ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON, OSA, RCA (1882-1974), CANADIAN BIRCH AND PINE, ISLAND ON LAKE TEMAGAMI, 1956 oil on panel signed lower right; signed, titled, and dated âOct. 1956â verso 10.5 x 13.5 in â 26.7 x 34.3 cm
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Ontario By descent to the present Private Collection, Ontario
$15,000â20,000
VIEW LOT
WILLIAM KURELEK
tFlight into Egypt is part of a series of 20 paintings by William Kurelek depicting the Nativity story that was reproduced in his book, A Northern Nativity: Christmas Dreams of a Prairie Boy. Based on dreams he had as a 12 year-old living in Manitoba in the 1930s, the artist reimagined the Christmas story in a wintery Canadian setting. Kurelek painted scenes of the Nativity in a fishermanâs hut, a garage, a cowboyâs barn, and depicted the Holy Family receiving refuge in a city mission, a grain barn, and a country school.
In his introduction to the book, Kurelek writes:
âOutside the prairie was covered with snow. Toward eleven oâclock William ventured out of the warm farmhouse kitchen up the dark stairway to his cold bedroom. Swiftly he stripped down to his long johns, dived between the icy sheets and pulled the covers over his head. Curled into a ball like a hibernating animal, he breathed and breathed until he felt warm enough under the blankets to relax and stretch out.
William enjoyed watching himself fall asleep, going back over the events of the day and seeing them slowly take on a new life in his dreams. In school that day his class had begun rehearsing for the annual Christmas concert. As drowsiness came over William, the Nativity story got mixed up with his history and geography lessons, and he had his first Christmas dream. It was about the Far North, perhaps because his nose protruded from the bedcovers and breathed the cold crisp air in the bedroom.â1
Flight into Egypt, reproduced in colour in A Northern Nativity, represents Kurelekâs last dream. His accompanying text reads:
âOn the first Christmas Joseph dreamed of an angel who told him to flee to a far country. Now the Holy Family is preparing to flee Williamâs country too. They have been given a horse and buggy by a community of devout farming families. They are off now and seem to be taking the warmth with Them as They disappear into the blowing snow. William had grown fond of Them as he followed Their fortunes throughout his country. Now he tries to run after Them, to beg Them to stay. But his legs sink deeper into the snow and he cannot move. He calls to Them in panic: âPlease donât go!â This time he is heard. Their compassionate words float back to him through the blizzard: âWe will return one day â when you are ready to receive Us with undivided love.â
William woke shivering. His running in the dream had kicked the bedcovers to the floor. But the warmth of Their parting promise left him with enough peace to go back to restful sleep.â 2
1 William Kurelek, A Northern Nativity: Christmas Dreams of a Prairie Boy (Montreal: Tundra Books, 1976), unpaginated.
2 Ibid.
208
WILLIAM KURELEK, OSA, RCA (1927-1977), CANADIAN
FLIGHT INTO EGYPT (NATIVITY SERIES), 1975
mixed media on board signed and dated â75â lower right; titled ââFlight to Egyptâ from Canadaâ verso; gallery labels verso 24 x 24 in â 61 x 61 cm
PROVENANCE:
Isaacs Gallery Ltd., Toronto, ON Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC Private Collection, Vancouver, BC
EXHIBITED:
William Kurelek: The Nativity in Canada Series, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC, 25 Nov 1975.
LITERATURE:
William Kurelek, A Northern Nativity: Christmas dreams of a prairie boy (Montreal: Tundra Books, 1976), unpaginated.
$60,000â80,000
NOTE: Accompanied by a copy of the purchase invoice (client name redacted).
Day in March was painted in the most dynamic and exciting period in Letendreâs career as she was developing her pictorial language and working through the examples of Borduas and Jean Paul Riopelle. Like them, Letendreâs commitment to making art for personal self-knowledge never wavered for the remaining half century of her career even as her painterly styles changed.
Day in March achieves immense scale with the limited palette Letendre preferred during this period and to which she would return in her final bodies of work. The particulars of the palette changed from painting to painting; the palette of Day in March includes chrome yellow, ultramarine, teal (likely the chrome yellow and ultramarine mixed), white, and black. Letendre first painted in a field of black and white, deliberately wet-in-wet, into which she thatched strokes of teal and yellow. Penultimately, she added the three angular black forms in the top right, centre left, and bottom right that dance across the surface, accented by final draws of yellow that pulled and incorporated the wet paint below.
Day in March is a dynamic painting from a dynamic moment in the artistâs career. It demonstrates how she broke from Riopelle, how she was still reckoning with Borduas as the forms in her breakthrough 1961 abstractions developed in front of us, and how her career-long pursuit of light was honest and personal.
The above essay was contributed by Gregory Humeniuk. Humeniuk is an art historian, consultant, writer, and curator based in Toronto.
209
RITA LETENDRE, RCA (1928-2021), CANADIAN
DAY IN MARCH, 1960 oil on canvas
signed and dated â60â lower right; signed, titled, and dated verso 31 x 26 in â 78.7 x 66 cm
PROVENANCE:
Heffel, Vancouver, BC, 27 Nov 2004, lot 92 as Untitled Private Collection, Toronto, ON
NOTE:
Accompanied by signed letter from artist.
