in a delicate interplay between the two~dimensional and three~dimensional. Form and atmosphere are indicated by radiant, softly brushed colour fields. It is through these softly glowing fields, and particularly the transcendent blue ~ a colour of religious significance in Theosophy ~ that Harris communicates the spiritual essence of this wild place. Typical of this time, Harris produced a larger version of this beautiful and mystical oil on board work in canvas also entitled The Spirit of Remote Hills.
E STIMATE : $80,000 ~ 100,000
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JOHN GEOFFREY CARUTHERS LITTLE ARCA
1928 ~
Market at Place Jacques~Cartier oil on board, signed and dated 1956 and on verso inscribed #15666 24 x 30 in, 61 x 76.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Estate, Vancouver John Little studied art at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and in New York at the Art Students League, but also had a keen interest in architecture, having worked as a draughtsman in his father’s architectural firm Luke & Little starting in 1951. When he returned exclusively to painting in 1953, his subjects were the street scenes of old Montreal and Quebec City. He captured the unique ambiance and architectural details
of their distinctive buildings. Many of these neighbourhoods and ethnic communities were adversely affected by urban planners of the 1960s, and Little’s work is a record of the uniqueness of what was lost. Market at Place Jacques~Cartier is a superb example of Little’s urban scenes, a detailed and vivacious depiction of an outdoor market at this historic square in the heart of old Montreal, at the entrance to the old port. Little’s palette was often a tonal one based on grey, brown and orange, but this important painting, typical of his early work, explodes with colour, adding to the animation of the scene. Traditional mixes with contemporary as Little contrasts country farmers in their aprons with smartly dressed city dwellers, and gas~powered vans with horse~drawn carts, in a work that exudes the vitality of Montreal’s urban life.
E STIMATE : $30,000 ~ 40,000
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JOHN GEOFFREY CARUTHERS LITTLE ARCA
1928 ~
Sherbrooke at Drummond, Montreal oil on canvas, signed and on verso signed, titled, dated 1964 and inscribed Before recent unfortunate changes and #5539 on the stretcher 24 x 30 in, 61 x 76.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Montreal
L ITERATURE : Dorothy Pfeiffer, “John Little, ARCA”, The Gazette, Montreal, April 18, 1964 John Little had a great affection for the historic buildings and
neighbourhoods of Montreal. He felt the loss of any of this uniqueness keenly, as indicated by the inscription, “Before recent unfortunate changes”. In a 1964 review of his work in Montreal’s The Gazette, Dorothy Pfeiffer wrote, “Those bemoaning the seemingly ruthless demolition of hundreds of Montreal’s gracious old~world homes and other buildings, the disappearance in the name of progress of various little private nooks and parks, and the often callous disposal of dignified stone pillars and amusing cornices will gain nostalgic pleasure from John Little’s show, for he has dedicated his paintings to the preservation of such items for posterity.” Sherbrooke Street, as an influential thoroughfare considered the backbone of the city, is an important part of Montreal’s history, and Little clearly treasured the unique buildings pictured here. In this fine atmospheric work, handsome historic buildings on each side are highlighted by graceful streetlights, and Little’s inclusion of the figure walking away brings a subtle sense of nostalgia.
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000
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JOHN GEOFFREY CARUTHERS LITTLE ARCA
1928 ~
Rue de la Tourelle, Quebec oil on canvas, signed and on verso signed, titled, dated 1975 and inscribed 75~64 and d’autrefois avec épicerie gauvin 24 x 30 in, 61 x 76.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Vancouver Island
E STIMATE : $12,000 ~ 16,000
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JACK LEONARD SHADBOLT BCSFA CGP CSPWC OC RCA
1909 ~ 1998
The Old Church, Lytton, BC 41
watercolour on paper, signed and dated 1946 and on verso signed, titled and inscribed Suite 42, 885 Thurlow St., Vancouver, BC and watercolour $35 17 1/2 x 11 3/4 in, 44.4 x 29.8 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Toronto Upon Jack Shadbolt’s homecoming to Vancouver from London, England in September 1945, he commenced working on The Canadian Scene series, a series that reaffirmed his dedication to social realism of the West Coast. These watercolours from the fall of 1945 and 1946 demonstrate his affection for the old structures which shaped historic British Columbia. He depicted fishing docks on the Fraser River, False Creek industrial sites, old houses in Vancouver’s West End and, here, an old church in Lytton in BC’s Fraser Canyon. His interest was in more than architectural detail; he wanted to show these buildings as a reflection of society, infused with sentient feeling. Intriguingly, Shadbolt contrasts the pure, white and carefully constructed church with the wildness of the tangle of forest pressing toward the path to its door.
E STIMATE : $8,000 ~ 10,000
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Jean Paul Lemieux, Les Ursulines oil on canvas, 1951, 24 x 30 in, 61 x 76 cm Gestion A.S.L. Inc., Copyright for Jean Paul Lemieux Collection Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec
the middle opening appear to exchange a few words. In a convent, it is improper to have lengthy conversations in the corridors. If you must speak, you must reduce it to a minimum, especially if you are in the dormitorium where each Sister has her cell, as they call their rooms. The two doors in darker tone that are visible suggest that we are in this section of the nunnery. Reduced to a minimum, the lack of communication seems to go well with the emptiness of the walls. The interior in this painting is more an inner space, resisting the solicitation of the senses in order to concentrate on the presence of God, as one could expect from a convent of contemplative Sisters. And could we not say the same of many Lemieux landscapes? Are they not a depiction of the
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Jean Paul Lemieux and his wife Madeleine Des Rosiers during the Musée du Québec’s (now the Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec) retrospective exhibition, fall 1967 Gestion A.S.L. Inc., Copyright for Jean Paul Lemieux
feeling created by the landscape, rather than the depiction of an actual landscape? Lemieux was a studio painter, working from memory, not a plein air painter putting his easel in front of the motif. Are his landscapes not a place of inaction, since the personage often found in the foreground does nothing in particular, just stands there? Can we not also speak here of contemplation? We thank François~Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
E STIMATE : $400,000 ~ 600,000 43
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SAMUEL BORENSTEIN CAS QMG
1908 ~ 1969
Street Scene oil on canvas, signed 18 x 24 in, 45.7 x 61 cm P ROVENANCE : Acquired directly from the Artist circa 1958 ~ 1960 by the present Private Collection, Montreal In 1921, Sam Borenstein escaped the aftermath of war in Europe by emigrating to Canada from Poland. Montreal was his studio base until he moved to Lac Brûlé in the Laurentians, also painting in nearby towns such as Val~David, Lac Marois and Ste~Agathe. Borenstein was known for his fiery temperament, and he greatly admired the outrageous, turbulent work of Chaim Soutine and the passion and vigour of Vincent van Gogh.
Friends with Group of Seven artist A.Y. Jackson, he spent much time with him in the Laurentians, exploring villages and painting together. However, Borenstein had developed his own unique painterly language, and an exuberant energy was at the core of his work. In Street Scene, he took the elements of a typical Quebec town and transformed them through the use of a strong colour palette and passionate, expressionist brush~strokes. The rich blue of the sky, foreground house and road gives the painting a liquid, flowing sensation throughout. Street Scene is an outstanding example of Borenstein’s fervid approach to art, which he considered his religion ~ his source of spiritual sustenance. The Yeshiva University Museum in New York is presenting a major retrospective exhibition entitled Sam Borenstein and the Colors of Montreal from February 6 to May 8, 2011.
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000
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MOLLY JOAN LAMB BOBAK BCSFA CGP CPE CSGA CSPWC RCA
1922 ~
Shediac, NB oil on board, signed and on verso signed and titled 40 x 60 in, 101.6 x 152.4 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal By descent to a Private Collection, Montreal Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, November 23, 2007, lot 199 Private Collection, Vancouver Molly Lamb Bobak studied at the Vancouver School of Art under Jack Shadbolt and Charles H. Scott, and went on to teach there from 1947 to 1950, after her return from her time abroad as an official war artist
in World War II. In 1960, she moved to New Brunswick, settling in Fredericton, and became an instructor at the University of New Brunswick. This diverse background led Bobak to become accomplished in varied subject matters ~ war scenes, floral still lifes and, as seen here, beachscapes. Shediac, NB vibrantly demonstrates her affection for this east~coast province by depicting a group of people enticed by the beach. Notably, the details of the individuals are insignificant as the bodies are blurred and in areas tangled, reduced to splashes of colour by expressionist brush~strokes. The flurry of warm sand, pink bodies and over~sized umbrellas executed in a seductive colour palette draws a connection to the balmy sands and turquoise waters of the Mediterranean. However, it is the moment of excitement and bliss and the rhythm of the crowd at this maritime location that Bobak harnesses so distinctively.
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000 58
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Jean Paul Lemieux and his wife Madeleine Des Rosiers seated on a bench in front of their house in l’Îsle~aux~Coudres in the summer of 1979 Gestion A.S.L. Inc., Copyright for Jean Paul Lemieux
Dimanche, dated 1966, belongs to another period of Lemieux’s production, long after he had completely renewed his style after his return from Europe in 1956. Lemieux had rediscovered his own country and found his particular way to represent it. He became especially aware of the horizontality of the landscape, of the prevailing snow, of the grey sky above it all. Religious subjects, however, did not disappear from his motifs nor, I believe, did the gentle irony with which he treated them, including Dimanche.
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As such, this work belongs to a series of paintings initiated by the famous Le visiteur du soir (The Evening Visitor), 1956, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, which depicts a priest going to give the last sacrament to a man on his death bed. The “evening” here designates both the end of the day and the end of his life. As in Dimanche, we have a single figure in movement, detached from a sombre background. The big difference is, of course, the format. In Le visiteur du soir, we see a long stretch of land, in front of which Lemieux put his single figure. The format is horizontal. In Dimanche, on the contrary, it is vertical.
Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal Acquired April 20, 1965 for $2,000 by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
For a painter who claimed to find his inspiration exclusively in his own country, the perfect profile view adopted here is not without connection to Florentine portraits of ladies in the Renaissance. One thinks for instance, of the Portrait of Battista Sforza, spouse of Federico da Montefeltro by Piero della Francesca, in the collection of the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence. Nevertheless, the Lemieux painting has a flavour of its own, and commands attention with a forceful presence which is admirable.
Musée du Québec, Jean Paul Lemieux, 1974, traveling from 1974 to 1975 to Moscow, Leningrad, Prague and Paris, catalogue #27
We thank François~Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
E STIMATE : $400,000 ~ 600,000
Jean Paul Lemieux, La Fête~Dieu à Québec oil on canvas, 1944, 60 x 48 in, 152.7 x 122 cm Gestion A.S.L. Inc., Copyright for Jean Paul Lemieux Collection Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec
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JEAN PAUL LEMIEUX CC QMG RCA
1904 ~ 1990
Les Moniales oil on canvas, signed and dated 1964 and on verso titled on the stretcher 41 5/8 x 80 3/8 in, 105.7 x 204.1 cm P ROVENANCE :
L ITERATURE : Anne Hébert, Jean Paul Lemieux: Moscou, Léningrad, Prague, Paris, Ministère des Affairs culturelles du Québec, 1974, listed page 76 Guy Robert, Lemieux, 1975, reproduced page 223
E XHIBITED :
An intriguing aspect of Les Moniales by Jean Paul Lemieux is a label fixed to the back of the painting, on which one can read “MOCKBA” (Moskva) ~ Moscow in Russian! The Lemieux exhibition was organized by the Musée du Québec in 1974 and traveled to Moscow, where it was presented at the Artists’ Union Gallery, July 1 ~ 21. It continued on to the Russian Museum in Leningrad, August 1 ~ 21, to the National Gallery of Prague, September 13 ~ October 6, and finally to Paris, at the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, November, 15, 1974 ~ January 5, 1975. A catalogue was published for the occasion by the Quebec Ministry of Cultural Affairs which included an essay by the poet Anne Hébert (1916 ~ 2000). In Moscow, a visitors’ book was kept in which numerous comments were written. They include comments by V. Iakovlev, a soloist with the Philharmonic; D. Garlov, a sculptor; two painters, A. Petrova and Lida Ermolenko, and many others. All these people were very touched by the Lemieux exhibition and saw an unmistakable resemblance between their country and our own. Lemieux’s success in the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia inspired him to comment during an interview by a journalist: “I never quite understood why I was considered to be the Québécois painter par excellence. Sure enough, I remained figurative, hence traditional in my way of painting, but what I have painted could have been found as easily in the West as in Norway or Russia.” (“Je n’ai jamais compris pourquoi on m’a considéré le peintre québécois par excellence. Je suis resté figuratif, donc
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traditionnel dans ma façon de peindre, mais ce que j’ai peint aurait pu se trouver tout aussi bien dans l’Ouest, en Norvège ou en Russie.”) This remark, which seems to apply particularly well to Lemieux’s landscapes, is more difficult to associate with our painting, Les Moniales, which represents Sisters living in a nunnery, probably from a contemplative order. Their counterparts in the Soviet Union were rather scarce! After all, the Communist regime wanted to eliminate all forms of religion ~ “the opium of the people” ~ and replace them with atheism. Les Moniales, 1965, had a more solid place in Quebec and, in the oeuvre of Lemieux, we could relate it to Les Ursulines, 1951, in the collection of the Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec. In both cases the subject matter is Sisters belonging to a religious order. In actual fact, the comparison between the paintings does not go very far, since the Ursulines are depicted in an exterior and the Moniales are inside their convent. Lemieux did not paint many interiors, and when he did, they were often, as here, reduced to the essential. Even in his early paintings, before his style had been clearly defined, the interiors he painted ~ although more complex than here ~ were relatively empty. Take two examples, both from the collection of the Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec: Le bouquet de fleurs, 1953, where we see, through an opening quite similar to what we have here, a lady sitting near a bouquet; or Le tapis rouge, 1957, where again, through the same type of opening, we see a woman playing the piano. In Les Moniales, the walls are in fact pure planes without any molding or decoration, not even a cross hanging above, like the one we see behind the couple of Les noces d’or, 1966. Even for a convent, the abode of our Moniales is very stark and bleak. We will find a similar kind of interior in La visite des dames, 1971, where five well~dressed ladies with fancy hats, one even with a small dog, walk in an interior without communicating amongst themselves. The interior in question is reduced to a white wall with two openings. By looking attentively at the wall, you may see the vague form of two rectangles, white on white. One wonders immediately if Lemieux had included some of his paintings and then decided afterwards to cover them with white. After all, in his Self~portrait, 1974, he had some of his own easily recognizable paintings on the wall. But here it is not the case; there is no discernable difference in the layers of painting on the wall where one suspects the presence of pictures. In fact, what Lemieux has represented here is ladies visiting an empty art gallery, happy to show themselves off rather than look at paintings. In Les Moniales, the walls are empty as in La visite des dames. The two Sisters in the foreground do not seem to communicate, but the two in
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MOLLY JOAN LAMB BOBAK BCSFA CGP CPE CSGA CSPWC RCA
1922 ~
Venice oil on board, signed and on verso titled on the gallery label, circa 1959 40 x 60 in, 101.6 x 152.4 cm P ROVENANCE : Balzac Fine Arts, Toronto Private Collection, Montreal
L ITERATURE : Molly Lamb Bobak, Wild Flowers of Canada, Impressions and Sketches of a Field Artist, 1978, page 8 As early as the 1940s, when she was the only woman artist to be appointed an official war artist, Molly Lamb Bobak was drawn to
humanity in the scenes she painted, depicting groups of women on drill, in the mess hall or during leisure activities. Throughout her work, she often focused on the dynamic, constantly changing rhythm of crowd scenes, from bathers on beaches or street scenes full of people, such as in this scintillating painting. Expressionist brush~strokes create sensitive painterly surfaces, and both the sky and street are fluid, as if they are the same element ~ appropriate for the city of Venice, known for its waterways. Painter Joe Plaskett comments, “Her oils of people in crowds suggest an expansive, even extrovert, spirit. Life is celebrated as a carnival ~ the pulse of life is beating, the game is being played, the drama is enacted.” Images such as this would have been drawn from Bobak’s experience abroad after the war, which included a trip to France in 1950 on a French government scholarship and four years in Europe on a Canada Council grant.
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000
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JEAN~PHILIPPE DALLAIRE QMG
1916 ~ 1965
Vue du camp St~Denis oil on canvas, signed and dated 1941 and on verso signed, titled, dated and inscribed matricule 1240, interne britannique, St~Denis, Seine, France 15 x 18 1/4 in, 38.1 x 46.3 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, France
L ITERATURE : Marie Carani et al, Dallaire, Musée du Québec, 1999, Jean~Philippe Dallaire’s drawing of Paul Beaulieu painting in his room reproduced on page 36 and a photograph of Dallaire in the Front~Stalag in 1943 reproduced page 37
After training in Toronto at the Exchange Technical School, Dallaire traveled to Paris in 1938 to train with French modernist André Lhote. While there, he studied works by Pablo Picasso and the Cubists, as well as by Surrealist painters. Then war broke out in 1939 and on October 7, 1940, Dallaire was arrested by the Gestapo and incarcerated in the Front~Stalag 220 in La Grande Caserne, Saint~Denis, where he remained until liberated on August 26, 1944. This rare canvas is an important early work from this time. While in camp, he was still able to draw and paint, attested to by a photograph of him by his bunk with some of his works reproduced in a 1999 Musée du Québec exhibition catalogue, as well as by his drawing of artist Paul Vanier Beaulieu, also a prisoner, painting in his room. In 1946, Dallaire was able to return to Canada, but his war experience had a profound effect on his life, glimmers of which can be seen in his striking body of figurative work.
E STIMATE : $10,000 ~ 15,000
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ALEXANDER COLVILLE PC CC
1920 ~
Barn in North Grand Pré, Nova Scotia oil on board, signed and dated 1946 12 x 16 in, 30.5 x 40.6 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Quebec Private Collection, Vancouver
L ITERATURE : Letter from Alex Colville to Joanne Darlington, September 11, 1982 David Burnett, Colville, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1983, a 1946 war canvas in a similar style entitled Messerschmitt, in the collection of the Canadian War Museum, and a 1947 canvas in a similar style, Group of Horses, in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, reproduced page 61 For internationally renowned realist painter Alex Colville, 1946 was a pivotal year. He left the army and returned to Nova Scotia, a place he has
a deep life~long attachment to, and accepted a teaching position at Mount Allison University. In the 1982 letter accompanying this work, Colville comments that this painting “was done in the summer of 1946 soon after I got out of the army ~ the style of painting (in oil) is similar to that I used in large canvases done as a war artist in Ottawa in late 45 and early 46… It is of a barn in North Grand Pré, NS which is still standing; our cottage is about half a mile from it.” In this evocative rural scene, Colville’s brushwork is soft and painterly, loosely defining patterns and textures of clouds, barn and grass in a tonal colour palette. This was a profound time of questioning for Colville, both philosophically and artistically, as he processed the experiences of the war years. Colville did not do many paintings from 1946 to 1949, making this oil a rare work from this period. Accompanying this lot is the 1982 letter regarding this painting from Alex Colville.
E STIMATE : $12,000 ~ 16,000
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WILLIAM GOODRIDGE ROBERTS CAS CGP CSGA CSPWC OC OSA PY RCA 1904 ~ 1974
The Boxer oil on board, signed and on verso titled on the gallery label and inscribed 170, circa 1951 45 x 32 in, 114.3 x 81.3 cm P ROVENANCE : Winchester Galleries, Victoria Private Collection, Victoria
L ITERATURE : Sandra Paikowsky, Goodridge Roberts, 1904 ~ 1974, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1998, a circa 1951 painting of this subject entitled The Card Player reproduced page 155
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Goodridge Roberts is well known for his figure painting. His interest in the figure began during the two years he spent in New York at the Art Students League, when he drew from nude models. When he returned to Montreal, he became a part of its modernist milieu. Although a strong individualist, he was part of John Lyman’s Eastern Group and was a founding member of Montreal’s Contemporary Arts Society. The subject of this painting was a professional boxer, the father of Roberts’s studio model Pamela McRae who posed for nude portraits regularly in the early 1950s. Roberts painted him at least three times, and in this vigorous painting the modeling of his body conveys the boxer’s strength and solidity, particularly in his broad, gnarled hands. The man’s gaze is direct, quizzical and keen, creating a strong sense of presence. Backgrounds were important to Roberts, and here the ochre colour field, underpainted with green, gives vital contrast to the vibrant red and turquoise in the boxer’s clothing. The Boxer is as much about the painterly qualities of the surface as the person portrayed.
E STIMATE : $25,000 ~ 35,000
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WILLIAM GOODRIDGE ROBERTS CAS CGP CSGA CSPWC OC OSA PY RCA
1904 ~ 1974
Still Life with Fruit oil on board, signed and on verso inscribed 641 20 x 24 in, 50.8 x 61 cm P ROVENANCE : The Art Emporium, Vancouver, 1980 By descent to the present Private Collection, Vancouver Goodridge Roberts was an early modernist whose still lifes are one of his most sought~after subject matters. In common with all his works was his intensity of vision and his passionate, expressionist approach to painting. By the end of the 1940s, Roberts was regularly painting on board which gave less resistance to his brush, and his surfaces became more dense and
tactile. His brush~strokes were lush and fluid, creating lines, ridges and swirls of paint, as seen in this sensuous still life. Random collections of objects from his home and studio appeared in these compositions, and the books in this image indicate Roberts’s interest in literature; he both read and wrote poetry. Roberts often used the motif of a cloth casually draped over the edge of the table, as in this work. As well as contributing to its visual complexity through patterns and folds, this added to the interesting shifts in perspective, such as tilting up the plane of the table. Still Life with Fruit, with its vivid colour palette, unique perception of space and vigorous brushwork, is a superb example of Roberts’s individuality of vision.