$40,000â60,000
VIEW LOT
210
RITA LETENDRE, RCA (1928-2021), CANADIAN
LODER, 1980
acrylic on canvas signed lower right; signed, titled, and dated â80â verso 24 x 36 in â 61 x 91.4 cm
PROVENANCE:
EnchĂšres Champagne, Montreal, QC, 11 Dec 2016, lot 128
IEGOR Auctions, Montreal, QC, 28 Mar 2017, lot 45
Private Collection, Toronto, ON
$10,000â15,000
VIEW LOT
211
SOREL ETROG, RCA (1933-2014), CANADIAN
METAMORPHOSIS II, 1967
bronze
signed and numbered 2/7 to base 55 x 15 in â 141 x 38.1 cm
PROVENANCE: Gallery Moos Ltd., Toronto, ON Private Collection, Toronto, ON
$30,000â50,000
VIEW LOT
212
JACOB EPSTEIN (1880-1959), AMERICAN/BRITISH
CLARE SHERIDAN, 1919
verdigris-patinated bronze second casting of 2 total
22 x 16 x 9.5 in â 55.9 x 40.6 x 24.1 cm
PROVENANCE:
Collection of Emil J. Arnold, New York, NY
Sotheby Parke Bernet, Los Angeles, CA, 25 Feb 1974, lot 58
Private Collection, Toronto, ON
LITERATURE:
E. Silber, The Sculpture of Epstein, Oxford, 1986, 145, no. 99.2, another cast illustrated.
$7,000â10,000
VIEW LOT
PETER CLAPHAM SHEPPARD
The rare beauty of Christie Pits, Toronto is what makes Peter Clapham Sheppard singular in Canadian art. Within a composition of horizontals, verticals, and diagonals rendered in tints of green, soft browns, and accented by brisk reds, Sheppard presents a sophisticated vignette of Depression-era Toronto with the humanity he consistently and uniquely brought to his urban scenes.
Sheppardâs work parallels an increasing interest in humanism and urban content in Toronto painting starting in the late 1920s.1 Beautiful and provocative, his luminous images are striking contrasts to the dour images of many of his Toronto contemporaries.
The view of the south end of Willowvale Park (as Christie Pits was called until 1983) shows the working classes of west end Toronto and was less than a thirty minute walk from Sheppardâs residence at the time. A pair of down-at-the-heel men occupy the foreground. Behind them a quartet, possibly a young family, relax in the shade. The arrangement of the figures on the hillside, and particularly the man reclining on his elbows, conjure Georges Seuratâs A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (1884/86).2 Here and in other paintings, Sheppard scrutinized shared public spaces, codes of behaviour, and decorum that T. J. Clark would explore in his defining reading of Impressionism and the Grande Jatte fifty years later.[3] In Christie Pits, Toronto, Sheppardâs sophistication and subtlety compels the viewer to contemplate our shared humanity.
The above essay was contributed by Gregory Humeniuk. Humeniuk is an art historian, consultant, writer, and curator based in Toronto.
1 Anna Victoria Hudson, âArt and Social Progress: The Toronto community of Painters, 1933-1950,â Ph.D. diss., (University of Toronto, 1997), 2-3, 178-179, 188-190.
2 Georges Seurat (French, 1859-1891), A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884/86, oil on canvas, 207.5 x 308.1 cm (81 3/4 x 121 1/4 in.), The Art Institute of Chicago, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, acc. no. 1926.224.
3 T. J. Clark, The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and his Followers (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), 261, 263-267.
213
PETER CLAPHAM SHEPPARD, OSA, RCA (1879-1965), CANADIAN CHRISTIE PITS, TORONTO, CA. 1932 oil on canvas signed lower right
24 x 30 in â 61 x 76.2 cm
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Toronto, ON
$20,000â30,000
VIEW LOT
214
EDWARD SEAGO (1910-1974), BRITISH
THE âNELLIEâ AND THE âSPINAWAYâ AT PIN MILL - SUFFOLK oil on board signed lower left; titled verso 20 x 30 in â 50.8 x 76.2 cm
PROVENANCE: G. Blair Laing Ltd., Toronto, ON Private Collection, Ontario
$20,000â30,000
VIEW LOT
JAMES WILSON MORRICE
This quiet and intimate moment captured by James Wilson Morrice circa 1896 of an unidentified young woman seated among verdant foliage is a rare and early example of a nude by the artist.
Best known for his landscapes, Morriceâs interest in the human form developed only after his move to Europe around 1891, and while portraits in the broadest sense account for approximately ten percent of his output1, only a small number of these are nudes.
A similar work, Girls Head Amid Leaves, ca. 1896, in the collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art (974.31), appears more quickly painted and the female form is not the focus â instead the modelâs face peeks from behind the leaves. Only one other nude in a landscape by Morrice is known. Also dated ca. 1896, Nude in Landscape (Private Collection), shows the sitter in partial profile sitting on a red cushion or blanket, and like Nude, is facing away from the viewer. Donning a similar loose bun, the sitter could conceivably be the same model. With Nude, we feel as though we have stumbled upon a private contemplation, and by painting his model from the back view, Morriceâs painting maintains a reserved and modest sensuality.
The painting was incorrectly titled In Trinidad in the 1940s by the Continental Galleries. Morrice visited Trinidad only once in 1921.
Thank you to Lucie Dorais for contributing information that was included in the essay.
1 Lucie Dorais, âMorrice and the Human Figureâ, in Nicole Cloutier, James Wilson Morrice 1865-1924, 62
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, RCA (1865-1924), CANADIAN
NUDE, CA. 1896 oil on canvas estate stamp verso; inscribed âfrom the studio of J.W. Morriceâ to stretcher; incorrectly titled and dated to gallery and exhibition labels verso 13.75 x 10.5 in â 34.9 x 26.7 cm
PROVENANCE:
Artistâs studio
William Scott & Sons, Montreal, QC
Continental Galleries of Fine Art, Montreal, QC
Mrs. Howard W. Pillow, Montreal, QC
Mrs. A. Murray Vaughan, St. Andrews, NB
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB
Deaccessioned to benefit art purchases at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery
EXHIBITED:
W. Scott & Sons, âJ.W. Morriceâ, 1939, Montreal, QC
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, âSeventyFourth Annual Exhibitionâ (âMemorial section: Drawings and Paintings by J.W. Morrice, RCA, 1864-1924â), 27 Nov 1953 - 10 Jan 1954, Toronto, ON. National Gallery of Canada, âJames Wilson Morrice, 1865-1924â 30 May - 29 Jun 1968 (toured) as In Trinidad, Ottawa, ON.
Donald W. Buchanan, James Wilson Morrice: A Biography. (Toronto: The Ryerson Press) 1936, 22-23.
The Beaverbrook Art Gallery Quarterly. September, 1987, no. 37, 1 volume (unpaginated). St. George Burgoyne, Phases of Art of J. W. Morrice on view at Scottâs Galleries: French Subjects, Wartime Scenes and Landscapes done in Trinidad among items in varied Collections. The Gazette (Montreal), 28 Jan 1939, 5. Principal Acquisitions of Canadian Museums and Galleries, RACAR. XV:2 (1988), 186 (repro. fig. 123).
$40,000â60,000
VIEW LOT
LAWREN STEWART HARRIS
North Shore, Lake Superior is an evocative and striking canvas, radiating with the dramatic northern light and bold forms that one immediately associates with Lawren Harris. It is a prime example of the artist at the peak of his landscape career, depicting one of his most important subjects. Full of confidence and assuredness, the compositionâs undulating rhythms in the water and sky emphasize the celebration of the morning sun rising over pared-down landforms, reduced to their most essential architecture, emphatically demonstrating Harrisâ quest for the discovery of underlying truths in the natural world.
On sketching trips between 1921 and 1928, Lawren Harris visited the north shore of Lake Superior seven times, providing abundant inspiration for his rapidly evolving artistic practice. There he found a landscape that resonated deeply with his artistic vision, providing austere and stark subjects situated within an openness where light and space could be explored more fully than in the abundance of the Algomaâs densely vegetated forests and lakeshores. It is an area of impressive beauty and dramatic atmosphere, as fellow artist and common accomplice A.Y. Jackson attested to, writing âI know of no more impressive scenery in Canada for the landscape painter. There is a sublime order to it, the long curves of the beaches, the sweeping ranges of hills, and headlands that push out into the lakeâŠ. In the autumn the whole country glows with colour.â 1
Lake Superior resulted in some of Harrisâ most celebrated works, including Above Lake Superior in the Art Gallery of Ontario (ca.1924), North Shore, Lake Superior in the NGC (ca. 1928), and Pic Island in the McMichael Canadian Art Collection (ca. 1926). Among other major works from this region, there are two very similar canvases depicting the same scene as the work offered here: Morning, Lake Superior in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Morning Light, Lake Superior (ca.1927) in the University of Guelph collection.
This work, North Shore, Lake Superior, acquired directly from the artist shortly after it was painted and passed down in the family, emerges as a welcome and important addition to this lauded catalogue of the artist, contributing another striking work that allows us to appreciate the influential of legacy of this subject, and this period, in Harrisâ career.
This essay was contributed by Alec Blair. Blair is the director of the Lawren S. Harris Inventory Project, working with the estate of the artist to put together a catalogue of the artistâs works. He is based in Vancouver, BC.
1 A.Y. Jackson, A Painterâs Country: The Autobiography of A.Y. Jackson (Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1958) 57.
2 Letter from Lawren Harris to Katherine Dreier â Nov. 17, 1928, Yale University Library Digital Collections.
216
LAWREN STEWART HARRIS (1885-1970), CANADIAN NORTH SHORE, LAKE SUPERIOR, CA. 1927 oil on linen
40.5 x 31.25 in â 102.2 x 79.4 cm
PROVENANCE:
Artistâs studio
Dr. W. E. Gallie, Toronto, ON By descent to the present Private Collection
$2,000,000â3,000,000
NOTE:
A portion of the proceeds of the sale of this work will go to the International Retinoblastoma Consortium.
VIEW LOT
217
LAWREN STEWART HARRIS (1885-1970), CANADIAN AUTUMN, DESIGN FOR A PANEL, CA. 1936
oil on beaverboard panel signed lower right; signed and titled verso; titled and dated to labels verso 15 x 12 in â 38.1 x 30.5 cm
PROVENANCE:
Collection of Bess Harris, Vancouver, BC
Jerrold Morris International Gallery Limited, Toronto, ON Loranger Gallery, Toronto, ON Private Collection, Toronto, ON
LITERATURE:
Joan Murray and Robert Fulford, The Beginning of Vision: The Drawings of Lawren S. Harris (Vancouver/Toronto: Douglas and McIntyre, 1982) nos. 58-60 for comparable works.