E STIMATE : $8,000 ~ 10,000
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
60 Jean Paul Lemieux’s poignant single figure paintings began to appear in the late 1950s, and he continued to paint them through the decades thereafter. These reductive works portrayed individuals against abstracted landscape backgrounds and sometimes, as in this work, eliminated the horizon altogether. Lemieux painted people of all ages and these works, which concentrated on the inner atmosphere of each individual portrayed, were ruminations on the nature of existence. Lemieux wrote, “I try to express in my landscapes and characters the solitude in which we all live and, in every painting, the inner world of my memories.” To Lemieux, this inner world was more important than the individual’s surroundings, and in Jeune homme, the background has no reference to time or place, being simply an abstract, softly~modulated colour field in which time and space seem suspended. The use of a cropped, close~up view makes the forward, amiable gaze of the subject reach out of the frame, giving a sense of intimacy. In this evocative canvas, Lemieux conveys a subtle and hopeful emanation of the optimism of youth.
E STIMATE : $25,000 ~ 30,000
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JEAN PAUL LEMIEUX CC QMG RCA
1904 ~ 1990
Jeune homme oil on canvas, signed, circa 1980 12 x 10 in, 30.5 x 25.4 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie d’art Michel Bigué, Quebec Private Collection, Ontario
L ITERATURE : Guy Robert, Lemieux, 1975, page 240
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WILLIAM HODD (BILL) MCELCHERAN RCA
1927 ~ 1999
The Pursuer bronze sculpture, initialed, editioned 6/9 and dated 1988 14 1/2 x 9 x 8 in, 36.8 x 22.9 x 20.3 cm P ROVENANCE : By descent in the family of the Artist
L ITERATURE : Riccardo Barletta, William McElcheran, Galleria Gian Ferrari, 1988, titled as L’Inseguitore (The Pursuer), reproduced page 6
E XHIBITED : Galleria Gian Ferrari, Milan, William McElcheran, March 1988, another cast from this edition William McElcheran was an architectural designer and sculptor. While chief designer for Bruce Brown and Brisely Architects, he planned and designed 23 churches and university buildings. In 1973, he formed Daedalus Designs, dedicated to integrating sculpture within architectural planning. McElcheran is well known for his iconic sculptures of businessmen caught up in their corporate whirl. He imbues these archetypal figures with the irony and paradox of modern life and, although they are robust figures full of vitality, there is something touching in their complete absorption in the rat~race of their world. McElcheran regards his figures with a satirical yet compassionate eye that compels us to identify with them. Public installations of these sculptures are located across Canada and in the United States, Germany, Italy and Japan. From 1977 to 1978, McElcheran lived in Italy to be close to a foundry he used whose artisans were highly skilled in bronze casting. This dynamic sculpture, from his desireable 1980s period when he was being represented by Forum Gallery in New York, is a cast produced in Italy.
E STIMATE : $10,000 ~ 12,000
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PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF EDGAR AND DOROTHY DAVIDSON Edgar and Dorothy Davidson were proud collectors of Canadian Art. In a time when many Canadians looked to other countries to define themselves, the Davidson’s championship of Canadian creativity and expression was a focal point in their lives. Edgar was a German immigrant who had narrowly escaped imprisonment for his liberal views in the years prior to World War II. This experience shaped him, and he was concerned at the lack of patriotism he saw in Canada. He became an active and outspoken citizen, fervent in his aims to boost national pride. Dorothy came from the philanthropic Harold Crabtree family, who supported health, education and social services through grants and charitable work. Edgar and Dorothy as a couple represented a meeting of minds and interests. They would leave a significant impact on Canada through the choices they made and the causes they championed. Their collection of art was shaped by a shared love of Canada and a bold acknowledgement of its diverse politics, styles of expression and history. Beginning in the 1940s in Quebec, they collected work that was often fresh from the artists’ studios and considered cutting~edge contemporary. They were not afraid of political edginess, or intimidated by challenging work. When other collectors were passing on works by Jean Paul Lemieux, Paul~Émile Borduas and Rita Letendre, the Davidsons bought, and they purchased wisely. They were far ahead of the curve in art collecting, and thus their estate contains some of the most important Post~War works to come to the Canadian art market. Edgar and Dorothy had a keen awareness of quality in Canadian art and craft. They were also avid collectors of rare books, antique glass, coins, stamps and early French Canadian furniture. Their legacy established the first Undergraduate Chair in Canadian Studies in Canada in 1969 at Mount Allison University and led other institutions to follow suit. Their donation to Mount Allison University’s Library contains almost 600 unique examples of first edition books and imprints, and in 1990, they donated 24 works of art to the university’s Owens Art Gallery. At Carleton University they established The Edgar and Dorothy Davidson Fund in Religious Studies. Edgar Davidson was born in Berlin in 1905 to a family with wide~ranging, cosmopolitan interests. It is rumoured that they once owned a Vermeer. Though his father died while Edgar was just a child, he was able to study at Heidelberg University and travel in Russia as a young man. He also studied in Paris where, with his left~wing observant intellect, he would have been aware of the Impressionists and their art. He was working as a journalist in Berlin in 1929 when his professional associations began to jeopardize his freedom. Nazism was gaining momentum and he was not sympathetic to its ideals. He left Germany suddenly, arriving in Montreal three weeks before the stock market crash. It was a difficult period in Canada: drought and the Depression had made work scarce, so Davidson took on jobs including that of railway porter, busboy, dining car waiter and steamship deckhand. By 1933, all of the
Edgar Davidson (1905 ~ 1995), circa 1980 ~ 1983 Photograph: Michael Bedford Photography, Ottawa
Davidson family who had remained in Germany had left for North America. They went to New York, but Edgar stayed in Canada. One of Davidson’s odd jobs was as a parking lot attendant at McGill University, where a chance encounter with a professor who needed a German tutor turned his fortunes. Edgar proved an excellent teacher, and was encouraged to put these skills to more formal use. He entered the Teachers Training Program at MacDonald College in Sainte~Anne~ de~Bellevue, and graduated a year later at the top of his class. He graduated from Queen’s University, also at the top of his class, in 1936, and was awarded the Governor General’s Award for Excellence. From 1936 to 1943 he taught at Montreal’s West Hill High School (now Royal West Academy). He was an inspirational teacher, known simply as ‘Davy’, and was recalled as a man who taught his students how to think, how to question, and how to see the other side of arguments. He met Dorothy Louise Crabtree, an honours graduate of McGill University, while teaching there. She had taken a specialty in history at McGill, and shared Edgar’s love of Canada. She was also an accomplished musician, vocalist
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MacDonald, A.Y. Jackson, Frederick Varley and Lawren Harris, and then Jean~Paul Riopelle, Paul~Émile Borduas, Marcelle Ferron and Jean Paul Lemieux. Jackson’s Smart River was a favourite of Dorothy’s and hung in her home until her death. They were bold collectors, choosing works that they felt were the best expressions of Canadian ideals, issues, politics and life, works in which they saw enduring value and, above all, the finest of quality. They both had a ‘great pair of eyes’, and with the guidance of a few trusted dealers including Agnès Lefort, Mira Godard and Walter Moos, they chose extremely well. From an initial outlay of about $30,000, their art collection is now valued in the millions. The Davidsons would host gatherings in their home after dinners out, bringing others to see their art and to discuss its role within the greater dialogue of Canada. One of Edgar’s proudest moments was his purchase of Lemieux’s Les Moniales, a challenging and emblematic work. As hosts, the Davidsons also included artists in their gatherings. Dorothy was a fine cook, and family members recall Jackson, having painted in the sugar bush on the Davidson property, falling asleep in his chair after a hearty meal in their home. They were also close friends of Lawren P. Harris, Lawren S. Harris’s son.
Dorothy Davidson (1911 ~ 2010), circa 1980 ~ 1983 Photograph: Michael Bedford Photography, Ottawa
and intellect. They complemented one another as a couple, his wide~ranging interests being supported by her keen intelligence. They were married in 1943. During World War II, Davidson served in the Royal Canadian Navy and British Intelligence (MI5) as an Acting Lieutenant~Commander, where his skills as a translator were invaluable. He was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1946 and decorated for his service. Together with Dorothy and spurred by their shared sense of national pride and their vast combined knowledge of history, they began to collect. The first painting that they purchased together was Emily Carr’s Trees in the Wind Circle, which they bought when they were newlyweds. This dramatic painting was the foundation of their collection of Canadian art. The Davidson collection contains fine examples of the artists that they felt to be important expressers of central issues and themes of Canadian life: from the pre~twentieth century with Cornelius Krieghoff and Marc~Aurèle Suzor~Coté, onward to the Group of Seven with J.E.H.
Edgar and Dorothy’s contribution to their community was vast. Dorothy worked with many charitable organizations including the Montreal YWCA and Save the Children Canada. Edgar worked on issues of curriculum and content with the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal, and was made an honourary lifetime member of the Montreal Association of Protestant Teachers, winning the Scholastic Order of Merit for Great Distinction from the Province of Quebec. He was admitted to the Order of Canada in 1991 for his life’s work. Edgar was also a student in the Department of Religion at Carleton University. In 1981, he earned his MA with a thesis entitled “Tillich’s Approach to Art” (Paul Tillich was an influential twentieth century Protestant theologian and existential philosopher). At this time, the Davidsons personally and with the Harold Crabtree Foundation established the Edgar and Dorothy Davidson Fund in Religious Studies. The fund supports activities of the department including The Edgar and Dorothy Davidson Annual Lecture by a visiting academic, professors’ travel, and the Davidson Dinner ~ this year is the 28th. Edgar believed that people needed to get together to encourage collegiality and to enjoy themselves. Edgar lived a healthy and active life until falling ill in 1985. He was working towards his PhD but was unable to complete it, and died in 1995 at the age of 90. Dorothy passed away in June 2010, one month short of her 99th birthday. The Davidsons’ extraordinary collection represents a wonderful opportunity for today’s passionate collectors to purchase fine works of art, many collected at the time they were created and thus have never been on the market before. Heffel Fine Art Auction House is pleased and honoured to be a part of this process.
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LAWREN STEWART HARRIS ALC BCSFA CGP FCA G7 OSA RPS TPG
1885 ~ 1970
Abstraction oil on board, signed and on verso signed, dated 1938 and inscribed 2A / #209 21 7/8 x 13 1/4 in, 55.6 x 33.7 cm P ROVENANCE : Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
L ITERATURE : Peter Larisey, Light for a Cold Land, Lawren Harris’s Work and Life ~ An Interpretation, 1993, reproduced page 177 In 1934, Lawren Harris began a new chapter in his life and in his artistic career. With Bess Housser, he left Toronto for Hanover, New Hampshire, where he took an artist~in~residence position, albeit unpaid, at Dartmouth College. From Hanover, the museums and galleries of New York were within visiting distance. Harris took advantage of this, seeing almost every show the Museum of Modern Art mounted and attending exhibitions at the Whitney Museum regularly. The exhibition schedules of these institutions were concerned largely with abstraction at the time, and Harris would have seen works by Piet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky as well as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, and exhibitions of industrial design and objects of the machine age. Harris also visited commercial galleries and was exposed to a wide variety of modernist work. He read voraciously on the subject of modern art; this period was one of critical ferment for him. In the works that he saw in New York, Harris admired how the laws of gravity, time and space could be manipulated, how dimension and depth were played with at will and how the resulting imagery came from the artist’s inner sight rather than as a result of external observing. He was well aware of what Bertram Brooker was doing in Canada, having exhibited with him and encouraged his work; he had seen the forefront of Canadian abstraction. The artist had been freed, it must have seemed to him, from natural laws. These kinds of ideas were in complete agreement with Harris’s thinking at the time. Such freedom would allow him to express the depth of his Theosophic philosophy in his art. Translucency and transparency could express spiritualism and mysticism. Form need not refer only to things of the temporal world, but also to things of the soul world.
64 Harris’s abstractions can be discussed in terms of colour theory as it relates to his belief in Theosophy, as well as in terms of compositional form and intellectual parallels in Theosophy’s doctrines. There is indeed a direct link between the triangular mountain forms, the atmosphere and divine light of the Arctic with the shapes and atmosphere in Harris’s abstract work. There are parallels between the trinity of Western religions and in the doctrines of divinity in Theosophy. However, to attempt to explain each line and shape can distract us from the pure joy of viewing these works. An illuminating analogy was made by Harris himself. He compared the effect he wished his art to have as being the same as the effect that could be achieved by music when it is played by a virtuoso for a receptive listener. It is not the notes of music, the lines of black dots on a page that mattered. It is instead the sounds that these notes generate, and the effect that these sounds have on the ear of a willing and receptive listener. This was what Harris wanted for his art. It was, however, a two~way street. He wanted his choices of colour and line, angle and form, his placement of circle next to triangle next to radiating shades of blue, yellow and white, to affect the viewer in such as way as to elevate them to a new plane. This analogy should not be made simplistic, though, since to discount the lines, forms and shapes, and Harris’s compositional mastery of them, would be akin to mixing up the music, rearranging the notes at random or handing a masterful score to an amateur musician; the effect would not be the same. Harris’s understanding of colour theory, composition, balance, depth, harmony and form was indeed that of a virtuoso, and he applied this mastery to express his quest for enlightenment. His abstractions, of which this work is an extremely fine example, are symphonic. By 1938, the year this work was painted, Harris had resettled with Bess in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There he found himself in the stimulating company of a group of artists who were interested in the same things he was. Together they founded the Transcendental Painting Group, and Harris continued his reading, artistic explorations and experiments in sympathetic company. He explored the ideas of dynamic symmetry and created a number of exceptional abstract works. In 1940, he was forced to return to Canada because of the War, settling in Vancouver and beginning another chapter in his remarkable life.
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PAUL~ÉMILE BORDUAS AUTO CAS QMG RCA
1905 ~ 1960
Chant d’été oil on canvas, signed and dated 1955 and on verso titled and dated on the artist’s label and inscribed P5 and Gérard Bealieu [sic], 3157 Lacombe Aven, Montreal 26 42 x 36 in, 106.7 x 91.4 cm P ROVENANCE : Gilles Corbeil, Montreal Gérard Beaulieu, Montreal Galerie Camille Hébert, Montreal Acquired on April 10, 1963 for $5,000 by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
L ITERATURE : Gilberte Martin~Méry, L’Art au Canada, Musée des beaux~arts de Bordeaux, 1962, reproduced François~Marc Gagnon, Paul~Émile Borduas (1905 ~ 1960), Biographie critique et analyse de l’oeuvre, 1978, pages 384 and 385 Anna Moszynska, Abstract Art, London, 1990 Maurice Perron, Photographs, 1998, a photograph of the artist reproduced page 216
E XHIBITED : Musée des beaux~arts de Bordeaux, L’Art au Canada, May 11 ~ July 31, 1962, catalogue #34 Galerie Camille Hébert, Montreal Chant d’été was, with a group of 17 others, one of the paintings acquired at Borduas’s studio in New York by Gilles Corbeil, acting on behalf of himself, his brother Maurice, and Gérard Beaulieu. Borduas’s papers contain a list dated September 17, 1955 of these 18 paintings, and Chant d’été is #5 on this list. This is confirmed by a label that appears in the back of Chant d’été: “P5”, for fifth painting on the list, and “Gérard Bealieu [sic], 3157 Lacombe Aven, Montreal 26”. These paintings were sent to Montreal on September 20, on the very eve of Borduas’s departure for Paris. The Corbeils and Beaulieu were happy to make this transaction to help Borduas establish himself in Paris; indeed, he was paid on August 31. But the negotiation between Gilles Corbeil and Borduas goes back further in time, since it was in March that the former visited the latter in New York, for that purpose.
67 The engineer Gérard Beaulieu was, with Gérard Lortie and Maurice Corbeil, an important collector of Borduas. Regrettably, Beaulieu died in 1970 at the age of 59 years. He had belonged to a family of artists; the painters Paul~Vanier Beaulieu and Louis~Jacques Beaulieu (who used to sign Louis Jaque) were his brothers, and another brother, the architect Claude Beaulieu, was one of the founders of the art magazine Vie des arts. Gérard Beaulieu put this painting on sale at the Galerie Camille Hébert in Montreal, and it is there that the Davidsons bought it on April 10, 1963. Camille Hébert was, by the way, along with Fernande Saint~Martin, Yves Lasnier and Otto Bengle, one of the courageous gallery owners in the sixties who were open to the new trends in art. Chant d’été, as the title suggests (Summer Song), is an attempt to transpose music into painting. It is not the only case among the 18 paintings of the list: Musique acidulée (#11 on the list) is another example. We would have more if we added titles referring to dance, such as Tango, Carnet de bal and Mazurka, in the same lot. In fact, one finds in the whole of Borduas’s production a number of examples of titles referring to music. I am thinking, for instance, of Allegro furioso, 1949, sold at Heffel two years ago, or of Symphonie en damier blanc, 1957, which was presented after Borduas’s death to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. All these examples belong to a long tradition in modern art, where one can quote Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter’s Mother, 1871, at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, or Symphony in White #1: The White Girl, 1862, at the National Gallery in Washington, DC, both by James McNeill Whistler. But closer to home, one thinks of Marc~Aurèle de Foy Suzor~Coté’s beautiful Symphonie pathétique, 1925, at the Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec. But it is especially the first abstract painters, namely František Kupka, Wassily Kandinsky, Robert Delaunay and Paul Klee, who were keen to compare their first abstract works to music. Delaunay was looking for “des lois [of painting] fondées sur la transparence de la couleur, qui peut être comparée aux tons musicaux (for laws based on the transparency of the colour, which could be compared to musical tones).” Even if abstract art didn’t represent anything, August Endell (1871 ~ 1925), a German designer and architect, predicted that it would touch our souls as strongly as music was ever able to do. When he saw some of the Fenêtres of Delaunay, Klee compared them to the fugues of Bach. Kupka titled one of his early abstract paintings Amorpha: Fugue in Two Colours, 1912. And of course, the comparison between art and music is one of the recurrent themes of Concerning the Spiritual in Art, 1911, by Kandinsky.
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Portrait de Paul~Émile Borduas dans son atelier de Saint~Hilaire (Portrait of Paul~Émile Borduas in his Saint~Hilaire studio),1951 Silver print, Rolleicord. Photograph: Maurice Perron Collection Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec
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At home, Bertram Brooker also took music as subject matter, as witnessed by many of his titles including Toccata, circa 1927, in a private collection, Abstraction ~ Music, circa 1927, in the collection of the London Public Library and Art Museum, Ontario (now Museum London), and Sounds Assembling, 1928, in the collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
eye seems to be able to wander here and there in all directions. But in fact, by contemplating the work, by being absorbed into it, the spectator imbues the painting with time, imposes on it its own interior order, and ~ why not? ~ its personal music. We do the opposite at a concert. We close our eyes and imagine lines or colours corresponding to the music. By giving Chant d’été as the title of the painting, Borduas was revealing something of the music it evoked for him, the painter being the first spectator of his work. Neither a symphony nor a pure poem, Chant d’été was for him a song, maybe an hymn ~ but without religious implications ~ dedicated to summer, in a work probably painted, at the latest, the previous spring.
Thus Chant d’été, ambitious in size for Borduas, belongs to a solid tradition in modern art. White is dominant, but many hues of grey, pink, ochre, green and blue play in transparency all over the surface of the painting, as if to give voice to the thought of Delaunay I just quoted. What is also striking is the surge of white from the right bottom corner towards the left upper corner, as if summer were taking over in a single movement. The small interventions of black and dark grey create a rhythm on the entire surface. When you look at the painting, musical terms come naturally to mind. Music is a function of time, is the art of time, a domain seemingly outside of the reach of painters. Painting seems at first to be given in the instant ~ all at once, so to speak. No special order of succession is suggested. The
We thank François~Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
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MARCELLE FERRON AANFM AUTO CAS QMG RCA SAAVQ SAPQ 1924 ~ 2001
#2 oil on canvas, signed and on verso signed, circa 1963 8 3/4 x 10 5/8 in, 22.2 x 27 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal Acquired on October 1, 1963 for $125 by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972 Marcelle Ferron met Paul~Émile Borduas after leaving the École des beaux~arts in Quebec in 1944. She quickly became a devoted supporter of the artistic and political beliefs of the Automatists, signing their manifesto, Refus global, in 1948. Of all the Automatists, Ferron was perceived as the one closest to Borduas in her method of working ~ she used a palette knife and heavy impasto, as demonstrated in this luminous painting.