$30,000â50,000
VIEW LOT
218
RENĂ MARCIL (1917-1993), CANADIAN
PAX (ABSTRACT), 1957 oil on canvas signed and dated upper left
51 x 38 in â 129.5 x 96.5 cm
PROVENANCE:
Collection of Evelyn Rowat, Toronto, ON Collection of Wayne Thomson, Toronto, ON By descent to the present Private Collection, Toronto, ON
$15,000â20,000
VIEW LOT
219
BERTRAM CHARLES (B.C.) BINNING, RCA (1909-1976), CANADIAN REGATTA
oil and pencil on card, laid on paperboard signed lower centre; signed to artistâs label verso 15 x 12.75 in â 38.1 x 32.4 cm
PROVENANCE:
Artistâs studio, Vancouver, BC
Pagurian Press Limited, Toronto, ON Clars Auction, Oakland, CA, 20 May 2018, lot 6254
Private Collection, Ontario
$20,000â30,000
VIEW LOT
220
JEAN-PAUL ARMAND MOUSSEAU (1927-1991), CANADIAN ESPACE BLANC, 1954 oil on board signed and dated â54â lower right; titled and dated to gallery labels verso 40 x 28.5 in â 101.6 x 72.4 cm
PROVENANCE:
Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, ON
Acquired from the above in 1996 by Roger A. Lindsay, Toronto, ON
EXHIBITED: Mousseau, Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal, QC, 31 Jan 1997 - 27 Apr 1997.
Born in Barnes, on the outskirts of London, England on November 24, 1914, Lynn Chadwick was brought up in a conventional family setting. His father, an engineer who designed industrial furnaces, and his mother, a former teacher, raised Chadwick in a conservative and practical household.
EARLY LIFE AND EXPERIMENTATION
At the age of 18, Chadwick met British Revivalist sculptor Wilfred Dudeney, a friend of his sister Margery. The encounter inspired Chadwick to consider a career in the arts, but due to the economic depression of the 1930s, his parents encouraged him to find a more secure career path. A compromise was reached, and Chadwick pursued training as an architect and draughtsman, though found little pleasure in the work.
The onset of World War II prompted Chadwick to join the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy, piloting the Swordfish biplanes which were used to protect merchant shipping vessels from German submarines. His son, Daniel, recalled that Chadwickâs innate sense of balance and equilibrium would help his father enormously during his wartime service, finding a parallel between the sensitivity needed to land a plane on a small aircraft carrier with the sculptures he would later produce.
When the war ended, Chadwick, his first wife Ann, and son Simon moved to a remote cottage in Gloucestershire. The house lacked electricity and running water but was affordable, allowing Chadwick the freedom to begin making things at his own pace. Mobiles were an early interest before he began to make sculpture. These months of remote experimentation would be referred to by the artist as his âdesert-island technique.â
Chadwick began submitting his work, and in 1946 won a textile design competition judged by Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland. In 1949, one of his mobiles was accepted into an exhibition at Gimpel Fils, a London art gallery, which led to a successful solo exhibition the following year. Opportunities flooded in, including several high-profile commissions.
INTERNATIONAL
Chadwick received no formal training as a sculptor, though he learned to weld in the late 1940s, which would help him to build the rigid cages that formed the outline of his three-dimensional works. Perrotin, which represents the artistâs estate, explains that Chadwickâs sculpture of the 1950s can be described as âdrawing in space,â as Chadwick âwelded steel rods together in triangulated structures and he subsequently filled the voids between the lines with a mixture of iron filings and gypsum.â This technique set him apart from his contemporaries and established him as a major figure in 20th-century sculpture.
Despite his training as a draughtsman, Chadwick rarely drew on paper, preferring to work out his sculptures in real time without any preconceived notions. His son Daniel noted that âhe was able to visualise the piece as he worked, and rarely had to cut and alter the linesâŠit meant he was able to convey energy or attitude, poise and movement, effortlessly and intuitively.â
With his career on the rise, Chadwickâs work was included in the 1952 âNew Aspects of British Sculptureâ exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Four years later, he would again represent Britain in Venice, with a series of angular, anthropomorphic works. The exhibition would win him the International Sculpture Prize at the age of 42, beating the more famous sculptor Alberto Giacometti. Chadwick remains the youngest sculptor to ever win the prize.
LYNN CHADWICK, RA (1914-2003), BRITISH
WALKING CLOAKED FIGURE I, 1978
bronze with black patina signed, dated, numbered 5/8, and incised â774â
11.25 x 8 x 8 in â 28.6 x 20.3 x 20.3 cm
PROVENANCE:
Waddington and Shiell Galleries Ltd., Toronto, ON Private Collection, Toronto, ON, acquired from the above in January 1981
$45,000â65,000
NOTE: The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Sarah Chadwick.
LOT
MATURE CAREER AND LEGACY
In 1958, Chadwick purchased Lypiatt Park, a near-derelict Elizabethan mansion outside Stroud, which became both his home and studio. This space allowed him to create larger works and establish his own foundry in 1971.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Chadwick continued to evolve his artistic style, developing sculptures that conveyed a lighter, more whimsical mood. In the 80s, he collaborated with Claude Koenig and Rungwe Kingdon to establish the Pangolin Editions foundry, and the three agreed on a method for casting and producing Chadwickâs entire body of work. This partnership ensured the continuation of his artistic legacy, as Pangolin Editions continues to make his sculptures today. Along with Chadwickâs work, Pangolin fabricates sculptures for contemporary artists including Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Eduardo Paolozzi.
Chadwickâs work in the 1970s and 80s was characterised by a move toward figuration, centred around winged or robed bodies in motion, perched on slender legs. As Perrotin writes: âuninhibited by the constraints of a formal art education, Chadwick freely and instinctively invented images from his imagination, utilising his individual technique and creating a fantastic oeuvre of novel human and animal forms [...] He also channelled the essence of his own earlier mobiles in an art of motion, balance and stance in pursuit of a kind of body language that Chadwick himself described as âAttitudeâ.â These works are lighter and gentler than earlier works, exploring the human condition through a paredback simplicity.