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MARCELLE FERRON AANFM AUTO CAS QMG RCA SAAVQ SAPQ 1924 ~ 2001
#3 oil on canvas, signed, circa 1963 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in, 19 x 24.1 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal Acquired on October 1, 1963 for $100 by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972 Marcelle Ferron moved from Montreal to Paris in 1953; she stayed there until 1966 when the consequences of her political associations caused her to be expelled from France. While in Paris, she was able to purchase and grind her own pigments, which she mixed with poppyseed oil. This resulted in Ferron being able to create distinctive hues of purple, yellow and blue.
E STIMATE : $10,000 ~ 15,000
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JEAN~PAUL RIOPELLE AUTO CAS OC QMG RCA SCA
1923 ~ 2002
Sans titre oil on canvas, on verso signed on the canvas and the stretcher, dated 1955 on the canvas and the stretcher, inscribed Pierre Matisse Gallery, NYC / 19 / ST~3195 (crossed out) and stamped Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal 13 x 16 1/4 in, 33 x 41.3 cm P ROVENANCE : Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal Acquired on October 12, 1963 for $1,800 by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
L ITERATURE : Michel Pastoureau, Noir, Histoire d’une couleur, 2008, page 177 An interesting piece of evidence about Sans titre appears on the back of the painting. Before going to Galerie Agnès Lefort in Montreal, where the Davidsons acquired it, this work was owned by the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. Pierre Matisse, of course, owned one of the most important galleries in New York until his death in 1989. He was the youngest son of the painter Henri Matisse. The Pierre Matisse Gallery was especially important for the Surrealists. Joan Miró, Yves Tanguy, Paul Delvaux, Wilfredo Lam, Leonora Carrington and many others exhibited there. Zao Wou~Ki and Sam Francis, two of Riopelle’s friends, were also exhibited at the gallery. Pierre Matisse began to represent Riopelle during the time of Riopelle’s participation in Younger European Painters at the Guggenheim Museum, from December 2, 1953 to February 21, 1954. Riopelle had his first solo show in New York at the Pierre Matisse Gallery from January 5 to 23, 1954. One can understand Pierre Matisse’s attraction to this particular painting by Riopelle. This work makes it clear that black is a colour! This was an old debate; the Impressionists used to quote Leonardo da Vinci, who stated: “Black is not a colour.” And Paul Gauguin recommended to “reject the black, and this mixture of the white and the black that we call the grey.
71 Nothing is black, nothing is grey.” Under the influence of the chemist Eugène Chevreul’s (1786 ~ 1889) theories, many painters of the second half of the nineteenth century decided to lighten their palette, to resort to the theory of simultaneous contrast of colours, to paint outside the studio in nature (en plein air), with the consequence that black tended to disappear from their painting. One thinks of the famous blue shadows in Claude Monet’s paintings. And of course, the paradox of the period was that while painting wanted to get rid of black, photography and film had no other choice but to be in black! To conquer colour both in photography and film was difficult and took time. This is not true of all painters of the period, however. Édouard Manet, under the influence of Diego Velázquez and Rembrandt van Rijn, remained an admirable painter of the colour black. His famous Clair de lune sur le port de Boulogne, 1869, at the Musée d’Orsay, is a good instance of his fondness for black. Closer to the time of Riopelle, Pierre Soulages in France, Mark Rothko and Ad Reinhardt in the USA were tempted by the colour black. The Rothko Chapel in Houston is a major example; it contains the last paintings of the American master done in the six last years of his life, and most of them are black~on~black. Riopelle could claim to be in good company in this usage of black in his Sans titre. In fact, much like in Manet’s painting, the black here has nothing melancholic. It accompanies rather affirmatively ~ I was tempted to say almost joyously ~ the pale hues of pink, beige and cyan that peer behind the black. Moreover, it is responsible for the strong impression of movement created by the painting’s many diagonals: movement, not agitation, since this is a very controlled painting. There is a balance between strokes tending to escape outside of the picture plane and others that tend to stop that centrifugal movement and reaffirm the rectangularity of the pictorial plane. The result is both satisfying and calming. We thank François~Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay. This work will be included in as an addendum to Volume II in Yseult Riopelle’s catalogue raisonné on the artist’s work, inventory #1955.031H.
E STIMATE : $80,000 ~ 120,000
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JEAN PAUL LEMIEUX CC QMG RCA
1904 ~ 1990
Dimanche oil on canvas, signed and on verso titled and dated 1966 on a label 67 3/4 x 31 3/4 in, 172.1 x 80.6 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal Acquired on October 22, 1966 for $1,800 by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
L ITERATURE : Lyse Nantais, “Rencontre avec Jean Paul Lemieux, Propos recueillis par Lyse Nantais”, Le Devoir, January 23, 1961 Impressive both in size and colour, Jean Paul Lemieux’s painting Dimanche (Sunday), represents a lady of the bourgeoisie, properly dressed, including gloves, and heading to mass, as one can conclude from the fact that she is carrying her prayer book. The sky behind her is very dark, giving contrast to the colour of her coat and hat. Lemieux was a painter who always claimed that artists should take their inspiration from their own milieu. He once declared to a journalist: “[Painters should] always look at the country where they are born… I have difficulty understanding how a painter born in Chicoutimi, marked by the northern winds, can express himself as a Mediterranean. Before, the Canadian painter was isolated, didn’t travel much, but was looking and expressing what was around him. In fact the best works were always done in isolation. See Ozias Leduc for example.” Looking around him, Lemieux could not dismiss the importance of Catholicism in the life of French Canadians of his time. Even if he was not often attracted by religious iconography as such ~ I am not aware that he ever worked directly for the Church ~ he often painted subject matter related to religion. Some of his more important works are devoted to a religious subject. Thus, Lazare (The Raising of Lazarus), 1941, in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, is an interesting transposition of a passage of the Gospel telling how Jesus resuscitated Lazarus from the dead (John 11: 38 ~ 43). In the foreground one sees a church, the roof of which has been removed to show what is happening inside. The vicar is preaching to a group of parishioners, probably about that passage from the Gospel, since war ~ as the date is 1941 ~ is raging outside. A funeral procession on the bottom right of the composition recalls that death is very present in those difficult times, but in the upper corner, where the raising of Lazarus by Jesus in modern clothing is depicted, some hope in the infinite power of Christ is evoked.
72 The major example of this kind of painting is, however, the famous La Fête~Dieu à Québec (The Corpus Christi Procession in Quebec), 1944, in the collection of the Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec. In this painting, one sees the priest carrying the host in a silver monstrance, under a canopy carried at the four corners by the church wardens. This group forms the centre of a long procession wherein all the religious brother~ or sisterhoods, leagues of men or women, troops of girls and boys, are represented in good order. They have left the Notre~Dame Church in the Haute~Ville of Quebec and they are moving towards the Basse~Ville, to the Chapel Notre~Dame~des~Victoires. In that painting, Lemieux has represented some of his friends like Paul Rainville, the director of the Musée du Québec (as it was called then), transformed into the captain of a company of Zouaves, or Gérard Morisset, the famous art historian, standing in front of the Taverne du people. This tavern was declared as belonging to “Jean Paul Lemieux, propriétaire”, and he is standing among the others looking at the procession, but not taking part in it. This last detail, I think, gives the key to many of his religious paintings. It does not directly criticize the religious habits of his compatriots, or the triumphalism of the Catholic Church so evident in these kinds of manifestations. One finds nothing in Lemieux of Paul~Émile Borduas’s direct confrontation with the Church, as expressed in the manifesto Refus global. One may rather feel in him the will to slightly detach himself from the spectacle, taking some distance from it, perhaps to take a gently ironic stance. I feel confirmed in this idea by another painting of the period entitled Le Pique~nique, 1944, also in the collection of the Musée du Québec. It represents a group of girls accompanied by two nuns. They are near a brook, and some of them are lifting their gowns and putting their feet in the water. In the foreground, on the left side, one girl bends over a model sailboat, inadvertently showing her derrière during the risky manœuvre! The Mother Superior is not aware of what has happened. Nevertheless, she has a bell in her hand as it is time to get out of the water and to eat (hence the title The Picnic). Again, Lemieux added a touch of irony to what cannot be seen only as a mere description of a small event in the life of a convent. Sexuality was heavily controlled in the convents of the time. The girls wore dark dresses with long sleeves that modestly covered their whole bodies. But of course, Lemieux did not explicitly denounce this repression. He was happy to make us smile at the scene, and realize the contradiction of the situation. Maybe he felt that this was as far as he could go in the good society of Quebec. Maybe he had no need to denounce or, even less, to condemn what he perceived as a normal way of life, certainly not the result of an abominable form of oppression, as Borduas did. Whatever the reason, this seems to have been a constant in his approach to religious subjects.
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JEAN~PHILIPPE DALLAIRE QMG
1916 ~ 1965
Vue du camp St~Denis oil on canvas, signed and dated 1941 and on verso signed, titled, dated and inscribed matricule 1240, interne britannique, St~Denis, Seine, France 15 x 18 1/4 in, 38.1 x 46.3 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, France
L ITERATURE : Marie Carani et al, Dallaire, Musée du Québec, 1999, Jean~Philippe Dallaire’s drawing of Paul Beaulieu painting in his room reproduced on page 36 and a photograph of Dallaire in the Front~Stalag in 1943 reproduced page 37
After training in Toronto at the Exchange Technical School, Dallaire traveled to Paris in 1938 to train with French modernist André Lhote. While there, he studied works by Pablo Picasso and the Cubists, as well as by Surrealist painters. Then war broke out in 1939 and on October 7, 1940, Dallaire was arrested by the Gestapo and incarcerated in the Front~Stalag 220 in La Grande Caserne, Saint~Denis, where he remained until liberated on August 26, 1944. This rare canvas is an important early work from this time. While in camp, he was still able to draw and paint, attested to by a photograph of him by his bunk with some of his works reproduced in a 1999 Musée du Québec exhibition catalogue, as well as by his drawing of artist Paul Vanier Beaulieu, also a prisoner, painting in his room. In 1946, Dallaire was able to return to Canada, but his war experience had a profound effect on his life, glimmers of which can be seen in his striking body of figurative work.
E STIMATE : $10,000 ~ 15,000
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Jean Paul Lemieux and his wife Madeleine Des Rosiers seated on a bench in front of their house in l’Îsle~aux~Coudres in the summer of 1979 Gestion A.S.L. Inc., Copyright for Jean Paul Lemieux
Dimanche, dated 1966, belongs to another period of Lemieux’s production, long after he had completely renewed his style after his return from Europe in 1956. Lemieux had rediscovered his own country and found his particular way to represent it. He became especially aware of the horizontality of the landscape, of the prevailing snow, of the grey sky above it all. Religious subjects, however, did not disappear from his motifs nor, I believe, did the gentle irony with which he treated them, including Dimanche.
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As such, this work belongs to a series of paintings initiated by the famous Le visiteur du soir (The Evening Visitor), 1956, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, which depicts a priest going to give the last sacrament to a man on his death bed. The “evening” here designates both the end of the day and the end of his life. As in Dimanche, we have a single figure in movement, detached from a sombre background. The big difference is, of course, the format. In Le visiteur du soir, we see a long stretch of land, in front of which Lemieux put his single figure. The format is horizontal. In Dimanche, on the contrary, it is vertical.
Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal Acquired April 20, 1965 for $2,000 by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
For a painter who claimed to find his inspiration exclusively in his own country, the perfect profile view adopted here is not without connection to Florentine portraits of ladies in the Renaissance. One thinks for instance, of the Portrait of Battista Sforza, spouse of Federico da Montefeltro by Piero della Francesca, in the collection of the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence. Nevertheless, the Lemieux painting has a flavour of its own, and commands attention with a forceful presence which is admirable.
Musée du Québec, Jean Paul Lemieux, 1974, traveling from 1974 to 1975 to Moscow, Leningrad, Prague and Paris, catalogue #27
We thank François~Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
E STIMATE : $400,000 ~ 600,000
Jean Paul Lemieux, La Fête~Dieu à Québec oil on canvas, 1944, 60 x 48 in, 152.7 x 122 cm Gestion A.S.L. Inc., Copyright for Jean Paul Lemieux Collection Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec
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JEAN PAUL LEMIEUX CC QMG RCA
1904 ~ 1990
Les Moniales oil on canvas, signed and dated 1964 and on verso titled on the stretcher 41 5/8 x 80 3/8 in, 105.7 x 204.1 cm P ROVENANCE :
L ITERATURE : Anne Hébert, Jean Paul Lemieux: Moscou, Léningrad, Prague, Paris, Ministère des Affairs culturelles du Québec, 1974, listed page 76 Guy Robert, Lemieux, 1975, reproduced page 223
E XHIBITED :
An intriguing aspect of Les Moniales by Jean Paul Lemieux is a label fixed to the back of the painting, on which one can read “MOCKBA” (Moskva) ~ Moscow in Russian! The Lemieux exhibition was organized by the Musée du Québec in 1974 and traveled to Moscow, where it was presented at the Artists’ Union Gallery, July 1 ~ 21. It continued on to the Russian Museum in Leningrad, August 1 ~ 21, to the National Gallery of Prague, September 13 ~ October 6, and finally to Paris, at the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, November, 15, 1974 ~ January 5, 1975. A catalogue was published for the occasion by the Quebec Ministry of Cultural Affairs which included an essay by the poet Anne Hébert (1916 ~ 2000). In Moscow, a visitors’ book was kept in which numerous comments were written. They include comments by V. Iakovlev, a soloist with the Philharmonic; D. Garlov, a sculptor; two painters, A. Petrova and Lida Ermolenko, and many others. All these people were very touched by the Lemieux exhibition and saw an unmistakable resemblance between their country and our own. Lemieux’s success in the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia inspired him to comment during an interview by a journalist: “I never quite understood why I was considered to be the Québécois painter par excellence. Sure enough, I remained figurative, hence traditional in my way of painting, but what I have painted could have been found as easily in the West as in Norway or Russia.” (“Je n’ai jamais compris pourquoi on m’a considéré le peintre québécois par excellence. Je suis resté figuratif, donc
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traditionnel dans ma façon de peindre, mais ce que j’ai peint aurait pu se trouver tout aussi bien dans l’Ouest, en Norvège ou en Russie.”) This remark, which seems to apply particularly well to Lemieux’s landscapes, is more difficult to associate with our painting, Les Moniales, which represents Sisters living in a nunnery, probably from a contemplative order. Their counterparts in the Soviet Union were rather scarce! After all, the Communist regime wanted to eliminate all forms of religion ~ “the opium of the people” ~ and replace them with atheism. Les Moniales, 1965, had a more solid place in Quebec and, in the oeuvre of Lemieux, we could relate it to Les Ursulines, 1951, in the collection of the Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec. In both cases the subject matter is Sisters belonging to a religious order. In actual fact, the comparison between the paintings does not go very far, since the Ursulines are depicted in an exterior and the Moniales are inside their convent. Lemieux did not paint many interiors, and when he did, they were often, as here, reduced to the essential. Even in his early paintings, before his style had been clearly defined, the interiors he painted ~ although more complex than here ~ were relatively empty. Take two examples, both from the collection of the Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec: Le bouquet de fleurs, 1953, where we see, through an opening quite similar to what we have here, a lady sitting near a bouquet; or Le tapis rouge, 1957, where again, through the same type of opening, we see a woman playing the piano. In Les Moniales, the walls are in fact pure planes without any molding or decoration, not even a cross hanging above, like the one we see behind the couple of Les noces d’or, 1966. Even for a convent, the abode of our Moniales is very stark and bleak. We will find a similar kind of interior in La visite des dames, 1971, where five well~dressed ladies with fancy hats, one even with a small dog, walk in an interior without communicating amongst themselves. The interior in question is reduced to a white wall with two openings. By looking attentively at the wall, you may see the vague form of two rectangles, white on white. One wonders immediately if Lemieux had included some of his paintings and then decided afterwards to cover them with white. After all, in his Self~portrait, 1974, he had some of his own easily recognizable paintings on the wall. But here it is not the case; there is no discernable difference in the layers of painting on the wall where one suspects the presence of pictures. In fact, what Lemieux has represented here is ladies visiting an empty art gallery, happy to show themselves off rather than look at paintings. In Les Moniales, the walls are empty as in La visite des dames. The two Sisters in the foreground do not seem to communicate, but the two in
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MOLLY JOAN LAMB BOBAK BCSFA CGP CPE CSGA CSPWC RCA
1922 ~
Venice oil on board, signed and on verso titled on the gallery label, circa 1959 40 x 60 in, 101.6 x 152.4 cm P ROVENANCE : Balzac Fine Arts, Toronto Private Collection, Montreal
L ITERATURE : Molly Lamb Bobak, Wild Flowers of Canada, Impressions and Sketches of a Field Artist, 1978, page 8 As early as the 1940s, when she was the only woman artist to be appointed an official war artist, Molly Lamb Bobak was drawn to
humanity in the scenes she painted, depicting groups of women on drill, in the mess hall or during leisure activities. Throughout her work, she often focused on the dynamic, constantly changing rhythm of crowd scenes, from bathers on beaches or street scenes full of people, such as in this scintillating painting. Expressionist brush~strokes create sensitive painterly surfaces, and both the sky and street are fluid, as if they are the same element ~ appropriate for the city of Venice, known for its waterways. Painter Joe Plaskett comments, “Her oils of people in crowds suggest an expansive, even extrovert, spirit. Life is celebrated as a carnival ~ the pulse of life is beating, the game is being played, the drama is enacted.” Images such as this would have been drawn from Bobak’s experience abroad after the war, which included a trip to France in 1950 on a French government scholarship and four years in Europe on a Canada Council grant.
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000
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MOLLY JOAN LAMB BOBAK BCSFA CGP CPE CSGA CSPWC RCA
1922 ~
Shediac, NB oil on board, signed and on verso signed and titled 40 x 60 in, 101.6 x 152.4 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal By descent to a Private Collection, Montreal Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, November 23, 2007, lot 199 Private Collection, Vancouver Molly Lamb Bobak studied at the Vancouver School of Art under Jack Shadbolt and Charles H. Scott, and went on to teach there from 1947 to 1950, after her return from her time abroad as an official war artist
in World War II. In 1960, she moved to New Brunswick, settling in Fredericton, and became an instructor at the University of New Brunswick. This diverse background led Bobak to become accomplished in varied subject matters ~ war scenes, floral still lifes and, as seen here, beachscapes. Shediac, NB vibrantly demonstrates her affection for this east~coast province by depicting a group of people enticed by the beach. Notably, the details of the individuals are insignificant as the bodies are blurred and in areas tangled, reduced to splashes of colour by expressionist brush~strokes. The flurry of warm sand, pink bodies and over~sized umbrellas executed in a seductive colour palette draws a connection to the balmy sands and turquoise waters of the Mediterranean. However, it is the moment of excitement and bliss and the rhythm of the crowd at this maritime location that Bobak harnesses so distinctively.
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000 58
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Jean Paul Lemieux, Les Ursulines oil on canvas, 1951, 24 x 30 in, 61 x 76 cm Gestion A.S.L. Inc., Copyright for Jean Paul Lemieux Collection Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec
the middle opening appear to exchange a few words. In a convent, it is improper to have lengthy conversations in the corridors. If you must speak, you must reduce it to a minimum, especially if you are in the dormitorium where each Sister has her cell, as they call their rooms. The two doors in darker tone that are visible suggest that we are in this section of the nunnery. Reduced to a minimum, the lack of communication seems to go well with the emptiness of the walls. The interior in this painting is more an inner space, resisting the solicitation of the senses in order to concentrate on the presence of God, as one could expect from a convent of contemplative Sisters. And could we not say the same of many Lemieux landscapes? Are they not a depiction of the
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Jean Paul Lemieux and his wife Madeleine Des Rosiers during the Musée du Québec’s (now the Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec) retrospective exhibition, fall 1967 Gestion A.S.L. Inc., Copyright for Jean Paul Lemieux
feeling created by the landscape, rather than the depiction of an actual landscape? Lemieux was a studio painter, working from memory, not a plein air painter putting his easel in front of the motif. Are his landscapes not a place of inaction, since the personage often found in the foreground does nothing in particular, just stands there? Can we not also speak here of contemplation? We thank François~Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
E STIMATE : $400,000 ~ 600,000 43
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SAMUEL BORENSTEIN CAS QMG
1908 ~ 1969
Street Scene oil on canvas, signed 18 x 24 in, 45.7 x 61 cm P ROVENANCE : Acquired directly from the Artist circa 1958 ~ 1960 by the present Private Collection, Montreal In 1921, Sam Borenstein escaped the aftermath of war in Europe by emigrating to Canada from Poland. Montreal was his studio base until he moved to Lac Brûlé in the Laurentians, also painting in nearby towns such as Val~David, Lac Marois and Ste~Agathe. Borenstein was known for his fiery temperament, and he greatly admired the outrageous, turbulent work of Chaim Soutine and the passion and vigour of Vincent van Gogh.
Friends with Group of Seven artist A.Y. Jackson, he spent much time with him in the Laurentians, exploring villages and painting together. However, Borenstein had developed his own unique painterly language, and an exuberant energy was at the core of his work. In Street Scene, he took the elements of a typical Quebec town and transformed them through the use of a strong colour palette and passionate, expressionist brush~strokes. The rich blue of the sky, foreground house and road gives the painting a liquid, flowing sensation throughout. Street Scene is an outstanding example of Borenstein’s fervid approach to art, which he considered his religion ~ his source of spiritual sustenance. The Yeshiva University Museum in New York is presenting a major retrospective exhibition entitled Sam Borenstein and the Colors of Montreal from February 6 to May 8, 2011.
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000
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PROPERTY OF VARIOUS COLLECTORS
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PAUL~ÉMILE BORDUAS AUTO CAS QMG RCA
1905 ~ 1960
Au coeur de la banquise oil on canvas, signed and dated 1955 and on verso titled and dated on the artist’s label and inscribed 1112 on the stretcher 23 x 30 1/8 in, 58.4 x 76.5 cm P ROVENANCE : Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, inventory #1112 Acquired from the above on November 29, 1962 for $2,000 through Gallery Moos, Toronto by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972 E.J. Hughes, Mouth of the Courtenay River, BC graphite on card, 1952, 15 x 18 in, 38.1 x 45.7 cm Sold sale of Canadian Post~War & Contemporary Art Heffel Fine Art Auction House, June 17, 2009, lot 5 Not for sale with this lot
effectively as well to bring the foreground and the middle~ground together ~ the row of pilings across the composition casts reflections on the water which also lead the eye into the heart of the painting. The differentiation in colour and verticality of some of the pilings also serves to engage the eye. Hughes has placed the brightest area of the painting ~ a small region bathed in sunlight ~ on the far shore that again brings us into the work. The use of bright colours on the building roofs and the yellow trim on the house at the left also enliven the distant shore. His treatment of the sky is particularly interesting. Dominated by an expansive cloudbank that extends right across the composition and concentrates our attention on the elements of the composition which occur below it, the expanse of blue above nevertheless allows us a metaphoric escape and alleviates any sense of claustrophobia which this grey cloud might induce. The composition as a whole has a great stillness to it and Hughes has cleverly introduced movement into the work through the passage of the tug and the rowboat it pulls behind it. The wake of the boat interrupts and animates the composition. Hughes has further enlivened the work through the inclusion of three people on the
E XHIBITED :
E.J. Hughes in his Duncan, BC studio May 26, 1978 On his easel is the1978 oil Looking South from Malahat Drive which is the same view as in Finlayson Arm, Saanich Inlet, lot 4 in this sale. Photograph: Vancouver Sun
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York The first Paul~Émile Borduas exhibition in New York took place in 1954 at the Gisèle Passedoit Gallery, from January 5 to 23. I have always suspected that the big advantage of this gallery for Borduas, who was freshly arrived in New York after having spent the summer in Provincetown, was that its director was a French lady. Borduas’s English was never very strong, and the possibility of making arrangements for his first exhibition in New York in French must have been considered a plus. Otherwise, his work did not appear to fit in with the figurative paintings habitually exhibited there. As a matter of fact, Borduas was the first to present abstract paintings at this gallery. He was fortunate that this exhibition attracted some attention. At the same time, Jean~Paul Riopelle was included in Younger European Painters, a big show organized by James Johnson Sweeney at the Guggenheim Museum, revealing what was happening in Europe after the war, which could be considered a challenge to “American type paintings”, in the language of Clement Greenberg.
tugboat. A First Nations woman is wrapped in a blue shawl and her child dressed in a brilliant yellow coat. The man piloting the boat is more somberly dressed and gazes fixedly at the landscape on the far shore. By including this human element, Hughes has given the work narrative and life but has, crucially, never wavered in his focus on the revealed landscape across the river. When Lawren Harris recommended that the National Gallery of Canada purchase Hughes’s 1950 canvas, Tugboats, Ladysmith Harbour, he noted in a letter, “It’s that kind of painting ~ factual, detailed, accurate, full of interest but its art quality transcends all of these.” The critic Robert Ayre noted a similar quality when he wrote of Hughes’s work in 1951: “He not only looks at the Canadian scene but feels it, with passion, and puts it down note for note, leaf for leaf and wave for wave, with the love and concentration of a ‘primitive’… The result of his passion and his labour is tremendous intensity.” We see this intensity and art quality in Mouth of the Courtenay River, characteristics that, as Dr. Stern commented, allow this image to “bridge time and space.”
E STIMATE : $500,000 ~ 700,000
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ALEXANDER COLVILLE PC CC
1920 ~
Study for Woman in Bathtub watercolour and pen on paper, signed and dated 5 April 1973 and on verso titled and dated on the Marlborough~Godard gallery label 10 3/4 x 9 1/4 in, 27.3 x 23.5 cm P ROVENANCE : Marlborough~Godard, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto
L ITERATURE : David Burnett, Colville, Art Gallery of Ontario, page 214, the 1973 acrylic Woman in Bathtub, in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, reproduced page 224 and another drawing for this painting entitled Study for Woman in Bathtub, dated March 7 ~ 9, 1973, reproduced page 222
Throughout his oeuvre, Alex Colville has produced paintings involving couples, using himself and his wife Rhoda as models. This drawing is a study for the well~known 1973 painting Woman in Bathtub, in which Colville stands in the room behind Rhoda in the bathtub. Although the setting is intimate, their separateness is emphasized. David Burnett writes, “Colville strongly believes that the strength of a relationship lies in the recognition of each person’s independence.” This belief is reflected in the painting, in which Rhoda gazes down into the water, whereas Colville’s focus is a mystery, as only his torso is visible. Colville customarily does a series of drawings for each painting, from loose graphite sketches through a series of progressively more finished works, and this work is close in composition to the final painting. The focus of this fine drawing is Rhoda and the bathtub and, through the use of a geometrical system, Colville has carefully worked out the proportions and placement of these elements for the painting. It is a striking work by this realist master, referencing the classic subject of a woman bathing, but as in his best work, it is an image subtly unsettling and mysterious rather than merely sensuous.
E STIMATE : $12,000 ~ 15,000
In 1955, the date of Au coeur de la banquise, Borduas was at the end of his New York sojourn. On the eve of moving to Paris, he was hoping to be represented by a much more interesting New York gallery ~ the Martha Jackson Gallery ~ situated then at 22 East 66 Street. In fact, at that time the Martha Jackson Gallery was not yet well known, having just opened its
Invoice for Paul~Émile Borduas’s Au coeur de la banquise Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, November 29, 1962
doors the year before. In 1954, a year prior to Borduas’s connection with the gallery, Martha Jackson had visited Europe, signing contracts with Karel Appel, Sam Francis and John Hultberg. Shortly after Borduas’s arrangement with the gallery, Jackson organized a successful Willem de Kooning exhibition. We have found in Borduas’s papers a short note dated September 20, 1955, in which he declared to have left in consignment “4 paintings” at the Martha Jackson Gallery. We know that one of them was Blue Canada, a well~known painting from 1955. We also know of another one of the same date titled Sans nom, which is now in the collection of the Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal. They were sent back to the family of Borduas by the gallery at its closing in 1969, from its better~known location at 32 East 69 Street in New York. The first painting, Blue Canada, was given by Mrs. Borduas to Lucien Bélair, the tutor of the Borduas children, and the other was part of a lot acquired in 1973 by the Corporation of National Museums of Canada and then deposited at the Musée d’art contemporain.
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Seconde exposition des Automatistes au 75 ouest, rue Sherbrooke, chez les Gauvreau (Second Automatist exhibit at 75 Sherbrooke Street West at the Gauvreaus [with Paul~Émile Borduas seated]), February 1947 Silver print, Brownie Kodak. Photograph: Maurice Perron Collection Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec
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The two others mentioned on the Borduas note had remained a mystery until now. The discovery of Au coeur de la banquise probably reveals the existence of one of them and allows us to add a new title to Borduas’s catalogue raisonné. According to the Martha Jackson Gallery Archives, Au coeur de la banquise was sold in 1962 to a Canadian collector, with the help of Gallery Moos in Toronto. It has not changed hands since.
Is it too much to suggest that, even if these titles were always given after the fact and were never the result of a specific project defined beforehand, they nevertheless expressed a certain nostalgia for his Blue Canada on the part of Borduas? This seems to be confirmed by many other titles of the year before (1954) which referred to snow or to frost, like Étang recouvert de givre, Jardin sous la neige, Miroir de givre and Neiges rebondissantes.
But what about the painting itself? And first, what about its title? The “banquise” is an ice~floe, that is to say an immense bank of floating ice, from which icebergs detach to drift in the ocean. But in this painting, Borduas brings us to the heart of the ice~pack, as he did in the 1950 painting Au coeur du rocher, exhibited in 1951 at The Art Gallery of Toronto. There is even a 1955 painting entitled Translucidité, as if this preoccupation with ice, with transparency, was part of Borduas’s unconscious at the time. In all these cases, Borduas seems to challenge the idea of Henry More (1614 ~ 1687), an English philosopher at Cambridge known to Isaac Newton, who defined matter as impenetrable! Here, on the contrary, we enter into this world of blue and white ice, a world without borders, seemingly expanding in every direction. We could say that Borduas has represented the ice~pack, but not in the sense of giving us a view of it, or even less, an imitation of what it is. He presented it with a difference, as if he were giving us a new way to imagine it. He represented it from an impossible angle, as it could exist only in the mind. Contrary to matter, mind is penetrable, our old philosopher would have said!
Formally, the all~overness of American painting had its influence on Borduas. The entire field of Au coeur de la banquise is occupied. It is hard to focus on one spot rather than another ~ all of them demand our attention. And the whole hierarchy between the elements which existed in his Automatist period has gone. Everything is given almost equal presence, equal strength. It is true that we do not have the feeling, as in a Jackson Pollock painting for instance, that the image could expand much beyond the frame of the painting. The strokes of paint are often directed from the periphery towards the centre. For Borduas, a painting remained a self~contained object. On the other hand, the way he handled his medium, with the heavy impasto and the dominant white accented with small areas of black and red, was unique to Borduas. At the end of his stay in New York, he had completely renewed himself. When he moved to Paris, this would be the kind of paintings he would show there, before shifting to the Black and White works. We thank François~Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
E STIMATE : $200,000 ~ 300,000
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EDWARD JOHN (E.J.) HUGHES BCSFA CGP OC RCA
1913 ~ 2007
Mouth of the Courtenay River oil on canvas, signed and dated 1952 and on verso titled and inscribed V.TH.W.LD. 24, 29 Mar 52; 12, 18, 25 (med) Apr 30 x 40 in, 76.2 x 101.6 cm P ROVENANCE : Acquired by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia, Vancouver, through the guidance of Dr. Jack L. Parnell
L ITERATURE : E.J. Hughes, Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC graphite cartoon, 1947, 20 x 30 in, 50.8 x 76.2 cm In the Barbeau Foundation Collection; not for sale with this lot
such close proximity ~ but this underlying fiction is hardly relevant to our enjoyment of this image. It has the ring of truth and is a careful balance of realism and compositional invention. Hughes’s cartoon for this work, which is in a private collection, includes two boys in the left foreground. Passengers on the boats themselves have replaced this human element in the painting. Although miniscule, the figures on both boats provide an important narrative element to the work. The replacement of the two boys by a log, which provides direction to lead the eye into the painting, allows Hughes the opportunity to enrich the detail on the boats in mid~ground. The fact that the main subject of the work ~ the two boats ~ is in the upper half of the canvas and is partially obscured by the elements in the foreground ~ water, boat, rocky islets, seagulls ~ suggests the audacious confidence of Hughes’s compositional strategy. By including these people, he enlivens and humanizes what might otherwise be a somewhat forbidding scene; note, for example, the tiny group of passengers on the bow of the rear ship, something that also does not appear in the cartoon. One of the striking things about this work is the sense of movement in it. Despite the fact that the smoke of the leading boat seems to be made of black and white cotton wool, the visual rhythms of the waves, the foaming seas around the boats and the proximity of the lead vessel to the edge of the picture frame all suggest forward motion. The curvature of the shoreline, echoed by the shapes of the boats, also provides a sense of momentum. Hughes has created a work that has both an immediate presence and a timeless, somewhat otherworldly quality. While boats such as these are distant memories on the coastal ferry routes, the curious, unnatural use of light also gives the work a certain sense of unreality. The bright sides of both boats and the highlights on the rocks suggest that the main source of light is in the viewer’s space, but then there is the sky which lightens towards the horizon line which suggests that light comes from the back of
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E.J. Hughes as an official War Artist George Metcalf Archival Collection CWM 20040082~020 Photograph © Canadian War Museum
the painting. In fact, light seems to come from both directions and Hughes has exploited the distant light to provide dramatic silhouettes for the trees and mountains, and the light from the front of the pictorial space to highlight the details of the boats, the patterns of the waves and the amusingly large seagulls. The work is richly evocative of the maritime history of the coast, the memory of these coastal steamers and the vivid, natural beauty that makes the coastal waters of southern British Columbia one of the most beloved regions of the country. Hughes’s great achievement is that it is impossible to think of this region without thinking of his images. Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC is quintessentially British Columbia and shows Hughes at his most skilled. The work has an almost uncanny perfection; take any element away and the work would be lessened. Here Hughes weaves together observation and art to create a compelling and believable vision of the world.
E STIMATE : $700,000 ~ 900,000
Robert Ayre, “New Exhibitions Bring out a Galaxy of Colourful Works,” Montreal Star, October 27, 1951, page 16 Doris Shadbolt, E.J. Hughes, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1967, reproduced, unpaginated Max Stern, Edward J. Hughes, R.C.A., Exhibition, Dominion Gallery, 1982, pages 3 ~ 4 Ian M. Thom, E.J. Hughes, Vancouver Art Gallery, 2002, page 108, reproduced page 109 Jacques Barbeau, A Journey with E.J. Hughes, 2005, the related 2003 watercolour entitled Mouth of the Courtenay River reproduced page 110 Canadian Post~War & Contemporary Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, June 17, 2009, the related 1952 drawing entitled Mouth of the Courtenay River reproduced page 12, lot #5 The E.J. Hughes Album, The Paintings Volume I, 1932 ~ 1991, 2011, reproduced page 17
E XHIBITED : Vancouver Art Gallery, 21st Annual BC Artists’ Exhibition, 1952, price $150 Vancouver Art Gallery, E.J. Hughes, 1967, catalogue #23, traveling to York University, Toronto Vancouver Art Gallery, E.J. Hughes, 2003, traveling to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
In the post~war artistic life of Canada, E.J. Hughes emerged as a distinct individual. His particular vision and style of painting made him quite unique. As Lawren Harris noted of Hughes’s work to H.O. McCurry of the National Gallery Archives, “Nothing quite like it has been done here or anywhere in the country.”
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Despite some early successes ~ by 1951, without a dealer, but with the support and encouragement of Lawren Harris, Hughes had sold work to the University of British Columbia, the Vancouver Art Gallery, Hart House and the National Gallery of Canada ~ Hughes’s labour~intensive process and the relatively few sales meant that he and his wife were struggling. Hughes, fearing that he would be unable to properly support them, contemplated rejoining the armed forces or becoming a postman. Fortunately, fate intervened in the form of the dealer Dr. Max Stern of the Dominion Gallery, Montreal.
mixed media on paper, signed and dated 1962 9 x 12 in, 22.9 x 30.5 cm
Stern, on a visit to Vancouver to seek art and artists for his gallery, happened to see some work by Hughes on display at the University of British Columbia. He was struck by the work; as he later noted, “Hughes’s renderings of trees, forest and landscapes seemed to bridge time and space for me.” In 1951, Stern bought all the paintings then in the studio and arranged to buy all of the artist’s future work. This gave Hughes a modest but assured income and allowed him to remain a painter. It was doubtless the confidence of a more secure economic future that allowed Hughes to make 1952 a particularly productive year. Still working from his extensive collection of drawings done in 1947 ~ 1948, Hughes produced an important body of work. Mouth of the Courtenay River is one of the most interesting of the boat paintings of that year. Here we see, not a ferry, but a small river tugboat and a dramatic revelatory vista of the landscape along the Courtenay River on Vancouver Island. Hughes has carefully constructed his pictorial space to lead our eyes and imaginations into his world. By implication, the viewer is placed on the near shore, and Hughes has provided architectural reference points with fragments of buildings at the lower left and lower right of the composition. Both of these elements tend to push the eye into the centre of the composition, and the large stump on the shore at the lower right further emphasizes this movement. Hughes uses light and shadow
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JEAN~PHILIPPE DALLAIRE QMG
1916 ~ 1965
Four Works a) Poèm chinois III
b) Poèm chinois H mixed media on paper, signed and dated 1962 5 x 8 in, 12.5 x 20.3 cm
c) Poèm chinois A mixed media on paper, signed and dated 1962 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 in, 19 x 13.5 cm
d) Poèm chinois G mixed media on paper, signed and dated 1962 5 1/4 x 8 1/4 in, 14 x 20.5 cm
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P ROVENANCE : Galerie Dresdnere, Montreal and Toronto, inventory #1171, 1180, 1179 and 1173 Acquired on April 11, 1963 for $350 by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972 In 1959, Jean~Philippe Dallaire returned to Vence in his beloved region in the south of France; he remained there until his untimely passing in 1965. These four charismatic paintings are characteristic of his works from this period, which were influenced by the artist’s remarkable surroundings. The brilliant light of the area which mesmerized Dallaire has been transposed into these last works he produced while in Vence. Please note: additional images of all four mixed media works in this lot can be viewed at www.heffel.com.
E STIMATE : $6,000 ~ 8,000
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HENRIETTE FAUTEUX~MASSÉ AANFM AUTO
1924 ~ 2005
Cosmos mixed media on paper on board, signed and on verso signed, titled and dated 1963 on a label 16 x 16 1/2 in, 40.6 x 41.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie Camille Hébert, Montreal, inventory #HFM 27 Acquired on April 4, 1963 for $75 by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972 Henriette Fauteux~Massé’s first foray into the arts was as a dancer; it was not until she was 17 that she began painting. She painted in a traditional
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landscape style until 1952, when she received a scholarship to study at the André Lhote studio in Paris. Following her return to Montreal, her artistic vision was revolutionized and, from 1954 to 1970, she painted solely abstract work.
E STIMATE : $4,000 ~ 6,000
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RITA LETENDRE ARCA OC QMG
1928 ~
Rencontre en flammé oil on canvas, signed and dated 1962 84 x 42 in, 213.3 x 106.7 cm P ROVENANCE : Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
L ITERATURE : Gunda Lambton, Stealing the Show: Seven Women Artists in Canadian Public Art, 1994 The National Gallery of Canada, Cybermuse, a related work entitled Atara, 1963, reproduced at http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/ search/artwork_e.jsp?mkey=910 (accessed February 21, 2011) One of the most distinguished living artists in Canada, Rita Letendre is a recipient of the Order of Quebec (2002) and became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2005. In 2010 she was honoured with the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. Rencontre en flammé comes from a remarkable earlier period. It was painted soon after Letendre’s solo exhibition at the Musée des beaux~arts de Montréal in 1961 and at a crucial time in her long and notable career, a stage during which she was starting to be known and widely exhibited, to paint full time, and to travel in Europe and in Israel (1962 ~ 1964). A canvas from this year was included in Italy’s Spoleto Festival in 1962. She was awarded a gold medal at Italy’s Piccola Europa exhibition in this period. Letendre’s paintings of the 1960s speak passionately of their nascence in the revolutionary aesthetic and social contexts of the Automatists. She met and exhibited with the group in the 1950s and never lost the commitment to high~energy abstraction, even as her work turned towards geometry in subsequent years when she showed with the artists who later formed Quebec’s equally influential group of abstractionists, the Plasticiens. Rencontre en flammé generates its expressive power through strong contrasts of colour, texture and especially of light and dark. Like most works by the Automatists, it trades on the gesture and precision of the palette knife to delineate and separate colours and forms. Some passages are smooth and slick while others have almost a cutting edge. The unusual vertical format of this painting might at first seem to indicate a hierarchy or evolution in the development of the one white and the two blue and white motifs that dance through its central axis, but Letendre is careful not to display any evolution in these shapes or to confine these forms within any sort of pattern or grid. They are free. They seem to rip
Rita Letendre, 1965 Photograph: Kosso Eloul, courtesy of Rita Letendre
themselves joyously from the midnight~black ground and to fly exuberantly past the flame~like red, yellow and orange tendrils with which they are structurally akin. While the painting as a whole is crepuscular, the strong contrast between the fiery surrounding forms and the cool blue and white central elements speaks of some sort of emergence. Letendre’s Rencontre en flammé is nothing short of primordial in its power. While such creative potency may be universal, Letendre, who is of First Nations (Abenaki) and Québecois descent, has claimed that her preference for strong tonal contrast stems from her Abenaki heritage. We thank Mark Cheetham, Professor of Art History at the University of Toronto, for contributing the above essay.