222
LYNN CHADWICK, RA (1914-2003), BRITISH
MAQUETTE V WALKING WOMAN, 1984
bronze with black patina signed with the initial âCâ, numbered 3/9, and incised âC25â 7.1 x 6.25 in â 18 x 15.9 cm
PROVENANCE:
Waddington and Shiell Galleries Ltd., Toronto, ON Private Collection, Toronto, ON, acquired from the above in November 1985
$40,000â65,000
NOTE:
The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Sarah Chadwick.
VIEW LOT
Of the three works featured at Waddingtonâs, Goulven Le Morvan, Director of International art explains that âeach sculpture seems to have a distinct aspect â one is walking, one is sitting, and one is standing â and still, we can feel the movement in each. There is nothing inanimate about these works.â
Despite never receiving formal training as a sculptor, Chadwickâs intuitive approach resulted in a prolific career spanning five decades. His legacy was honoured with a major retrospective at Tate Britain in 2003, shortly after his passing on April 24 of the same year. Today, Chadwick is celebrated as one of the most exciting artists to emerge from the post-war period in Britain, with his work continuing to inspire and influence new generations of sculptors. His work remains sought after by collectors looking to rediscover the innovations of British post-war artists, and his market continues to grow internationally.
223
LYNN CHADWICK, RA (1914-2003), BRITISH
THREE SITTING FIGURES, 1976
bronze with black and polished patina signed with the initial âCâ, and incised â634Sâ; edition 6/8 (not stamped)
7.75 x 12 x 9 in â 19.7 x 30.5 x 22.9 cm
PROVENANCE: Waddington and Shiell Galleries Ltd., Toronto, ON Private Collection, Toronto, ON, acquired from the above
$50,000â70,000
NOTE: The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Sarah Chadwick.
LOT
224
WILLIAM KURELEK, RCA (1927-1977), CANADIAN
PANORAMA FROM THE MARTYRâS SHRINE, MIDLAND, 1964
watercolour on hardboard
initialed lower right; titled and dated to labels verso
7.5 x 35.5 in â 19.1 x 90.2 cm
PROVENANCE:
The Isaacs Gallery, Toronto, ON Woltjen/Udell Gallery, Edmonton, AB
Joyner Fine Art, Toronto, ON, 21 Nov 1990, lot 349
Private Collection, Toronto, ON
By descent to the present Private Collection, Toronto, ON
$25,000â35,000
VIEW LOT
ULYSSE COMTOIS
The pointillism developed by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac was brought to its fullest expression by Ulysse Comtois. Fascinated by the energy that could be created by chromatic juxtapositions, by the 1970s Comtois began exploding the tight precision of his predecessors, releasing any sense of figuration or narrative in favour of pure buzzing sensation.
Expressing an interest in revisiting Mondrianâs legacy, Comtois returned to twodimensional painting after a decade spent working with welded metal and wood. Mondrian is often remembered for his formal vocabulary of primary colours and values as well as his self-confinement to strict, gridlike compositions, but some of his earliest landscape work included forays into pointillism. Comtoisâs vast colourfields echo both Mondrianâs early technique and his signature organizing grids, cleverly fusing the artistâs young career with his mature style.
Ever original, Comtoisâs softened Mondrianâs influences within his own work, as if viewing them through a kaleidoscopic lens. He cannily tethered his work to the material world by way of his titles, lest the viewer float away on a sea of abstraction. The evocative LumiĂšres dâautomne, 1982, brings to mind memories of seasonal light and foliage, and thus, in their expressionistic way, cleave towards the rich Canadian landscape tradition, and swing back around to Mondrianâs early work.
225
ULYSSE COMTOIS (1931-1999), CANADIAN LUMIĂRES DâAUTOMNE, 1982 oil on canvas
signed lower right; signed, titled, and dated â82â verso 60 x 60 in â 152.4 x 152.4 cm
When Lemieux returned to this subject matter in 1968, he abandoned any religious narrative to instead imbue the scene with simplicity, pleasure and relaxation, as he did in his student drawings, where he sketched scenes from his summer vacations with Madeleine (who would become his future wife) and their friends relaxing in the sun at Port-au-Persil and Les Ăboulements in Charlevoix.
This panoramic composition bears the hallmarks of his classic period (1956-1970), with three overlapping, slightly inclined, bands of colour. The picnic takes place in the foreground, on lush green grass dotted with flowers. In the centre, a thin horizontal strip of colour evokes the water, which would have merged with the sky if the artist had not drawn a delicate horizon line. Lastly, a band of dark sky is painted in a more gestural way than the other planes of colour, from which the movement contrasts with the statuesque posture of the featureless figures placed symmetrically around the spread on the picnic blanket. The tight framing of the scene, bordered on the left and right by figures partially cut off from view, draws the eye to the picnic blanket in the centre. The blanketâs white tone with red dots of colour adds a lightness to the compositionâs twilight atmosphere.
Once again, Jean Paul Lemieux succeeds in bringing together the two fundamental concerns of his art - time and space - in Le pique nique. This charming composition evokes the happy memories deeply embedded in the artistâs mind.
NOTE: Accompanied by a copy of the purchase invoice (client name redacted).
VIEW LOT
227
DAVID HOCKNEY (B. 1937), BRITISH
IAN FOUNTAINS ABBEY, YORKSHIRE, JANUARY 1983
collage of chromogenic prints, mounted to green board signed, titled, dated, and numbered â#3â in white ink to mount 50 x 40.2 in â 127 x 102 cm
PROVENANCE:
Jane Corkin Gallery, Toronto, ON Private Collection, Toronto, ON
LITERATURE:
David Hockney, Lawrence Weschler, Raymond Foye, and Peter Arnell. Cameraworks. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984, pl. 95.