E STIMATE : $70,000 ~ 90,000
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RITA LETENDRE ARCA OC QMG
1928 ~
Les nuits oil on canvas, signed and dated 1962 and on verso signed, titled and dated 36 1/2 x 49 1/2 in, 92.7 x 125.7 cm P ROVENANCE : M. Gérard Lortie, Montreal Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
L ITERATURE : The National Gallery of Canada, Cybermuse, a related work entitled Atara, 1963, reproduced at http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/ search/artwork_e.jsp?mkey=910 (accessed February 21, 2011) Painted during an intense and pivotal period in Rita Letendre’s distinguished career, Les nuits is one of several images from the early 1960s that show both her connection to the most radical currents in Canadian art of the time and her independent style of abstract painting. She studied under Paul~Émile Borduas in Montreal and exhibited with
83 the Automatists in the 1950s. Some years later, Letendre exhibited with the artists who later formed Quebec’s equally influential group of abstractionists, the Plasticiens. Les nuits articulates a powerful visual language that is also developed in related paintings such as Atara, 1963, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, and Rencontre en flammé, 1962, lot 62 in this sale. These canvases share a bold contrast of light and dark that Letendre employs to create a cave~like depth. Against these deep and mysterious areas she opposes a playful and electrifying blue and white motif that is surrounded by flame~like forms. While these elements are used in several works, each painting is strikingly individual because of the ways that the central forms behave. Les nuits is especially dynamic, with the left~of~centre blue figure seeming to extend itself to the right by flinging a small blue messenger into the void. Letendre’s gesture with the palette knife is clearly visible here, yet the shape takes on its own life. The canvas suggests a struggle of forms but also registers the ultimate emergence of the blue motif. Les nuits implies the presence of primordial forces. We thank Mark Cheetham, Professor of Art History at the University of Toronto, for contributing the above essay.
E STIMATE : $40,000 ~ 60,000
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JEAN~PAUL RIOPELLE AUTO CAS OC QMG RCA SCA
1923 ~ 2002
Lumière du nord oil on canvas, signed and on verso titled, dated 1957 and inscribed B2 18 x 21 5/8 in, 45.7 x 54.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie Camille Hébert, Montreal Acquired on April 4, 1963 for $2,000 by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
L ITERATURE : Gilbert Érouart, Riopelle In Conversation, translated by Donald Winkler, with an interview by Fernand Séguin, 1995, page 36
E XHIBITED : Galerie Camille Hébert, Montreal, Riopelle, January 14 ~ February 6, 1963, catalogue #1 Jean~Paul Riopelle was the most internationally acclaimed Canadian artist of his generation. His impeccable credentials as a radical painter began in Quebec and include studying with Paul~Émile Borduas, membership in the Automatists from the 1940s, and being a signatory to the liberatory cultural manifesto Refus global of 1948. In Europe, he attracted the attention of Surrealist leader André Breton and, at his invitation, was the only Canadian to show at the International Exhibition of Surrealism in France in 1947. While Riopelle lived in Paris from 1947 until returning to Quebec much later in his life, Lumière du nord’s title perhaps suggests his constant affinity for Canada, even during the decade when, in France, the explosive strokes and prismatic spectrum of colour that we witness in this canvas ~ applied vigorously with the palette knife ~ became his signature style. Riopelle’s work from this defining period was central to the Lyrical Abstraction movement developing in France in the 1950s. His wide recognition at this time extended to his presence at
85 the São Paulo Bienal in 1951 and 1955 and the Venice Biennale in 1954 and 1962. Riopelle often expressed his admiration for Claude Monet’s late paintings of water lilies. We would not confuse Lumière du nord with Monet’s evanescent visions of water, plants, reflections and hue from his pond in Giverny, yet Riopelle’s painting extends the concatenation of nature’s procreative forces into a dynamic but ultimately clear whole. The painting abstracts from the appearances of nature as Monet’s do not, yet Riopelle was never doctrinaire about his method: “There’s only one thing you must not do,” he has said, “and that’s to live for abstraction. You must live through things.” His work was never as literary as the Surrealists would have liked. It was abstraction based on nature in a way that Monet himself might have appreciated. It is above all light that Riopelle lived through and that lives in the dramatic surface of Lumière du nord. The bold white forms that burst out from the centre of his composition do not form a motif or figure so much as a force field. With power, though not aggression, they extend over and combine in places with the green, raspberry and blue hues of the canvas. Lumière du nord contains passages of relative tranquility ~ the smooth and quite undisturbed zone of green along the bottom and the equally calm blue corner in the upper right ~ which contrast effectively with areas of passionate painterly activity focused in the centre of the work. Riopelle defies scale in his paintings; one can with equal pleasure and impact look very closely at the interactions of forms and colours and stand back to perceive the remarkable power of the whole. In this painting, Riopelle characteristically contains a formidable procreative force within a relatively confined surface. We thank Mark Cheetham, Professor of Art History at the University of Toronto, for contributing the above essay. This work will be included as an addendum to Volume II in Yseult Riopelle’s catalogue raisonné on the artist’s work, inventory #1957.136H.
E STIMATE : $90,000 ~ 120,000
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LAWREN STEWART HARRIS ALC BCSFA CGP FCA G7 OSA RPS TPG
1885 ~ 1970
Sketch Painted in Santa Fe, New Mexico oil on board, signed and on verso signed, titled, dated 1944 and on a label 1938 ~ 1940, inscribed Bess Harris Collection / Sketch / C11 and inscribed on a label Lawren Harris Collection of Sketches and Drawings (Selected by Bess Harris) / Collection #64 / National Gallery of Canada, and signed on the label by Bess Harris 14 7/8 x 16 1/4 in, 37.8 x 41.3 cm P ROVENANCE : Collection of Bess Harris Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
L ITERATURE : Bess Harris and R.G.P. Colgrove, Lawren Harris, 1969, the 1941 canvas Composition #1, in the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, reproduced page 105 Dennis Reid, Atma Buddhi Manas: The Later Work of Lawren S. Harris, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1985, the 1941 canvas Composition #1, in the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, reproduced page 79 Peter Larisey, Light for a Cold Land, Lawren Harris’s Work and Life ~ An Interpretation, 1993, the 1941 canvas Composition #1, in the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, reproduced plate 44 In 1938, Sante Fe, New Mexico was an important artist colony and, during a visit, Lawren Harris was so enthralled with its creative atmosphere that he soon moved there. Finding a group of artists who believed, as he did, in a spiritual form of abstraction, he became a co~founder of the Transcendental Painting Group. This stunning oil sketch incorporates all the principles and pictorial elements important to Harris at that time. Cool and cerebral, it is painted with light~filled planes from which emerge precise geometric shapes. At the top floats a hieratic form ~ the triangle ~ a form much used by Harris going back to his Rocky Mountain landscapes, but now distilled to an abstract symbol. It is the embodiment of what Harris sought ~ the pure realm of the spirit. In the fall of 1940, the discovery that funds could not be transferred out of Canada due to World War II forced Harris’s return to Canada. The masterwork canvas of this image, Composition #1, in the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, is believed to be the first painting he produced after moving to Vancouver. The label on verso of this painting refers to a project by Bess Harris who selected works for the National Gallery of Canada, of which this work was one. However, this project never came to fruition.
E STIMATE : $40,000 ~ 60,000
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JACQUES GODEFROY DE TONNANCOUR ARCA CAS CGP PY QMG
1917 ~ 2005
Fall Landscape oil on board, signed and dated 1959 16 x 23 3/4 in, 40.6 x 60.3 cm P ROVENANCE : Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972 Alfred Pellan was the leader of the Prisme d’yeux; however, it was Jacques de Tonnancour who was the author of their manifesto, which was written in 1948 and signed by 13 artists. Prisme d’yeux was not intended to be a cohesive movement; rather it was seen as an alternative to Automatism. The group sought to be more inclusive of the varying aesthetic styles of art and called for an art that was free of restrictive ideology.
E STIMATE : $4,000 ~ 6,000
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67
67
RITA LETENDRE
L ITERATURE :
ARCA OC QMG
Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2007, page 180
1928 ~
Un cauchemar
P ROVENANCE :
With their exploration of movement and form, Rita Letendre’s paintings of the early 1960s began to distinguish themselves from her earlier works of the Automatist period. Roald Nasgaard states of these works, “A sense of turbulent drama was intensified by brighter colours pushing, as if seeking liberation against masses of black.”
Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
E STIMATE : $9,000 ~ 12,000
oil on canvas, signed and dated 1961 and on verso inscribed 015 12 1/4 x 14 1/8 in, 31.1 x 35.9 cm
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JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
E XHIBITED :
AANFM RCA
Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal
1923 ~ 1999
Icone oil on canvas, signed and on verso signed and titled, circa 1963 12 x 11 in, 30.5 x 27.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
In the fall of 1963, Jean McEwen traveled to Greece, visiting Crete and the island of Rhodes. McEwen was intrigued by the Byzantine icons he saw there and decided to bring one home as a souvenir. This icon was influential in his subsequent work, as seen in this radiant painting, aptly titled Icone.
E STIMATE : $7,000 ~ 9,000
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ALFRED PELLAN CAS OC PY QMG RCA
1906 ~ 1988
Soucoupes volantes oil on board, signed and on verso signed, titled and inscribed 294 12 7/8 x 17 5/8 in, 32.7 x 44.8 cm P ROVENANCE : Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
L ITERATURE : Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2007, page 59 Alfred Pellan studied, lived and worked in Paris from 1926. On his return to Canada in 1940 after the German invasion of Paris, he was hailed as a hero who would aid in ending conservatism and academism in Quebec.
Artist Jacques de Tonnancour claimed, “What French~Canadian art needed in order to be resurrected after these centuries of lethargic slumber was a vigorous blow from the outside and Pellan provided that blow.” In 1948, Pellan founded the Prisme d’yeux group to encourage diversity and counter the dominant influence of the Automatists. Pellan’s work was informed by various European influences such as Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Primitivism and, most significantly, Surrealism. Soucoupes volantes, or Flying Saucers, embodies Pellan’s unique use of associative dream imagery. Groups of people express amazement at these strange craft in the skies, depicted by ovals and round forms activated by an inner energy force. Typical of Pellan is the flamboyant use of colour and the depiction of the transformative space of the unconscious. Inventive and fantastic, Soucoupes volantes contains a dimension of interaction and transformation between human experience and the unknown.
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000
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PROPERTY OF VARIOUS COLLECTORS
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YVES GAUCHER ARCA
1934 ~ 2000
RB / PS3 acrylic on canvas, on verso signed, titled and dated 1990 20 x 48 in, 50.8 x 121.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Victoria In 1962, Yves Gaucher made his first trip to Paris. It was during this pivotal time abroad that he realized his artistic alliance was not with the French artists, but instead with the contemporary New York artists such
as Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman. Gaucher’s understanding of the formalist principles demonstrated in Rothko and Newman’s work ~ primarily colour, form, line and volume ~ provided a basis for the type of viewer reaction he sought in his own works. He began to explore such formalist characteristics in his own paintings by avoiding detail, focal points or visual resting areas. RB / PS3 features the truncated triangle shape that recurred in Gaucher’s later work, which is suggestive of Newman’s work of the late 1960s. This work is an excellent example of Gaucher’s refined yet powerful compositions, holding the viewer’s gaze with the pale, ethereal radiance of mauve and grey which is anchored by a powerful dark purple.
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000
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EDWARD JOHN (E.J.) HUGHES BCSFA CGP OC RCA
1913 ~ 2007
Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC oil on canvas, signed and dated 1948 36 1/8 x 48 1/8 in, 91.7 x 122.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Acquired from the Artist by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia, Vancouver, through the guidance of Dr. Jack L. Parnell
L ITERATURE : Doris Shadbolt, E.J. Hughes, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1967, reproduced, unpaginated Ian M. Thom, E.J. Hughes, Vancouver Art Gallery, 2002, page 81, reproduced page 83 and on the front cover, the related drawing reproduced page 82 and on the back cover Jacques Barbeau, A Journey with E.J. Hughes, 2005, the related drawing reproduced page 2 The E.J. Hughes Album, The Paintings Volume I, 1932 ~ 1991, 2011, reproduced page 10
E XHIBITED : Vancouver Art Gallery, E.J. Hughes, 1967, catalogue #8, traveling to York University, Toronto Vancouver Art Gallery, E.J. Hughes, 2003, traveling to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Although E.J. Hughes trained as an artist at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts, graduating in 1933, his career did not really blossom until he was able to devote himself exclusively to painting. This turn of events came about after he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Artillery in 1939. Initially a gunner, in 1940 he was made an army artist and then he was appointed an official war artist in 1942. For the first time in his life ~ despite his major earlier accomplishments as a printmaker and muralist ~ Hughes’s only job was to make art. The War Artists program was relatively open in what it allowed the artists to depict and, although Hughes did not get to choose where he was assigned, what he did in those locations was largely up to him. This meant that for the first time in his life he traveled beyond the borders of British Columbia and, while stationed in Petawawa, Ontario, Alaska, England and finally Ottawa, Hughes was exposed to a wide variety of artistic influences. To start with, his work as a war artist was highly detailed; compositions such as The Sergeants’ Mess, 1941, in the Canadian War Museum, were based on dozens of detailed drawings. Gradually, Hughes’s style changed and by the time he was producing the later war images, such as Patrol Dismissing in Camp, 1945, in the Canadian War Museum, his application of paint was bolder, the forms were more strongly delineated and the use of colour was more vivid. The paintings had taken on what might be described as a more “primitive” quality. No one should imagine, however, that this quality of naiveté was anything other than intentional on Hughes’s part. He felt that these less finished compositions had a greater immediacy and power than
the more polished works that he had begun the war with. His approach to the figure within portraiture also changed ~ a comparison of his Painter’s Mother, 1939, in a private collection, with the Portrait of Mrs. Hughes, 1945, in the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, reveals a similar shift. When Hughes was demobilized from the forces in 1946, he was faced with a dilemma: how to support himself and his wife in British Columbia by being a painter. His initial idea ~ that the couple would run a Victoria boarding house, with Hughes being the handyman and caretaker, and Mrs. Hughes the homemaker, leaving him some spare time to paint ~ proved impractical; also, Hughes found the capital city too noisy and disruptive to his process. His working method, which had been developed and refined during the war years, demanded intensive work as a draftsman and a painter. Before beginning a painting, Hughes worked on a series of drawings and developed these into a cartoon of the final composition. This cartoon was then transferred to the canvas by means of squaring~up, a small square on the cartoon becoming a bigger one on the canvas. This painstaking and slow process meant that Hughes was not able to produce many works in a year. That fact, combined with the extremely limited market for paintings following the war, meant that his living situation was somewhat precarious. Fortunately, Hughes’s great skills as a draftsman had not gone unnoticed and in 1947, based on the recommendation of Lawren Harris, Hughes was awarded the first Emily Carr Scholarship, which allowed him to travel the province to pursue his drawing practice. The detailed drawings which he made on location were then used as the basis of cartoons and paintings back in his studio. Hughes was able to divide the scholarship between 1947 and 1948 and made sketching trips in both years, working on Vancouver Island. Having spent most of his life on the coast of British Columbia, Hughes was very familiar with the coastal steamers that sailed between Victoria, Nanaimo and Vancouver. He greatly admired these ships, and in later life lamented their passing from the coast, something that occurred when the government ferry system came into being. Hughes’s coastal boat paintings have long been admired as amongst his strongest and most accomplished images, and Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC is certainly one of the finest of these compositions. This wonderful painting is based on drawings that Hughes executed on these early sketching trips. Hughes’s work was always based on his sketches and the careful colour notes that he recorded on the scene; his final paintings are not, however, reproductions of reality. Rather, they are interpretations of that reality that Hughes has nuanced in a variety of ways ~ strengthening an accent here, defining a rhythm there and providing, in all the early work, a startling clarity of vision to the world. These are paintings which are designed and considered carefully; nothing is left to chance and every element is quite deliberate. When one considers that a painting such as Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC took six to eight months of twelve~hour days to paint, the level of vivacity and movement in the composition is quite remarkable. What Hughes gives us is a scene that likely never occurred ~ it is highly doubtful that two coastal boats would be sailing in the same direction in
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RITA LETENDRE ARCA OC QMG
1928 ~
Rencontre en flammé oil on canvas, signed and dated 1962 84 x 42 in, 213.3 x 106.7 cm P ROVENANCE : Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972
L ITERATURE : Gunda Lambton, Stealing the Show: Seven Women Artists in Canadian Public Art, 1994 The National Gallery of Canada, Cybermuse, a related work entitled Atara, 1963, reproduced at http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/ search/artwork_e.jsp?mkey=910 (accessed February 21, 2011) One of the most distinguished living artists in Canada, Rita Letendre is a recipient of the Order of Quebec (2002) and became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2005. In 2010 she was honoured with the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. Rencontre en flammé comes from a remarkable earlier period. It was painted soon after Letendre’s solo exhibition at the Musée des beaux~arts de Montréal in 1961 and at a crucial time in her long and notable career, a stage during which she was starting to be known and widely exhibited, to paint full time, and to travel in Europe and in Israel (1962 ~ 1964). A canvas from this year was included in Italy’s Spoleto Festival in 1962. She was awarded a gold medal at Italy’s Piccola Europa exhibition in this period. Letendre’s paintings of the 1960s speak passionately of their nascence in the revolutionary aesthetic and social contexts of the Automatists. She met and exhibited with the group in the 1950s and never lost the commitment to high~energy abstraction, even as her work turned towards geometry in subsequent years when she showed with the artists who later formed Quebec’s equally influential group of abstractionists, the Plasticiens. Rencontre en flammé generates its expressive power through strong contrasts of colour, texture and especially of light and dark. Like most works by the Automatists, it trades on the gesture and precision of the palette knife to delineate and separate colours and forms. Some passages are smooth and slick while others have almost a cutting edge. The unusual vertical format of this painting might at first seem to indicate a hierarchy or evolution in the development of the one white and the two blue and white motifs that dance through its central axis, but Letendre is careful not to display any evolution in these shapes or to confine these forms within any sort of pattern or grid. They are free. They seem to rip
Rita Letendre, 1965 Photograph: Kosso Eloul, courtesy of Rita Letendre
themselves joyously from the midnight~black ground and to fly exuberantly past the flame~like red, yellow and orange tendrils with which they are structurally akin. While the painting as a whole is crepuscular, the strong contrast between the fiery surrounding forms and the cool blue and white central elements speaks of some sort of emergence. Letendre’s Rencontre en flammé is nothing short of primordial in its power. While such creative potency may be universal, Letendre, who is of First Nations (Abenaki) and Québecois descent, has claimed that her preference for strong tonal contrast stems from her Abenaki heritage. We thank Mark Cheetham, Professor of Art History at the University of Toronto, for contributing the above essay.
E STIMATE : $70,000 ~ 90,000
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EDWARD JOHN (E.J.) HUGHES BCSFA CGP OC RCA
1913 ~ 2007
Mouth of the Courtenay River oil on canvas, signed and dated 1952 and on verso titled and inscribed V.TH.W.LD. 24, 29 Mar 52; 12, 18, 25 (med) Apr 30 x 40 in, 76.2 x 101.6 cm P ROVENANCE : Acquired by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia, Vancouver, through the guidance of Dr. Jack L. Parnell
L ITERATURE : E.J. Hughes, Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC graphite cartoon, 1947, 20 x 30 in, 50.8 x 76.2 cm In the Barbeau Foundation Collection; not for sale with this lot
such close proximity ~ but this underlying fiction is hardly relevant to our enjoyment of this image. It has the ring of truth and is a careful balance of realism and compositional invention. Hughes’s cartoon for this work, which is in a private collection, includes two boys in the left foreground. Passengers on the boats themselves have replaced this human element in the painting. Although miniscule, the figures on both boats provide an important narrative element to the work. The replacement of the two boys by a log, which provides direction to lead the eye into the painting, allows Hughes the opportunity to enrich the detail on the boats in mid~ground. The fact that the main subject of the work ~ the two boats ~ is in the upper half of the canvas and is partially obscured by the elements in the foreground ~ water, boat, rocky islets, seagulls ~ suggests the audacious confidence of Hughes’s compositional strategy. By including these people, he enlivens and humanizes what might otherwise be a somewhat forbidding scene; note, for example, the tiny group of passengers on the bow of the rear ship, something that also does not appear in the cartoon. One of the striking things about this work is the sense of movement in it. Despite the fact that the smoke of the leading boat seems to be made of black and white cotton wool, the visual rhythms of the waves, the foaming seas around the boats and the proximity of the lead vessel to the edge of the picture frame all suggest forward motion. The curvature of the shoreline, echoed by the shapes of the boats, also provides a sense of momentum. Hughes has created a work that has both an immediate presence and a timeless, somewhat otherworldly quality. While boats such as these are distant memories on the coastal ferry routes, the curious, unnatural use of light also gives the work a certain sense of unreality. The bright sides of both boats and the highlights on the rocks suggest that the main source of light is in the viewer’s space, but then there is the sky which lightens towards the horizon line which suggests that light comes from the back of
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E.J. Hughes as an official War Artist George Metcalf Archival Collection CWM 20040082~020 Photograph © Canadian War Museum
the painting. In fact, light seems to come from both directions and Hughes has exploited the distant light to provide dramatic silhouettes for the trees and mountains, and the light from the front of the pictorial space to highlight the details of the boats, the patterns of the waves and the amusingly large seagulls. The work is richly evocative of the maritime history of the coast, the memory of these coastal steamers and the vivid, natural beauty that makes the coastal waters of southern British Columbia one of the most beloved regions of the country. Hughes’s great achievement is that it is impossible to think of this region without thinking of his images. Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC is quintessentially British Columbia and shows Hughes at his most skilled. The work has an almost uncanny perfection; take any element away and the work would be lessened. Here Hughes weaves together observation and art to create a compelling and believable vision of the world.
E STIMATE : $700,000 ~ 900,000
Robert Ayre, “New Exhibitions Bring out a Galaxy of Colourful Works,” Montreal Star, October 27, 1951, page 16 Doris Shadbolt, E.J. Hughes, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1967, reproduced, unpaginated Max Stern, Edward J. Hughes, R.C.A., Exhibition, Dominion Gallery, 1982, pages 3 ~ 4 Ian M. Thom, E.J. Hughes, Vancouver Art Gallery, 2002, page 108, reproduced page 109 Jacques Barbeau, A Journey with E.J. Hughes, 2005, the related 2003 watercolour entitled Mouth of the Courtenay River reproduced page 110 Canadian Post~War & Contemporary Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, June 17, 2009, the related 1952 drawing entitled Mouth of the Courtenay River reproduced page 12, lot #5 The E.J. Hughes Album, The Paintings Volume I, 1932 ~ 1991, 2011, reproduced page 17
E XHIBITED : Vancouver Art Gallery, 21st Annual BC Artists’ Exhibition, 1952, price $150 Vancouver Art Gallery, E.J. Hughes, 1967, catalogue #23, traveling to York University, Toronto Vancouver Art Gallery, E.J. Hughes, 2003, traveling to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
In the post~war artistic life of Canada, E.J. Hughes emerged as a distinct individual. His particular vision and style of painting made him quite unique. As Lawren Harris noted of Hughes’s work to H.O. McCurry of the National Gallery Archives, “Nothing quite like it has been done here or anywhere in the country.”
60
Despite some early successes ~ by 1951, without a dealer, but with the support and encouragement of Lawren Harris, Hughes had sold work to the University of British Columbia, the Vancouver Art Gallery, Hart House and the National Gallery of Canada ~ Hughes’s labour~intensive process and the relatively few sales meant that he and his wife were struggling. Hughes, fearing that he would be unable to properly support them, contemplated rejoining the armed forces or becoming a postman. Fortunately, fate intervened in the form of the dealer Dr. Max Stern of the Dominion Gallery, Montreal.
mixed media on paper, signed and dated 1962 9 x 12 in, 22.9 x 30.5 cm
Stern, on a visit to Vancouver to seek art and artists for his gallery, happened to see some work by Hughes on display at the University of British Columbia. He was struck by the work; as he later noted, “Hughes’s renderings of trees, forest and landscapes seemed to bridge time and space for me.” In 1951, Stern bought all the paintings then in the studio and arranged to buy all of the artist’s future work. This gave Hughes a modest but assured income and allowed him to remain a painter. It was doubtless the confidence of a more secure economic future that allowed Hughes to make 1952 a particularly productive year. Still working from his extensive collection of drawings done in 1947 ~ 1948, Hughes produced an important body of work. Mouth of the Courtenay River is one of the most interesting of the boat paintings of that year. Here we see, not a ferry, but a small river tugboat and a dramatic revelatory vista of the landscape along the Courtenay River on Vancouver Island. Hughes has carefully constructed his pictorial space to lead our eyes and imaginations into his world. By implication, the viewer is placed on the near shore, and Hughes has provided architectural reference points with fragments of buildings at the lower left and lower right of the composition. Both of these elements tend to push the eye into the centre of the composition, and the large stump on the shore at the lower right further emphasizes this movement. Hughes uses light and shadow
79
JEAN~PHILIPPE DALLAIRE QMG
1916 ~ 1965
Four Works a) Poèm chinois III
b) Poèm chinois H mixed media on paper, signed and dated 1962 5 x 8 in, 12.5 x 20.3 cm
c) Poèm chinois A mixed media on paper, signed and dated 1962 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 in, 19 x 13.5 cm
d) Poèm chinois G mixed media on paper, signed and dated 1962 5 1/4 x 8 1/4 in, 14 x 20.5 cm
60a
P ROVENANCE : Galerie Dresdnere, Montreal and Toronto, inventory #1171, 1180, 1179 and 1173 Acquired on April 11, 1963 for $350 by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972 In 1959, Jean~Philippe Dallaire returned to Vence in his beloved region in the south of France; he remained there until his untimely passing in 1965. These four charismatic paintings are characteristic of his works from this period, which were influenced by the artist’s remarkable surroundings. The brilliant light of the area which mesmerized Dallaire has been transposed into these last works he produced while in Vence. Please note: additional images of all four mixed media works in this lot can be viewed at www.heffel.com.
E STIMATE : $6,000 ~ 8,000
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HENRIETTE FAUTEUX~MASSÉ AANFM AUTO
1924 ~ 2005
Cosmos mixed media on paper on board, signed and on verso signed, titled and dated 1963 on a label 16 x 16 1/2 in, 40.6 x 41.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie Camille Hébert, Montreal, inventory #HFM 27 Acquired on April 4, 1963 for $75 by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972 Henriette Fauteux~Massé’s first foray into the arts was as a dancer; it was not until she was 17 that she began painting. She painted in a traditional
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landscape style until 1952, when she received a scholarship to study at the André Lhote studio in Paris. Following her return to Montreal, her artistic vision was revolutionized and, from 1954 to 1970, she painted solely abstract work.
E STIMATE : $4,000 ~ 6,000
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Seconde exposition des Automatistes au 75 ouest, rue Sherbrooke, chez les Gauvreau (Second Automatist exhibit at 75 Sherbrooke Street West at the Gauvreaus [with Paul~Émile Borduas seated]), February 1947 Silver print, Brownie Kodak. Photograph: Maurice Perron Collection Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec
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detail 59
The two others mentioned on the Borduas note had remained a mystery until now. The discovery of Au coeur de la banquise probably reveals the existence of one of them and allows us to add a new title to Borduas’s catalogue raisonné. According to the Martha Jackson Gallery Archives, Au coeur de la banquise was sold in 1962 to a Canadian collector, with the help of Gallery Moos in Toronto. It has not changed hands since.
Is it too much to suggest that, even if these titles were always given after the fact and were never the result of a specific project defined beforehand, they nevertheless expressed a certain nostalgia for his Blue Canada on the part of Borduas? This seems to be confirmed by many other titles of the year before (1954) which referred to snow or to frost, like Étang recouvert de givre, Jardin sous la neige, Miroir de givre and Neiges rebondissantes.
But what about the painting itself? And first, what about its title? The “banquise” is an ice~floe, that is to say an immense bank of floating ice, from which icebergs detach to drift in the ocean. But in this painting, Borduas brings us to the heart of the ice~pack, as he did in the 1950 painting Au coeur du rocher, exhibited in 1951 at The Art Gallery of Toronto. There is even a 1955 painting entitled Translucidité, as if this preoccupation with ice, with transparency, was part of Borduas’s unconscious at the time. In all these cases, Borduas seems to challenge the idea of Henry More (1614 ~ 1687), an English philosopher at Cambridge known to Isaac Newton, who defined matter as impenetrable! Here, on the contrary, we enter into this world of blue and white ice, a world without borders, seemingly expanding in every direction. We could say that Borduas has represented the ice~pack, but not in the sense of giving us a view of it, or even less, an imitation of what it is. He presented it with a difference, as if he were giving us a new way to imagine it. He represented it from an impossible angle, as it could exist only in the mind. Contrary to matter, mind is penetrable, our old philosopher would have said!
Formally, the all~overness of American painting had its influence on Borduas. The entire field of Au coeur de la banquise is occupied. It is hard to focus on one spot rather than another ~ all of them demand our attention. And the whole hierarchy between the elements which existed in his Automatist period has gone. Everything is given almost equal presence, equal strength. It is true that we do not have the feeling, as in a Jackson Pollock painting for instance, that the image could expand much beyond the frame of the painting. The strokes of paint are often directed from the periphery towards the centre. For Borduas, a painting remained a self~contained object. On the other hand, the way he handled his medium, with the heavy impasto and the dominant white accented with small areas of black and red, was unique to Borduas. At the end of his stay in New York, he had completely renewed himself. When he moved to Paris, this would be the kind of paintings he would show there, before shifting to the Black and White works. We thank François~Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
E STIMATE : $200,000 ~ 300,000
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PROPERTY OF VARIOUS COLLECTORS
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PAUL~ÉMILE BORDUAS AUTO CAS QMG RCA
1905 ~ 1960
Au coeur de la banquise oil on canvas, signed and dated 1955 and on verso titled and dated on the artist’s label and inscribed 1112 on the stretcher 23 x 30 1/8 in, 58.4 x 76.5 cm P ROVENANCE : Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, inventory #1112 Acquired from the above on November 29, 1962 for $2,000 through Gallery Moos, Toronto by Edgar and Dorothy Davidson, Montreal and then moving to Ottawa in 1972 E.J. Hughes, Mouth of the Courtenay River, BC graphite on card, 1952, 15 x 18 in, 38.1 x 45.7 cm Sold sale of Canadian Post~War & Contemporary Art Heffel Fine Art Auction House, June 17, 2009, lot 5 Not for sale with this lot
effectively as well to bring the foreground and the middle~ground together ~ the row of pilings across the composition casts reflections on the water which also lead the eye into the heart of the painting. The differentiation in colour and verticality of some of the pilings also serves to engage the eye. Hughes has placed the brightest area of the painting ~ a small region bathed in sunlight ~ on the far shore that again brings us into the work. The use of bright colours on the building roofs and the yellow trim on the house at the left also enliven the distant shore. His treatment of the sky is particularly interesting. Dominated by an expansive cloudbank that extends right across the composition and concentrates our attention on the elements of the composition which occur below it, the expanse of blue above nevertheless allows us a metaphoric escape and alleviates any sense of claustrophobia which this grey cloud might induce. The composition as a whole has a great stillness to it and Hughes has cleverly introduced movement into the work through the passage of the tug and the rowboat it pulls behind it. The wake of the boat interrupts and animates the composition. Hughes has further enlivened the work through the inclusion of three people on the
E XHIBITED :
E.J. Hughes in his Duncan, BC studio May 26, 1978 On his easel is the1978 oil Looking South from Malahat Drive which is the same view as in Finlayson Arm, Saanich Inlet, lot 4 in this sale. Photograph: Vancouver Sun
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York The first Paul~Émile Borduas exhibition in New York took place in 1954 at the Gisèle Passedoit Gallery, from January 5 to 23. I have always suspected that the big advantage of this gallery for Borduas, who was freshly arrived in New York after having spent the summer in Provincetown, was that its director was a French lady. Borduas’s English was never very strong, and the possibility of making arrangements for his first exhibition in New York in French must have been considered a plus. Otherwise, his work did not appear to fit in with the figurative paintings habitually exhibited there. As a matter of fact, Borduas was the first to present abstract paintings at this gallery. He was fortunate that this exhibition attracted some attention. At the same time, Jean~Paul Riopelle was included in Younger European Painters, a big show organized by James Johnson Sweeney at the Guggenheim Museum, revealing what was happening in Europe after the war, which could be considered a challenge to “American type paintings”, in the language of Clement Greenberg.
tugboat. A First Nations woman is wrapped in a blue shawl and her child dressed in a brilliant yellow coat. The man piloting the boat is more somberly dressed and gazes fixedly at the landscape on the far shore. By including this human element, Hughes has given the work narrative and life but has, crucially, never wavered in his focus on the revealed landscape across the river. When Lawren Harris recommended that the National Gallery of Canada purchase Hughes’s 1950 canvas, Tugboats, Ladysmith Harbour, he noted in a letter, “It’s that kind of painting ~ factual, detailed, accurate, full of interest but its art quality transcends all of these.” The critic Robert Ayre noted a similar quality when he wrote of Hughes’s work in 1951: “He not only looks at the Canadian scene but feels it, with passion, and puts it down note for note, leaf for leaf and wave for wave, with the love and concentration of a ‘primitive’… The result of his passion and his labour is tremendous intensity.” We see this intensity and art quality in Mouth of the Courtenay River, characteristics that, as Dr. Stern commented, allow this image to “bridge time and space.”
E STIMATE : $500,000 ~ 700,000
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ALEXANDER COLVILLE PC CC
1920 ~
Study for Woman in Bathtub watercolour and pen on paper, signed and dated 5 April 1973 and on verso titled and dated on the Marlborough~Godard gallery label 10 3/4 x 9 1/4 in, 27.3 x 23.5 cm P ROVENANCE : Marlborough~Godard, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto
L ITERATURE : David Burnett, Colville, Art Gallery of Ontario, page 214, the 1973 acrylic Woman in Bathtub, in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, reproduced page 224 and another drawing for this painting entitled Study for Woman in Bathtub, dated March 7 ~ 9, 1973, reproduced page 222
Throughout his oeuvre, Alex Colville has produced paintings involving couples, using himself and his wife Rhoda as models. This drawing is a study for the well~known 1973 painting Woman in Bathtub, in which Colville stands in the room behind Rhoda in the bathtub. Although the setting is intimate, their separateness is emphasized. David Burnett writes, “Colville strongly believes that the strength of a relationship lies in the recognition of each person’s independence.” This belief is reflected in the painting, in which Rhoda gazes down into the water, whereas Colville’s focus is a mystery, as only his torso is visible. Colville customarily does a series of drawings for each painting, from loose graphite sketches through a series of progressively more finished works, and this work is close in composition to the final painting. The focus of this fine drawing is Rhoda and the bathtub and, through the use of a geometrical system, Colville has carefully worked out the proportions and placement of these elements for the painting. It is a striking work by this realist master, referencing the classic subject of a woman bathing, but as in his best work, it is an image subtly unsettling and mysterious rather than merely sensuous.
E STIMATE : $12,000 ~ 15,000
In 1955, the date of Au coeur de la banquise, Borduas was at the end of his New York sojourn. On the eve of moving to Paris, he was hoping to be represented by a much more interesting New York gallery ~ the Martha Jackson Gallery ~ situated then at 22 East 66 Street. In fact, at that time the Martha Jackson Gallery was not yet well known, having just opened its
Invoice for Paul~Émile Borduas’s Au coeur de la banquise Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, November 29, 1962
doors the year before. In 1954, a year prior to Borduas’s connection with the gallery, Martha Jackson had visited Europe, signing contracts with Karel Appel, Sam Francis and John Hultberg. Shortly after Borduas’s arrangement with the gallery, Jackson organized a successful Willem de Kooning exhibition. We have found in Borduas’s papers a short note dated September 20, 1955, in which he declared to have left in consignment “4 paintings” at the Martha Jackson Gallery. We know that one of them was Blue Canada, a well~known painting from 1955. We also know of another one of the same date titled Sans nom, which is now in the collection of the Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal. They were sent back to the family of Borduas by the gallery at its closing in 1969, from its better~known location at 32 East 69 Street in New York. The first painting, Blue Canada, was given by Mrs. Borduas to Lucien Bélair, the tutor of the Borduas children, and the other was part of a lot acquired in 1973 by the Corporation of National Museums of Canada and then deposited at the Musée d’art contemporain.
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CHRISTOPHER PRATT ARCA CSGA OC
1935 ~
Girl on My Couch graphite on paper, signed and dated January 1984 and on verso titled and dated on the Mira Godard Gallery label 11 x 20 in, 27.9 x 50.8 cm P ROVENANCE : Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto
L ITERATURE : Joyce Zemans, Christopher Pratt: A Retrospective, 1985, listed page 93
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E XHIBITED : The Vancouver Art Gallery, Christopher Pratt: A Retrospective, November 23, 1985 ~ January 26, 1986, traveling in 1986 to the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, the Memorial University Gallery, St. John’s and the Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, catalogue #73
E STIMATE : $7,000 ~ 9,000
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CHRISTOPHER PRATT ARCA CSGA OC
1935 ~
Portrait of a Young Woman graphite and coloured pencil on paper, signed and dated September 1979 13 1/4 x 15 in, 33.7 x 38.1 cm P ROVENANCE : Collection of the Artist Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto Collection of John Morris, Toronto Masters Gallery Ltd., Calgary Private Collection, Vancouver This work portrays Christopher Pratt’s well~known model Donna. She posed for Pratt in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and he continued to be inspired by her for more than a decade after her departure. Pratt experimented with a more fluid drawing style in the early 1970s, which resulted in a series of refined and powerful drawings of his favourite muse.
E STIMATE : $5,000 ~ 7,000
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TED HARRISON OC SCA
1926 ~
Dawson City Gunshop acrylic on canvas, signed and on verso signed, titled and dated 1983 24 x 36 in, 61 x 91.4 cm P ROVENANCE : Yukon Gallery, Whitehorse Private Collection, Ontario
L ITERATURE : Katherine Gibson, Ted Harrison: Painting Paradise, 2009, pages 126 and 211 Ted Harrison moved to the Yukon from England in 1968. He spent 26 years there, painting at his home studio in Whitehorse and at his cabin at
Crag Lake near Carcross, inspired by a great passion for this northern wilderness and its people. Searching for his own style to depict this powerful land, Harrison revealed, “By a process of retrogression and simplification I threw out all the academic bric~a~brac which had stratified my thoughts. From there, my personal view of the Yukon began to emerge, leading to greater freedom of line and colour.� The use of a brilliant colour palette not tied to realism, shape defined by strong black outlines and lines of energy pulsing through the land formed the unique style for which he is so well known. The gunshop is a reminder of both the Wild West atmosphere of the historic Yukon gold rush ~ of which Dawson City was a bustling centre ~ and the dangers of life lived close to wildlife. Fresh and spontaneous, this bright and rhythmic painting exudes the vitality of the North.
E STIMATE : $12,000 ~ 15,000
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DAPHNE ODJIG FCA OC PNIAI RCA WS
1919 ~
The Family acrylic on canvas, signed, circa 1982 34 x 30 in, 86.3 x 76.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Toronto Daphne Odjig was born on the Wikwemikong Indian Reservation on Manitoulin Island; her father was Potawatomi and her mother an English war bride. One of Canada’s best~known First Nations artists, she is the only female member of the Woodlands School, and is an important mentor and leader in contemporary First Nations art. One of the most extraordinary works by Odjig in museum collections is a large~scale
historical painting entitled The Indian in Transition, commissioned by the Canadian Museum of Civilization. The importance of narrative in her work originated in childhood, when her grandfather Jonas, a stone carver, told her traditional stories while teaching her drawing. The tendency to abstraction and the flattening of form in her work has its roots in the pictorial traditions of the Anishnabec and Plains Indians. Influences from Cubism and Surrealism can also be seen, but Odjig’s style is utterly unique. Her work connects inner life to outer, matter to spirit ~ and her themes and imagery are aboriginal. In this bold work, the intertwining of the figures expresses the group’s interdependence, and the upward casting of the eyes implies a connection to the divine.
E STIMATE : $20,000 ~ 25,000
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EDWARD JOHN (E.J.) HUGHES BCSFA CGP OC RCA
1913 ~ 2007
Waterfall Near Sooke Harbour, BC oil on canvas, signed and dated 1951 and on verso titled, dated and stamped Dominion Gallery 25 x 20 in, 63.5 x 50.8 cm P ROVENANCE : Dominion Gallery, Montreal Private Estate, Vancouver
L ITERATURE : Ian M. Thom, E.J. Hughes, Vancouver Art Gallery, 2002, page 88 The E.J. Hughes Album, The Paintings Volume I, 1932 ~ 1991, 2011, titled as Waterfall Near Saseenos, reproduced page 15 Waterfall Near Sooke Harbour, BC is a rare early work by this West Coast master. The year 1951 was the cusp of change for Hughes. It was the year in which Dr. Max Stern of the Dominion Gallery in Montreal, after seeing one of his paintings at the University of British Columbia, tracked him down to his home at Shawnigan Lake, as Stern described, “in the wilderness of Vancouver Island.” Stern contracted to purchase all his paintings, and it is possible that this work may have been in the first group of about 12 paintings and several works on paper that Stern bought for $500 ~ everything that Hughes had in his studio at that time. Hughes’s first appearance in a 1951 group show at Dominion Gallery was critically well received. Montreal critic Robert Ayre wrote, “He not only looks at the Canadian scene but feels it, with passion, and puts it down note for note, leaf for leaf and wave for wave, with the love and concentration of a ‘primitive.’ I can well believe that it takes him two months to paint a picture ~ I almost said carve, because some of these works look as if they have been carved out of linoleum…The familiar world of the West Coast ~ the sea and the shore, the boats and the houses and the trees of the forest ~ takes on the strangeness and solidity of the world in the afterlife described by C.S. Lewis in The Great Divorce where grass blades are swords and raindrops bullets.” Although he had sold a painting to the
101 National Gallery in 1950 (on the recommendation of Lawren Harris), Hughes had been struggling financially. Now, assured of a steady income and receiving national recognition, he could concentrate all his energies on painting. Hughes’s work from the 1950s exhibited a stylized use of form ~ a kind of primitivism ~ as well as a unique colour palette. His use of heightened, somewhat unnatural colour, a slight flattening of the picture plane, and an emphasis on patterning and simplification of form, all contribute to reading the work not simply as a representation of a particular landscape, but a vision of the extraordinary designs of nature. Waterfall Near Sooke Harbour, BC is packed with visual interest, and exhibits Hughes’s fascination with patterning, such as the mosaic~like rocks in the small island in the pool under the waterfall, the tight, whirlpool~like swirls in the water, the pattern of daubed leaves in the deciduous tree and the notched evergreen branches that lift upwards, forming a dense screen in the background. Hughes uses a predominantly green palette ~ from olive greens in the trees to patches of bright greens in tufts of grass and small bushes. The forest interior is diffusely illuminated, brightened by the waterfall that appears to generate its own light, reflected in the pool below. The blue light at the pool’s edge reflects an ambient light from above, but no sunlight is visible. Contrasting textures of spiky tree branches and bark, large rugged rock formations and small smooth rocks add to the visual interest. Characteristic of Hughes’s work, his composition is meticulous, the choice of each element highly conscious. The divisions of different areas of sky, trees, rock, water and foreground are connected by the s~shape created by the central focal point of the waterfall. Hughes’s treatment of all these elements caused an intensification of his images that imbued them with a shiver of visual excitement, such as in this superb painting. It was this vision of the landscape that propelled Hughes into national recognition at the time, and solidified his place in the pantheon of Canada’s finest landscape painters.