$20,000â30,000
VIEW LOT
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Jean McEwenâs career was in full flight when he painted Cyclades #1 in October of 1963. Fourteen years earlier, his talent had been recognized when he first exhibited in the Montreal Museum of Fine Artsâ Annual Spring Exhibition. A juror suggested he speak with Paul-Ămile Borduas. McEwen did, and in late 1951 McEwen went to France for a year where he met Jean Paul Riopelle, the American painter Sam Francis, and had his first extensive first-hand engagement with modern masters, including Claude Monet.
McEwen returned to Montreal with heightened commitment, and in 1955 began to manipulate the paint with his hands instead of a palette knife. In April 1961, Walter Moos gave him his first solo exhibition in Toronto and the Toronto Daily Starâs Robert Fulford raved about the complexity, colouring, and handling of McEwenâs paintings.1
Cyclades #1 was painted following a trip to Greece in the fall of 1963. At least three other Cyclades works exist, all with the same dimensions, and this painting is the first to appear at auction in more than two decades. First-hand viewings of McEwenâs paintings of this period are essential. Like Monet, McEwen deliberately painted a textured ground for visual interest. McEwen also used reds, yellows and browns layered in loose geometric forms to create the paintingâs cruciform composition. Reds and browns applied over the textured ground are variously glossy and thin, suggesting an indeterminate depth. Atop them McEwen applied matte yellow that hovers over the surface in the top left and top right areas of the canvas. Finally, a glaze of Van Dyke brown in the centre, from bottom to top, enriches the reds below it and ignites the yellows flanking it. Like Monetâs transcendental scenes of pond reflections, Cyclades #1 gently eases the viewer into contemplation and pleasure.
This essay was contributed by Greg Humeniuk. Humeniuk is an art historian, consultant, writer. and curator based in Toronto.
1 Robert Fulford, âWorld of Art,â Toronto Daily Star (15 April 1961), 30.
228
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN (1923-1999), CANADIAN
CYCLADES #1, 1963 oil on canvas
signed and dated âOctober 63â verso; titled and dated to gallery label verso 50 x 50 in â 127 x 127 cm
PROVENANCE:
Gallery Moos Ltd., Toronto, ON
Private Collection, Ontario
$70,000â90,000
VIEW LOT
229
RITA LETENDRE, RCA (1928-2021), CANADIAN
TO THE SPIRIT OF BEETHOVEN, 1992
acrylic on canvas
signed lower right; signed, titled, and dated â92â with dedication dated âAugt 8 2004â verso
36 x 42 in â 91.4 x 106.7 cm
PROVENANCE:
IEGOR Auctions, Montreal, QC, 28 Mar 2017, lot 48
Private Collection, Toronto, ON
$8,000â12,000
VIEW LOT
EDWARD BURTYNSKY (B. 1955), CANADIAN
NICKEL TAILINGS #34, SUDBURY, ONTARIO, 1996 pigment inkjet print on Kodak Professional photo paper signed, titled, dated, and numbered 1/10 to margin image 24 x 36 in â 61 x 91.4 cm
PROVENANCE:
Art Mûr, Montreal, QC
Important Corporate Collection, Toronto, ON
$15,000â20,000
VIEW LOT
231
FREDERICK ARTHUR VERNER, OSA, ARCA (1836-1928), CANADIAN
OJIBWAY IN A CANOE, 1876 oil on canvas
signed and dated lower right
20 x 36 in â 50.8 x 91.4 cm
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Ontario
$30,000â50,000
VIEW LOT
232
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH (1846-1923), CANADIAN
VICTORIA GLACIER, LAKE LOUISE oil on canvas
signed lower left
20 x 27 in â 50.8 x 68.6 cm
PROVENANCE:
Heffel, Toronto, ON, 8 Nov 2001, lot 1
Private Collection, Seattle, WA
$8,000â12,000
VIEW LOT
233
ROBERT MCLELLAN BATEMAN, RCA (B. 1930), CANADIAN
WINTER RUN - BULL MOOSE, 1994
acrylic on canvas signed and dated lower right; titled and dated to gallery and exhibition labels verso 30 x 60 in â 76.2 x 152.4 cm
PROVENANCE:
Loch Mayberry, Winnipeg, MB
Estate of John Van Haastrecht, Toronto, ON
EXHIBITED:
Covering the West: The Best of Southwest Art, organized by Southwest Art magazine and touring to Colorado Springs Fine Arts Centre, CO; Tuscon Museum of Art, Tuscon, AZ; National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Centre, Oklahoma City, OK; Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Los Angeles, CA; Alburquerque Museum of Art, Alburqureque, NM from Jun 1995 - Sep 1996.
Robert Bateman in Russia, touring to Russian State Museum, St. Petersburg; Ivanovo Regional State Museum; Tula Museum of Fine Art; Tsarytsyno Palace Art Museum, Moscow from Oct 2009 â Aug 2010.
$60,000â80,000
234
ROBERT MCLELLAN BATEMAN, RCA (B. 1930), CANADIAN
ARCTIC ICE, 1996
acrylic on canvas signed and dated lower right; titled and dated to gallery labels verso 28.5 x 52.5 in â 72.4 x 133.4 cm
PROVENANCE:
Loch Mayberry, Winnipeg, MB Estate of John Van Haastrecht, Toronto, ON
EXHIBITED:
Robert Bateman in Russia, touring to Russian State Museum, St. Petersburg; Ivanovo Regional State Museum; Tula Museum of Fine Art; Tsarytsyno Palace Art Museum, Moscow from Oct 2009 â Aug 2010.
$30,000â50,000
VIEW LOT
VIEW LOT
MARC-AURĂLE DE FOY SUZOR-COTĂ (1869-1937), CANADIAN
FEMMES DE CAUGHNAWAGA
bronze signed and inscribed
16.5 x 22.5 x 12.5 in â 42.7 x 55.9 x 29.2 cm
PROVENANCE:
Levis Fine Art Auctions, Calgary, AB, 9 Apr 2006, lot 106
Private Collection, Seattle, WA
$8,000â12,000
VIEW LOT
236
CORNELIUS DAVID KRIEGHOFF (1815-1872), CANADIAN
BASKET SELLER oil on canvas signed lower right
10.75 x 9 in â 27.3 x 22.9 cm
PROVENANCE:
Oscar Pratt Benson (Benson Art Store), Buffalo, NY
By descent to Private Collection, United States
Neal Auction Company, New Orleans, LA, 29 Jan 2022, lot 233
Private Collection, Toronto, ON
$15,000â20,000
VIEW LOT
237
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN, RCA (1923-1999), CANADIAN
MALLORCA #3, 1964
watercolour and gold leaf on wove paper signed and dated â64â lower right 24 x 18 in â 61 x 45.7 cm
PROVENANCE: Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto, ON Private Collection, Ontario
$8,000â12,000
VIEW LOT
238
GERHARD RICHTER (B. 1932), GERMAN ONKEL RUDI, 2000
cibachrome print mounted to aluminum dibond signed and numbered 60/80 to mount verso; there are also 25 artistâs proofs numbered in Roman and 1 trial proof printed on baryta paper; published by Centro per lâArte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy
34.3 x 19.7 in â 87 x 50 cm
PROVENANCE:
Anthony dâOffay Gallery, London, UK Private Collection, Toronto, ON
oil pastel, pastel, oil, and charcoal on vellum signed and dated â85â lower right; titled and dated to gallery label verso 42 x 19.75 in â 106.7 x 50.2 cm
PROVENANCE:
The Sable-Castelli Gallery Ltd., Toronto, ON Private Collection, Toronto, ON
EXHIBITED:
Sable-Castelli Gallery, Toronto, ON, Betty Goodwin, 19 Oct - 9 Nov 1985.
Travelling exhibition organized by The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, QC, Betty Goodwin: Works from 1971 to 1987, presented at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON, 2 May - 12 Jul 1987, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, 20 Aug - 25 Oct 1987, and The Montreal Museum of Fine Art, Montreal, QC, 11 Feb - 27 Mar 1988.
LITERATURE:
Yolande Racine, Betty Goodwin: Works from 1971-1987, (Montreal: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts), 1987, 168, col. repro. 169.
$10,000â15,000
VIEW LOT
241
PAUL JENKINS (1923-2012), AMERICAN PHENOMANA BRANCH LIGHT, 1976
watercolour on paper signed in ink lower right; titled and dated to gallery label verso 43 x 55 in â 109.2 x 139.7 cm
PROVENANCE:
Gallery One, Toronto, ON Private Collection, Toronto, ON
$10,000â15,000
VIEW LOT
242
SOREL ETROG, RCA (1933-2014), CANADIAN
THE COUPLE STUDY bronze sculpture 13 x 3.5 in â 33 x 8.9 cm; incl. base 16.5 x 3.5 in â 41.9 x 8.9 cm
PROVENANCE: Presented to Jack Cole, Governor, Canadian Society for the Weizmann Institute, Toronto, ON, 2 Oct 1977 Private Collection, Toronto, ON
$8,000â10,000
VIEW LOT
243
FRANK HANS (FRANZ) JOHNSTON (1888-1949), CANADIAN
SPRING AWAKENING oil on board
signed lower left; signed and titled verso; titled to gallery label verso 20 x 24 in â 50.8 x 61 cm
PROVENANCE:
The Fine Art Galleries, T. Eaton Company Ltd., Montreal, QC Private Collection, Seattle, WA
$10,000â15,000
VIEW LOT
244
ALFRED JOSEPH (A.J.) CASSON, OSA, PRCA (1898-1992), CANADIAN BALDWIN, 1975 oil on paperboard signed lower right; signed, titled, and dated âSept/75â verso 12 x 15 in â 30.5 x 38.1 cm
PROVENANCE: Arts & Letters Sketch Club, Toronto, ON Private Collection, Toronto, ON
$25,000â35,000
VIEW LOT
245
CARL FELLMAN SCHAEFER, RCA (1903-1995), CANADIAN
ONTARIO HOUSE NEAR THE FORKS OF THE CREDIT RIVER, 1932 oil on board
signed and dated lower left; signed, titled, and dated âMay 24 1932â with various inscriptions verso; also titled and dated to collection label verso 12 x 14.25 in â 33 x 29.2 cm
PROVENANCE:
Collection of Andrew Barnicke, Toronto, ON Gifted to Roger A. Lindsay, Toronto, ON
$8,000â12,000
VIEW LOT
246
TAKAO TANABE (B. 1926), CANADIAN
COMES NOW THE SPRING WITH ALL HER FAIR ARRAYS, 1958 oil on canvas signed and dated â58â lower right; titled verso 18 x 18 in â 45.7 x 45.7 cm
PROVENANCE: Waddingtonâs Auctioneers, Toronto, ON, 27 Nov 1997, lot 1595 Private Collection, Toronto, ON
$6,000â8,000
VIEW LOT
247
JOSEPH YVON FAFARD, RCA (1942-2019), CANADIAN
MAUD, 2001
bronze
signed, dated â01â, and numbered 1/7
9 x 12.5 x 6 in â 22.9 x 31.8 x 15.2 cm
PROVENANCE:
Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, QC
Private Collection, Ontario
$8,000â12,000
VIEW LOT
248
JOSEPH YVON FAFARD, RCA (1942-2019), CANADIAN
ALBERT DU CAP-ROUGE, 2001
bronze signed, dated, and numbered 2/10
10.5 x 12.5 in â 26.7 x 31.8 cm
PROVENANCE:
Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, QC
Private Collection, Ontario
$8,000â12,000
VIEW LOT
249
ATTILA RICHARD LUKACS (B. 1962), CANADIAN
FACE AGAINST THE WALL HE PUT ME IN THE CORNER OF SHAME (DOUBLE-SIDED), 2000 mixed media and image transfer on paper signed and dated âARL â000â lower right
64 x 43.75 in â 162.6 x 111.1 cm
PROVENANCE:
Bonhams, Toronto, 31 May 2010, lot 256
Private Collection, London, ON
$8,000â12,000
VIEW LOT
250
SERWAN BARAN (B. 1968), IRAQI
UNTITLED (MAN AT REST, MAN AT WORK), 1997 oil on canvas
signed and dated â97â lower left; signed and dated verso
28.1 x 36.2 in â 71.5 x 92 cm
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Toronto, ON
$8,000â12,000
VIEW LOT
1. Waddington's charges a buyer's premium of 25% on the hammer price up to and including $25,000 CAD. Hammer price in excess of $25,000 CAD will be charged a buyer's premium of 22%.