E STIMATE : $125,000 ~ 175,000
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MARY FRANCES PRATT CC OC RCA
1935 ~
Cherries mixed media on paper, signed and dated 1996 and on verso titled on the gallery label 18 x 24 in, 45.7 x 61 cm P ROVENANCE : Equinox Gallery, Vancouver Private Collection, Vancouver One of Canada’s most important realist artists, Mary Pratt’s still life tableaus are considered to be sensuous masterpieces of light that scintillates from the reflective surfaces of the vessels, fruit and objects depicted. These tableaus ~ as in Cherries, with its perfect, succulent fruit ~ are elevated from everyday life into a radiant realm, symbolic of the fecundity of life. 79
E STIMATE : $10,000 ~ 15,000
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JACQUES GODEFROY DE TONNANCOUR ARCA CAS CGP PY QMG
1917 ~ 2005
Stèle pour un dieu soleil mixed media on board, signed and dated 1966 indistinctly and on verso signed and titled on the gallery label 48 x 48 in, 121.9 x 121.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal Estate of Andrée Lavigne~Trudeau, Montreal Much of Jacques de Tonnancour’s early career was devoted to landscape painting. Towards the 1960s, he began to simplify his landscapes and move towards abstraction. During this period de Tonnancour also began to experiment with incorporating various materials into his work, creating a collage~like effect and rich, textural surfaces, as seen in this vibrant painting.
E STIMATE : $7,000 ~ 9,000
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JACK LEONARD SHADBOLT BCSFA CGP CSPWC OC RCA
1909 ~ 1998
Abstract Birds ink and acrylic on watercolour board, signed and dated October 23, 1970 30 x 40 in, 76.2 x 101.6 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Vancouver
L ITERATURE : Scott Watson, Jack Shadbolt, 1990, the related 1970 ink and acrylic on watercolour board triptych entitled Miracle of the Birds reproduced page 124 This work relates directly to the left and right panels of the 1970 triptych Miracle of the Birds from Jack Shadbolt’s important Fetish series. In Abstract Birds, a powerful yet playful release of force occurs in a central colour field filled with birds of various species connected by gestural lines as branches. Abstracted tree trunks contain this explosion at the edges. This exuberant painting is a celebration of biomorphic energy, Shadbolt’s expression of epiphany.
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E STIMATE : $7,000 ~ 9,000
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DORIS JEAN MCCARTHY CSPWC OC OSA RCA
1910 ~ 2010
The Penny Ice Cap from Air oil on canvas, signed and on verso titled and inscribed 920630 24 x 30 in, 61 x 76.2 cm P ROVENANCE : Wynick Tuck Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Montreal
E STIMATE : $10,000 ~ 15,000 82
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TONI (NORMAN) ONLEY BCSFA CPE CSPWC RCA
1928 ~ 2004
Contact oil and canvas collage, signed and dated 1962 and on verso titled 34 7/8 x 42 in, 88.6 x 106.7 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Montreal Estate of Andrée Lavigne~Trudeau, Montreal Toni Onley grew up on the Isle of Man. During the War, the great German collage artist Kurt Schwitters was interned there, becoming a family friend. Perhaps this was in Onley’s subconscious when, in Mexico and looking to free his work through expressionism, he tore up his paperworks and reassembled them in collages, discovering a new vocabulary of shapes. This explosion of creative energy led to a series of elegant oil and canvas collages, including this refined work. 83
Andrée Lavigne~Trudeau was married to Charles Elliott Trudeau, brother of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Charles was a Harvard~trained architect, and was one of the partners responsible for designing Ottawa City Hall in 1958.
E STIMATE : $7,000 ~ 9,000
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TONI (NORMAN) ONLEY BCSFA CPE CSPWC RCA
1928 ~ 2004
Capilano mixed media on board, signed and dated 1958 and on verso titled 44 3/4 x 35 in, 113.7 x 88.9 cm P ROVENANCE : Private Collection, Montreal Estate of Andrée Lavigne~Trudeau, Montreal In 1957, the course of Toni Onley’s life changed upon winning a scholarship to study at the Instituto Allende at San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. The art community there had experienced the shock wave caused by the New York School of Abstract Expressionists, and Onley responded to it. While there, he began an important body of work consisting of abstract collages, of which this is a fine example.
E STIMATE : $7,000 ~ 9,000
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JACK LEONARD SHADBOLT BCSFA CGP CSPWC OC RCA
1909 ~ 1998
Gray Field acrylic on canvas, signed and dated 1990 and on verso titled and dated on the gallery label 49 x 51 1/2 in, 124.4 x 130.8 cm P ROVENANCE : Bau~Xi Gallery, Vancouver Private Collection, Vancouver
E STIMATE : $15,000 ~ 20,000
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DAPHNE ODJIG FCA OC PNIAI RCA WS
1919 ~
Silent Tribute acrylic on canvas, signed and dated 1982 and on verso titled 40 x 32 in, 101.6 x 81.3 cm P ROVENANCE : Leona Lattimer, Vancouver, 1982 Private Collection, Vancouver
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E STIMATE : $12,000 ~ 16,000
Thank you for attending our Canadian Post~War & Contemporary Art sale. Our Fine Canadian Art auction will commence at 7:00 p.m. After tonight’s sale, please view our Third Session ~ May Online Auction of Fine Canadian Art at www.heffel.com, closing on Thursday, May 26, 2011. Lots can be independently viewed at one of our galleries in Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal, as specified in our online catalogue. 86
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ALEXANDER COLVILLE, Man on Verandah, glazed tempera on board, 1953, 15 x 20 in Estimate: $400,000 ~ 600,000 • Sold for a Record $1,287,000
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ONLINE AUCTIONS
These Terms and Conditions of Business apply to all live and online auction sales conducted by the Auction House. For the purposes of online auctions, all references to the Auctioneer shall mean the Auction House and Knocked Down is a literal reference defining the close of the auction sale.
Consignor, and shall supersede and take precedence over any previously agreed Terms and Conditions of Business. These Terms and Conditions of Business are hereby incorporated into and form part of the Consignment Agreement entered into by the Auction House and the Consignor.
B THE PURCHASER: 1 THE AUCTION HOUSE The Auction House acts solely as agent for the Consignor, except as otherwise provided herein. 2 THE P URCHASER (a) The highest bidder acknowledged by the Auctioneer as the
highest bidder at the time the Lot is Knocked Down; (b) The Auctioneer has the right, at his sole discretion, to reopen a Lot if he has inadvertently missed a Bid, or if a Bidder immediately at the close of a Lot notifies the Auctioneer of his intent to Bid; (c) The Auctioneer shall have the right to regulate and control
the bidding and to advance the bids in whatever intervals he considers appropriate for the Lot in question; (d) The Auction House shall have absolute discretion in settling
any dispute in determining the successful bidder; (e) Every bidder shall be deemed to act as principal unless the
Auction House has acknowledged in writing prior to the date of the auction, that the bidder is acting as agent on behalf of a disclosed principal and where such agency relationship is acceptable to the Auction House; (f) The Purchaser acknowledges that invoices generated during the sale or shortly after may not be error~free, and therefore are subject to review; and, (g) Every bidder shall submit a fully completed Registration
Form and provide the required information to the Auction House. Every bidder will be assigned a unique paddle number. For online auctions, a password will be created for use in the current and future online sales only. This online registration procedure may require up to twenty~four (24) hours to complete. 3 PURCHASER ’S P RICE The Purchaser shall pay the Purchase Price to the Auction House. 4 SALES TAX EXEMPTION All or part of the Sales Tax may be exempt in certain circumstances if the Lot is delivered or otherwise removed from the jurisdiction of sale of the Lot. It is the Purchaser’s obligation to demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the Auction House, that such delivery or removal results in an exemption from the relevant Sales Tax legislation. Shipments out of the jurisdiction of sale of the Lot(s) shall only be eligible for exemption from Sales Tax if shipped directly from the
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE Auction House and appropriate delivery documentation is provided, in advance, to the Auction House. All claims for Sales Tax exemption must be made prior to or at the time of payment of the Purchase Price. Sales Tax will not be refunded once the Auction House has released the Lot. 5 PAYMENT
OF THE
PURCHASE PRICE
(a) The Purchaser shall:
(i) Unless he has already done so, provide the Auction House with his name, address and banking or other suitable references as may be required by the Auction House; and, (ii) Payment must be made within seven (7) days from the date of the auction by: a) Bank Wire direct to our account, b) Certified Cheque or Bank Draft, unless otherwise arranged in advance with the Auction House, or c) a cheque accompanied by a current Letter of Credit from the Purchaser’s bank which will guarantee the amount of the cheque (release of Lot subject to clearance of cheque). Credit card payments subject to a maximum of $5,000, if you are providing your credit card details by fax (for purchases in North America only) or to a maximum of $25,000 if the card is presented in person with valid identification. In all other circumstances, we accept payment by wire transfer. (b) Title shall pass, and release and/or delivery of the Lot shall
occur, only upon payment of the Purchase Price by the Purchaser to the Auction House. 6 DESCRIPTIONS
OF
LOT
(a) All representations or statements made by the Auction House,
or in the Consignment Agreement, or in the catalogue or other publication or report, as to the authorship, origin, date, age, size, medium, attribution, genuineness, provenance, condition or estimated selling price of the Lot, are statements of opinion only; (b) All photographic representations and other illustrations
presented in the catalogue are solely for guidance and are not to be relied upon in terms of tone or colour or necessarily to reveal any imperfections in the Lot; (c) Many Lots are of an age or nature which precludes their being
in pristine condition. Some descriptions in the catalogue or given by way of condition report make reference to damage and/or restoration. Such information is given for guidance only and the absence of such a reference does not imply that a Lot is free from defects, nor does any reference to particular defects imply the absence of others; and, (d) The prospective Purchaser must satisfy himself as to all
matters referred to in (a), (b) and (c) of this paragraph by inspection, other investigation or otherwise prior to the sale of the Lot. If the prospective Purchaser is unable to personally view any Lot, the Auction House may, upon request, e~mail or fax a condition report describing the Lot to the prospective Purchaser.
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7 PURCHASED LOT (a) The Purchaser shall collect the Lot from the Auction House
within seven (7) days from the date of the auction sale, after which date the Purchaser shall be responsible for all Expenses until the date the Lot is removed from the offices of the Auction House; (b) All packing, handling and shipping of any Lot by the Auction
House is undertaken solely as a courtesy service to the Purchaser, and will only be undertaken at the discretion of the Auction House and at the Purchaser’s risk. Prior to all packing and shipping, the Auction House must receive a fully completed and signed Shipping Form and payment in full for all purchases; and, (c) The Auction House shall not be liable for any damage to glass
or frames of the Lot and shall not be liable for any errors or omissions or damage caused by packers and shippers, whether or not such agent was recommended by the Auction House. 8 RISK (a) The purchased Lot shall be at the Consignor’s risk in all
respects for seven (7) days after the auction sale, after which the Lot will be at the Purchaser’s risk. The Purchaser may arrange insurance coverage through the Auction House at the then prevailing rates and subject to the then existing policy; and, (b) Neither the Auction House nor its employees nor its agents
shall be liable for any loss or damage of any kind to the Lot, whether caused by negligence or otherwise, while any Lot is in or under the custody or control of the Auction House. 9 NON ~PAYMENT AND FAILURE TO COLLECT LOT(S) If the Purchaser fails either to pay for or to take away any Lot within seven (7) days from the date of the auction sale, the Auction House may in its absolute discretion be entitled to one or more of the following remedies without providing further notice to the Purchaser and without prejudice to any other rights or remedies the Auction House may have: (a) To issue judicial proceedings against the Purchaser for
damages for breach of contract together with the costs of such proceedings on a full indemnity basis; (b) To rescind the sale of that or any other Lots sold to the
Purchaser; (c) To resell the Lot or cause it to be resold by public or private
sale, or by way of live or online auction, with any deficiency to be claimed from the Purchaser and any surplus, after Expenses, to be delivered to the Purchaser; (d) To store the Lot on the premises of the Auction House or
elsewhere, and to release the Lot to the Purchaser only after payment of the full Purchase Price and associated cost to the Auction House; (e) To charge interest on the Purchase Price at the rate of five
percent (5%) above the Royal Bank of Canada base rate at the time of the auction sale and adjusted month to month thereafter;
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE (f) To retain that or any other Lot sold to the Purchaser at the
same or any other auction and release the same only after payment of the aggregate outstanding Purchase Price; (g) To apply any Proceeds of Sale of any Lot then due or at any
time thereafter becoming due to the Purchaser towards settlement of the Purchase Price, and the Auction House shall be entitled to a lien on any other property of the Purchaser which is in the Auction House possession for any purpose; and, (h) To apply any payments by the Purchaser to the Auction
House towards any sums owing from the Purchaser to the Auction House or to any associated company of the Auction House without regard to any directions of the Purchaser or his agent, whether express or implied. 10 GUARANTEE The Auction House, its employees and agents, shall not be responsible for the correctness of any statement as to the authorship, origin, date, age, size, medium, attribution, genuineness or provenance of any Lot or for any other errors of description or for any faults or defects in any Lot and no warranty whatsoever is given by the Auction House, its employees or agents in respect of any Lot and any express or implied conditions or warranties are hereby excluded. 11 ATTENDANCE BY P URCHASER (a) Prospective Purchasers are advised to inspect the Lot(s) before the sale, and to satisfy themselves as to the description, attribution and condition of each Lot. The Auction House will arrange suitable viewing conditions during the preview preceding the sale, or by private appointment; (b) Prospective Purchasers are advised to personally attend the
sale. However, if they are unable to attend, the Auction House will execute bids on their behalf subject to completion of the proper Absentee Bid Form, duly signed and delivered to the Auction House forty~eight (48) hours before the start of the auction sale. The Auction House shall not be responsible nor liable in the making of any such bid by its employees or agents; (c) In the event that the Auction House has received more than
one Absentee Bid Form on a Lot for an identical amount and at auction those absentee bids are the highest bids for that Lot, the Lot shall be Knocked Down to the person whose Absentee Bid Form was received first; and, (d) At the discretion of the Auction House, the Auction House
may execute bids, if appropriately instructed by telephone, on behalf of the prospective purchaser, and the prospective purchaser hereby agrees that neither the Auction House nor its employees nor agents shall be liable to either the Purchaser or the Consignor for any neglect or default in making such a bid. 12 EXPORT PERMITS Without limitation, the Purchaser acknowledges that certain
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property of Canadian cultural importance sold by the Auction House may be subject to the provisions of the Cultural Property Export and Import Act (Canada), and that compliance with the provisions of the said act is the sole responsibility of the Purchaser.
C THE CONSIGNOR: 1 THE AUCTION HOUSE (a) The Auction House shall have absolute discretion as to
whether the Lot is suitable for sale, the particular auction sale for the Lot, the date of the auction sale, the manner in which the auction sale is conducted, the catalogue descriptions of the Lot, and any other matters related to the sale of the Lot at the auction sale; (b) The Auction House reserves the right to withdraw any Lot at
any time prior to the auction sale if, in the sole discretion of the Auction House: (i) there is doubt as to its authenticity; (ii) there is doubt as to the accuracy of any of the Consignor’s
representations or warranties; (iii) the Consignor has breached or is about to breach any
provisions of the Consignment Agreement; or (iv) any other just cause exists. (c) In the event of a withdrawal pursuant to Condition C.1.b.(ii)
or C.1.b.(iii), the Consignor shall pay a charge to the Auction House, as provided in Condition C.8. 2 WARRANTIES
AND
I NDEMNITIES
(a) The Consignor warrants to the Auction House and to the
Purchaser that the Consignor has and shall be able to deliver unencumbered title to the Lot, free and clear of all claims; (b) The Consignor shall indemnify the Auction House, its
employees and agents and the Purchaser against all claims made or proceedings brought by persons entitled or purporting to be entitled to the Lot; (c) The Consignor shall indemnify the Auction House, its
employees and agents and the Purchaser against all claims made or proceedings brought due to any default of the Consignor in complying with any applicable legislation, regulations and these terms and Conditions of Business; and, (d) The Consignor shall reimburse the Auction House in full and
on demand for all Expenses or any other loss or damage whatsoever made, incurred or suffered as a result of any breach by the Consignor of C.2.a and/or C.2.c above. 3 RESERVES The Auction House is authorized by the Consignor to Knock Down a Lot at less than the Reserve, provided that, for the purposes of calculating the Proceeds of Sale due to the Consignor, the Hammer Price shall be deemed to be the full amount of the agreed Reserve established by the Auction House and the Consignor.
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE 4 COMMISSION
AND
EXPENSES
(a) The Consignor authorizes the Auction House to deduct the
Consignor’s Commission and Expenses from the Hammer Price and, notwithstanding that the Auction House is the Consignor’s agent, acknowledges that the Auction House shall retain the Buyer’s Premium; (b) The Consignor shall pay and authorizes the Auction House to
deduct all Expenses incurred on behalf of the Consignor, together with any Sales Tax thereon; and, (c) The charge for illustrating a Lot in the live auction sale catalogue shall be a flat fee paid by the Consignor of $500 for a large size reproduction and $275 for a small reproduction, per item in each Lot, together with any Sales Tax chargeable thereon. The Auction House retains all rights to photographic and printing material and the right of reproduction of such photographs. The charge for online digital photography, cataloguing and internet posting is a flat fee of $100 per Lot. 5 INSURANCE (a) Lots are only covered by insurance under the Fine Arts
Insurance Policy of the Auction House if the consignor so authorizes; (b) The rate of insurance premium payable by the Consignor is
$15 per $1,000 (01.5%) of the greater value of the high estimate value of the Lot or the realized Hammer Price or for the alternative amount as specified in the Consignment Receipt; (c) If the Consignor instructs the Auction House not to insure a
Lot, it shall at all times remain at the risk of the Consignor who hereby undertakes to: (i) indemnify the Auction House against all claims made or
proceedings brought against the Auction House in respect of loss or damage to the Lot of whatever nature, howsoever and wheresoever occurred, and in any circumstances even where negligence is alleged or proven; (ii) reimburse the Auction House for all Expenses incurred by
the Auction House. Any payment which the Auction House shall make in respect of such loss or damage or Expenses shall be binding upon the Consignor and shall be accepted by the Consignor as conclusive evidence that the Auction House was liable to make such payment; and, (iii) notify any insurer of the existence of the indemnity
contained in these Terms and Conditions of Business; (d) The Auction House does not accept responsibility for Lots
damaged by changes in atmospheric conditions and the Auction House shall not be liable for such damage nor for any other damage to picture frames or to glass in picture frames; and, (e) The value for which a Lot is insured under the Fine Arts
Policy of the Auction House in accordance with sub~clause C.4.b above shall be the total amount due to the Consignor in the event of a successful claim being made against the Auction House.
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6 PAYMENT
OF
PROCEEDS
OF
SALE
(a) The Auction House shall pay the Proceeds of Sale to the
Consignor thirty~five (35) days after the date of sale, if the Auction House has been paid the Purchase Price in full by the Purchaser; (b) If the Auction House has not received the Purchase Price from
the Purchaser within the time period specified, then the Auction House will pay the Proceeds of Sale within seven (7) working days following receipt of the Purchase Price from the Purchaser; and, (c) If before the Purchase Price is paid in full by the Purchaser,
the Auction House pays the Consignor an amount equal to the Proceeds of Sale, title to the property in the Lot shall pass to the Auction House. 7 COLLECTION OF THE P URCHASE PRICE If the Purchaser fails to pay to the Auction House the Purchase Price within thirty (30) days after the date of sale, the Auction House will endeavour to take the Consignor’s instructions as to the appropriate course of action to be taken and, so far as in the Auction House’s opinion such instructions are practicable, will assist the Consignor in recovering the Purchase Price from the Purchaser, save that the Auction House shall not be obligated to issue judicial proceedings against the Purchaser in its own name. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Auction House reserves the right and is hereby authorized at the Consignor’s expense, and in each case at the absolute discretion of the Auction House, to agree to special terms for payment of the Purchase Price, to remove, store and insure the Lot sold, to settle claims made by or against the Purchaser on such terms as the Auction House shall think fit, to take such steps as are necessary to collect monies from the Purchaser to the Consignor and, if appropriate, to set aside the sale and refund money to the Purchaser. 8 CHARGES FOR WITHDRAWN LOTS The Consignor may not withdraw a Lot prior to the auction sale without the consent of the Auction House. In the event that such consent is given, or in the event of a withdrawal pursuant to Condition C.1.b.(ii) or (iii), a charge of, whichever is greater, twenty~five percent (25%) of the high pre~sale estimate or the insured value, together with any applicable Sales Tax and Expenses, is immediately payable to the Auction House, prior to any release of property. 9 UNSOLD LOTS (a) Unsold Lots must be collected at the Consignor’s expense
within the period of ninety (90) days after receipt by the Consignor of notice from the Auction House. Upon the expiration of such a period, the Auction House shall have the right to sell such Lots by public or private sale and on such terms as it thinks fit and to deduct from the Proceeds of Sale any sum owing to the Auction House or to any associated company of the Auction House including Expenses, before
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE remitting the balance to the Consignor. If the Consignor cannot be traced, the Auction House shall place the funds in a bank account in the name of the Auction House for the Consignor. In this condition the expression “Proceeds of Sale” shall have the same meaning in relation to a private sale as it has in relation to a sale by auction;
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illustrations, photographs or other reproductions of any work provided to the Auction House by the Consignor. The Consignor agrees to fully indemnify the Auction House and hold it harmless from any damages caused to the Auction House by reason of any breach by the Consignor of this warranty and representation.
(b) Lots returned at the Consignor’s request shall be returned at
the Consignor’s risk and expense and will not be insured in transit unless the Auction House is otherwise instructed by the Consignor; and, (c) If any Lot is unsold by auction, the Auction House is
authorized as the exclusive agent for the Consignor for a period of 90 days following the auction to sell such Lot privately for a price that will result in a payment to the Consignor of not less than the net amount (i.e., after deduction of the Auction House Commission and Expenses) to which the Consignor would have been entitled had the Lot been sold at a price equal to the agreed Reserve, or for such lesser amount as the Auction House and the Consignor shall agree. In such event the Consignor’s obligations to the Auction House hereunder with respect to such a Lot are the same as if it had been sold at auction. 10 CONSIGNOR’S SALES TAX STATUS The Consignor shall give to the Auction House all relevant information as to his Sales Tax status with regard to the Lot to be sold, which he warrants is and will be correct and upon which the Auction House shall be entitled to rely. 11 PHOTOGRAPHS AND ILLUSTRATIONS In consideration of the Auction House’s services to the Consignor, the Consignor hereby warrants and represents to the Auction House that it has the right to grant to the Auction House, and the Consignor does hereby grant to the Auction House, a non~exclusive, perpetual, fully paid~up, royalty free and non~revocable right and permission to: (a) reproduce (by illustration, photograph, electronic reproduction, or any other form or medium whether presently known or hereinafter devised) any work within any Lot given to the Auction House for sale by the Consignor; and (b) use and publish such illustration, photograph or other reproduction in connection with the public exhibition, promotion and sale of the Lot in question and otherwise in connection with the operation of the Auction House’s business, including without limitation by including the illustration, photograph or other reproduction in promotional catalogues, compilations, the Auction House’s Art Index, and other publications and materials distributed to the public, and by communicating the illustration, photograph or other reproduction to the public by telecommunication via an Internet website operated by or affiliated with the Auction House (“Permission”). Moreover, the Consignor makes the same warranty and representation and grants the same Permission to the Auction House in respect of any
D GENERAL CONDITIONS: 1 The Auction House as agent for the Consignor is not responsible for any default by the Consignor or the Purchaser. 2 The Auction House shall have the right at its absolute discretion to refuse admission to its premises or attendance at its auctions by any person. 3 The Auction House has the right at its absolute discretion to refuse any bid, to advance the bidding as it may decide, to withdraw or divide any Lot, to combine any two or more Lots and, in the case of dispute, to put up any Lot for auction again. At no time shall a bidder retract or withdraw his or her bid. 4 Any indemnity hereunder shall extend to all actions, proceedings, costs, claims and demands whatsoever incurred or suffered by the person for whose benefit the indemnity is given; and the Auction House shall hold any indemnity on trust for its employees and agents where it is expressed to be for their benefit. 5 Any notice given hereunder shall be in writing and if given by post shall be deemed to have been duly received by the addressee within three (3) business days. 6 The copyright for all illustrations and written matter relating to the Lots shall be and will remain at all times the absolute property of the Auction House and shall not, without the prior written consent of the Auction House, be used by any other person. 7 This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with British Columbia law and the laws of Canada applicable therein and all parties concerned hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the British Columbia Courts. 8 Unless otherwise provided for herein, all monetary amounts referred to herein shall refer to the lawful money of Canada. 9 All words importing the singular number shall include the plural and vice versa, and words importing the use of any gender shall include the masculine, feminine and neuter genders and the word “person” shall include an individual, a trust, a partnership, a body corporate, an association or other incorporated or unincorporated organization or entity. The Purchaser and the Consignor are hereby advised to read fully the Agreement which sets out and establishes the rights and obligations of the Auction House, the Purchaser and the Consignor and the terms by which the Auction House shall conduct the sale and handle other related matters. Version 2010.10, © Heffel Gallery Limited
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
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CATALOGUE ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS: AAM AANFM AAP ACM AGA AGQ AHSA ALC AOCA ARCA ASA ASPWC ASQ AUTO AWCS BCSFA BCSA BHG CAC CAS CC CGP CH CPE CSAA CSGA CSMA CSPWC EGP FBA FCA FRSA G7 IAF IWCA LP MSA NAD NEAC NSSA OC OIP OM OSA
Art Association of Montreal founded in 1860 Association des artistes non~figuratifs de Montréal Association des arts plastiques Arts Club of Montreal Art Guild America Association des graveurs du Québec Art, Historical and Scientific Association of Vancouver Arts and Letters Club Associate Ontario College of Art Associate Member Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Alberta Society of Artists American Society of Painters in Water Colors Association des sculpteurs du Québec Les Automatistes American Watercolor Society British Columbia Society of Fine Arts founded in 1909 British Columbia Society of Artists Beaver Hall Group, Montreal 1920 ~1922 Canadian Art Club Contemporary Arts Society Companion of the Order of Canada Canadian Group of Painters 1933 ~ 1969 Companion of Honour Commonwealth Canadian Painters ~ Etchers’ Society Canadian Society of Applied Art Canadian Society of Graphic Artists founded in 1905 Canadian Society of Marine Artists Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour founded in 1925 Eastern Group of Painters Federation of British Artists Federation of Canadian Artists Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts Group of Seven 1920 ~ 1933 Institut des arts figuratifs Institute of Western Canadian Artists Les Plasticiens Montreal Society of Arts National Academy of Design New English Art Club Nova Scotia Society of Artists Order of Canada Ontario Institute of Painters Order of Merit British Ontario Society of Artists founded 1872
P11 PDCC
Painters Eleven 1953 ~ 1960 Print and Drawing Council of Canada
PNIAI
Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporation
POSA
President Ontario Society of Artists
PPCM
Pen and Pencil Club, Montreal
PRCA
President Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
PSA
Pastel Society of America
PSC
Pastel Society of Canada
PY
Prisme d’yeux
QMG
Quebec Modern Group
R5
Regina Five 1961 ~ 1964
RA
Royal Academy
RAAV
Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels du Québec
RAIC
Royal Architects Institute of Canada
RBA
Royal Society of British Artists
RCA
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts founded 1880
RI RMS
Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour Royal Miniature Society
ROI
Royal Institute of Oil Painters
RPS
Royal Photographic Society
RSA
Royal Scottish Academy
RSC
Royal Society of Canada
RSMA
Royal Society of Marine Artists
RSPP
Royal Society of Portrait Painters
RWS
Royal Watercolour Society
SAA
Society of American Artists
SAAVQ SAP SAPQ SC SCA SCPEE SSC SWAA
Société des artistes en arts visuels du Québec Société des arts plastiques Société des artistes professionnels du Québec The Studio Club Society of Canadian Artists 1867 ~ 1872 Society of Canadian Painters, Etchers and Engravers Sculptors’ Society of Canada Saskatchewan Women Artists’ Association
TCC
Toronto Camera Club
TPG
Transcendental Painting Group 1938 ~ 1942
WAAC
Women’s Art Association of Canada
WIAC
Women’s International Art Club
WS YR
ϕ
Woodlands School Young Romantics Indicates the Heffel Gallery owns an equity interest in the Lot Denotes that additional information on this lot can be found on our website at www.heffel.com
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
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CATALOGUE TERMS:
HEFFEL’S CODE OF BUSINESS CONDUCT, ETHICS AND PRACTICES:
These catalogue terms are provided for your guidance:
Heffel takes great pride in being the leader in the Canadian fine art auction industry, and has an unparalleled track record. We are proud to have been the dominant auction house in the Canadian art market from 2004 to the present. Our firm’s growth and success has been built on hard work and innovation, our commitment to our Clients and our deep respect for the fine art we offer. At Heffel we treat our consignments with great care and respect, and consider it an honour to have them pass through our hands. We are fully cognizant of the historical value of the works we handle, and their place in art history.
CORNELIUS D AVID KRIEGHOFF In our best judgment, a work by the artist. ATTRIBUTED TO CORNELIUS DAVID KRIEGHOFF In our best judgment, a work executed in whole or in part by the named artist. STUDIO OF C ORNELIUS DAVID KRIEGHOFF In our best judgment, a work by an unknown hand in the studio of the artist, possibly executed under the supervision of the named artist. CIRCLE OF CORNELIUS DAVID KRIEGHOFF In our best judgment, a work of the period of the artist, closely related to the style of the named artist. MANNER OF CORNELIUS DAVID KRIEGHOFF In our best judgment, a work in the style of the named artist and of a later date. AFTER CORNELIUS D AVID KRIEGHOFF In our best judgment, a copy of a known work of the named artist. DIMENSIONS Measurements are given height before width in both inches and centimetres. SIGNED / TITLED / DATED In our best judgment, the work has been signed/titled/dated by the artist. If we state “dated 1856” then the artist has inscribed the date when the work was produced. If the artist has not inscribed the date and we state “1856”, then it is known the work was produced in 1856, based on independent research. If the artist has not inscribed the date and there is no independent date reference, then the use of “circa” approximates the date based on style and period. BEARS SIGNATURE / B EARS D ATE In our best judgment, the signature/date is by a hand other than that of the artist.
Heffel, to further define its distinction in the Canadian art auction industry, has taken the following initiative. David and Robert Heffel, second~generation art dealers of the Company’s founding Heffel family, have personally crafted the foundation documents (as published on our website www.heffel.com): Heffel’s Corporate Constitutional Values and Heffel’s Code of Business Conduct, Ethics and Practices. We believe the values and ethics set out in these documents will lay in stone our moral compass. Heffel has flourished through more than three decades of change, proof that our hard work, commitment, philosophy, honour and ethics in all that we do, serves our Clients well. Heffel’s Employees and Shareholders are committed to Heffel’s Code of Business Conduct, Ethics and Practices, together with Heffel’s Corporate Constitutional Values, our Terms and Conditions of Business and related corporate policies, all as amended from time to time, with respect to our Clients, and look forward to continued shared success in this auction season and ongoing.
President, Director and Shareholder (through Heffel Investments Ltd.)
PROVENANCE Is intended to indicate previous collections or owners. CERTIFICATES / LITERATURE / EXHIBITED Any reference to certificates, literature or exhibition history represents the best judgment of the authority or authors named. ESTIMATE Our Estimates are intended as a statement of our best judgment only, and represent a conservative appraisal of the expected Hammer Price.
Version 2008.07, © Heffel Gallery Inc.
Vice~President, Director and Shareholder (through R.C.S.H. Investments Ltd.)
Version 2010.10, © Heffel Gallery Inc.
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
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ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION FORM
COLLECTOR PROFILE FORM
Please complete this Annual Subscription Form to receive our twice~yearly Auction Catalogues and Auction Result Sheet.
Please complete our Collector Profile Form to assist us in our ability to offer you our finest service.
To order, return a copy of this form with a cheque payable to: Heffel Gallery, 2247 Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6H 3G1 Tel 604 732~6505, Fax 604 732~4245, Toll free 800 528~9608 E~mail: mail@heffel.com, Internet: www.heffel.com CATALOGUE S UBSCRIPTIONS ~ DELIVERED
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DELIVERED
ARTISTS
TO THE
U NITED STATES
AND
AT
4) $130.00 5)
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One Year (four catalogues) ~ Fine Canadian Art / Post~War & Contemporary Art Two Year (eight catalogues) ~ Fine Canadian Art / Post~War & Contemporary Art
CANADIAN A RT
3) $80.00
AUCTION I NDEX O NLINE ~
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Version 2011.03, Š Heffel Gallery Limited
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
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SHIPPING FORM FOR PURCHASES Heffel Fine Art Auction House will arrange to have Property purchased at the auction sale packed, insured and forwarded to the Purchaser at the Purchaser’s expense and risk pursuant to the Terms and Conditions of Business set out in the Auction Sale Catalogue. The Purchaser is aware and accepts that Heffel Fine Art Auction House does not operate a professional packing service and shall provide such assistance for the convenience only of the Purchaser. Your signature on this form releases Heffel Fine Art Auction House from any liability that may result from damage sustained by artwork during packing and shipping. All such works are packed at the Purchaser’s risk and then transported by a carrier chosen at the discretion of Heffel Fine Art Auction House. Works purchased may be subject to the Cultural Property Import and Export Act of Canada, and compliance with the provisions of the said Act is the sole responsibility of the Purchaser.
Sale Date
Purchaser’s Name as invoiced
Shipping Address
City
Province, Country
Postal Code
E~mail Address
Residence Telephone
Business Telephone
Fax
Cellular Telephone
Credit Card Number
Expiry Date
Please indicate your preferred method of shipping below All Charges are Collect for Settlement by the Purchaser
Social Security Number for U.S. Customs (U.S. Residents Only)
SHIPPING OPTIONS
LOT NUMBER
LOT DESCRIPTION
in numerical order
artist
Please have my purchases forwarded by: Air
Surface or
Consolidated Ground Shipment to (when available): Heffel Toronto CARRIER
OF
2)
Heffel Montreal 3)
CHOICE
Please have my purchases couriered by: FedEx
1)
4)
Other
Carrier Account Number OPTIONAL INSURANCE YES, please insure my purchases at full sale value while in transit. Heffel does not insure frames or glass. (Please note: works under glass and some ground shipments cannot be insured while in transit) NO, I do not require insurance for the purchases listed on this form. (I accept full responsibility for any loss or damage to my purchases while in transit) SHIPPING QUOTATION YES, please send me a quotation for the shipping options selected above. NO shipping quotation necessary, please forward my purchases as indicated above. (Please note: packing charges may apply in addition to shipping charges)
AUTHORIZATION
FOR
COLLECTION
My purchase will be collected on my behalf
Individual or company to collect on my behalf
Date of collection/pick~up
Signed with agreement to the above
Date
Heffel Fine Art Auction House 2247 Granville Street, Vancouver British Columbia, Canada V6H 3G1 Telephone 604 732~6505, Fax 604 732~4245 E~mail:mail@heffel.com, Internet:http://www.heffel.com Version 2011.03, © Heffel Gallery Limited
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
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ABSENTEE BID FORM Please view our General Bidding Increments as published by Heffel.
Sale Date
LOT NUMBER
LOT DESCRIPTION
in numerical order
artist
MAXIMUM BID Hammer Price $ CAD (excluding Buyer’s Premium)
1) Billing Name
2) 3)
Address 4)
City
Province, Country
5) 6)
Postal Code
E~mail Address
Daytime Telephone
Evening Telephone
7) 8)
Fax
Cellular
I request Heffel Fine Art Auction House to enter bids on my behalf for the following Lots, up to the maximum Hammer Price I have indicated for each Lot. I understand that if my bid is successful, the purchase price shall be the Hammer Price plus a Buyer’s Premium of seventeen percent (17%) of the Hammer Price of each Lot, and applicable GST/HST and PST. I understand that Heffel Fine Art Auction House executes absentee bids as a convenience for its clients and is not responsible for inadvertently failing to execute bids or for errors relating to their execution of my bids. On my behalf, Heffel Fine Art Auction House will try to purchase these Lots for the lowest possible price, taking into account the reserve and other bids. If identical absentee bids are received, Heffel Fine Art Auction House will give precedence to the Absentee Bid Form received first. I understand and acknowledge all successful bids are subject to the Terms and Conditions of Business printed in the Heffel Fine Art Auction House catalogue.
Signature
Date Received ~ for office use only
Confirmed ~ for office use only
Date
To be sure that bids will be accepted and delivery of lots not delayed, bidders not yet known to Heffel Fine Art Auction House should supply a bank reference. All Absentee Bidders must supply a valid Mastercard or VISA # and expiry date.
MasterCard or VISA #
Expiry Date
Name of Bank
Branch
Address of Bank
Name of Account Officer
Telephone
To allow time for processing, absentee bids should be received at least 24 hours before the sale begins. Heffel Fine Art Auction House will confirm by telephone or e~mail all bids received. If you have not received our confirmation within one business day, please re~submit your bids or contact us at: 2247 Granville Street, Vancouver British Columbia, Canada V6H 3G1 Telephone 604 732~6505, Fax 604 732~4245 E~mail: mail@heffel.com; Internet: http://www.heffel.com Version 2011.03, © Heffel Gallery Limited
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
INDEX OF ARTISTS BY LOT A/B BATES, M AXWELL BENNETT 34 BAXTER&, IAIN 37 BIERK, DAVID 30 BINNING, BERTRAM CHARLES (B.C.) 1, 2 BLACKWOOD, DAVID LLOYD 5 BOBAK, MOLLY JOAN L AMB 44, 45 BORDUAS, PAUL~ÉMILE 53, 59 BORENSTEIN, SAMUEL 43 BURTON , DENNIS EUGENE NORMAN 13 BUSH, JACK HAMILTON 17 C COLVILLE , ALEXANDER 47, 73 COMTOIS, ULYSSE 22 CRAN, CHRIS 33 D/E/F DALLAIRE, JEAN~PHILIPPE 46, 60 DE R EPENTIGNY , R ODOLPHE (J AURAN ) 20 DE T ONNANCOUR , J ACQUES G ODEFROY 66, 80 FAUTEUX~MASSÉ , HENRIETTE 61 FERRON, MARCELLE 54, 55 G/H/ GAGNON, CHARLES 12 GAUCHER, YVES 70 HARRIS, LAWREN STEWART 10, 38, 52, 65 HARRISON , TED 76 HUGHES, EDWARD JOHN (E.J.) 3, 4, 71, 72, 78 I/J/K KURELEK, WILLIAM 7, 31, 32
L LEMIEUX, JEAN PAUL 50, 57, 58 LETENDRE, RITA 24, 62, 63, 67 LITTLE, JOHN GEOFFREY CARUTHERS 39, 40, 41 M/N MCCARTHY , DORIS JEAN 82 MCELCHERAN, WILLIAM HODD (BILL) 51 MCEWEN, JEAN ALBERT 21, 68 MEAD, R AYMOND JOHN 6 MONKMAN, KENT 29 MOUSSEAU, JEAN~PAUL ARMAND 23 NAKAMURA, KAZUO 11 O/P ODJIG, DAPHNE 77, 86 ONLEY, T ONI (NORMAN) 16, 83, 84 PACHTER, CHARLES 35, 36 PELLAN, A LFRED 69 PRATT, C HRISTOPHER 74, 75 PRATT, MARY FRANCES 79 Q/R RIOPELLE, JEAN~PAUL 26, 27, 28, 56, 64 ROBERTS , WILLIAM GOODRIDGE 48, 49 S SHADBOLT, JACK LEONARD 8, 9, 42, 81, 85 SMITH, GORDON A PPELBE 15, 25 T/U/V/W/X/Y/Z TANABE, TAKAO 18, 19 TOWN, H AROLD BARLING 14
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Spring Live Auction Highlight Previews MONTREAL AND TORONTO
Montreal Preview Thursday, April 28 & Friday, April 29, 11:00 am to 7:00 pm Saturday, April 30, 11:00 am to 5:00 pm
Toronto Preview Thursday, May 5 & Friday, May 6, 11:00 am to 7:00 pm Saturday, May 7, 11:00 am to 5:00 pm
Please visit our live auction online catalogue at www.heffel.com for specific details designating which Lots will be available for our Montreal and Toronto previews.
1840 rue Sherbrooke Ouest Montreal, Quebec H3H 1E4 Telephone: 514 939~6505 Toll Free: 866 939~6505 Facsimile: 514 939~1100
13 Hazelton Avenue Toronto, Ontario M5R 2E1 Telephone: 416 961~6505 Toll Free: 866 961~6505 Facsimile: 416 961~4245
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CANADIAN POST~WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART
MAY 17, 2011
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE VANCOUVER
•
TORONTO
•
OTTAWA
•
MONTREAL
CANADIAN POST~WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART
HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
V ISIT
www.heffel.com
SALE TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2011, 4PM, VANCOUVER
ISBN 978~0~9811120~9~1
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HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
3/30/2011, 3:20 PM
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3/30/2011, 3:21 PM