Bidders buying on the Invaluable site will be charged a Buyer's Premium of 28% on the hammer price up to and including $25,000 CAD Hammer prices in excess of $25,000 CAD will be charged at 25%.
2. Unless exempted by law, the buyer is required to pay Federal Good and Services Tax on the total purchase price including the buyerâs premium.
3. The auctioneer reserves the right to withdraw any lot from sale at any time, to divide any lot or to combine any two or more lots at his sole discretion, all without notice.
4. The auctioneer has the right to refuse any bid and to advance the bidding at his absolute discretion. The auctioneer reserves the right not to accept and not to reject any bid. Without limitation, any bid which is not commensurate with the value of the article offered, or which is merely a nominal or fractional advance over the previous bid may not be recognized.
5. Each lot may be subject to an unpublished reserve which may be changed at any time by agreement between the auctioneer and the consignor. The auctioneer may bid, or direct an employee to bid, on behalf of the consignor as agreed between them. In addition, the auctioneer may accept and submit absentee and telephone bids, to be executed by an employee of the auctioneer, pursuant to the instructions of prospective purchasers not in attendance at the sale.
6 The highest bidder accepted by the auctioneer for any lot shall be the buyer and such buyer shall forthwith assume full risk and responsibility for the lot and must comply with such other Conditions of Sale as may be applicable. If any dispute should arise between bidders the auctioneer shall have the absolute discretion to designate the buyer or, at his option, to withdraw any disputed lot from
the sale, or to re-offer it at the same or a subsequent sale. The auctioneerâs decision in all cases shall be final.
7. Immediately after the purchase of a lot, the buyer shall pay or undertake to the satisfaction of the auctioneer with respect to payment of the whole or any part of the purchase price requested by the auctioneer, failing which the auctioneer in his sole discretion may cancel the sale, with or without re-offering the item for sale.
8. The buyer shall pay for all lots within 48 hours from the date of the sale, after which a late charge of 2% per month on the total invoice may be incurred or the auctioneer, in his sole discretion, may cancel the sale. The buyer shall not become the owner of the lot until paid for in full. Items must be removed within 10 days from the date of sale, after which storage charges may be incurred.
9. Each lot purchased, unless the sale is cancelled as above, shall be held by the auctioneer at his premises or at a public warehouse at the sole risk of the buyer until fully paid for and taken away.
10. All lots are sold âAS ISâ. Any description issued by the auctioneer of an article to be sold is subject to variation to be posted online and/or announced via email prior to the time of sale. While the auctioneer has endeavored not to mislead in the description issued, and the utmost care is taken to ensure the correct cataloguing of each item, such descriptions are purely statements of opinion and are not intended to constitute a representation to the prospective purchasers and no warranty of the correctness of such description is made. Some lots are of an age and/ or nature which preclude their being in pristine condition and some catalogue descriptions make reference to damage and/or restoration. The lack of such a reference does not imply that a lot is free from defects nor does any reference to certain defects imply the absence of others. It is the responsibility of prospective purchasers to inspect or have inspected each lot upon which they wish to bid and to bid accordingly.
11. Payment for purchases must be by cash; interac direct debit (CDN client in person only); certified cheque (U.S. & Overseas not applicable); bank draft; E-Transfer; Wire Transfer (fee applies); visa or Mastercard (up to $25,000).
12. In the event of failure to pay for or remove articles within the aforementioned time limit, the auctioneer, without limitation of the rights of the consignor and the auctioneer against the buyer, may resell any of the articles affected, and in such case the original buyer shall be responsible to the auctioneer and the consignor for:
(a) any deficiency in price between the re-sale amount and the amount to have been paid by the original buyer
(b) any reasonable charge by the auctioneer for the storage of such articles until payment and removal by the subsequent buyer and
(c) the amount of commission which the auctioneer would have earned had payment been made in full by the original buyer.
13. It is the responsibility of the buyer to make all arrangements for insuring, packing and removing the property purchased and any assistance by the auctioneer or his servants, agents or contractors, in packing or removal shall be rendered as a courtesy and without any liability to them.
14. The auctioneer acts solely as agent for the consignor and makes no representation as to any attribute of, title to, or restriction affecting the articles consigned for sale. Without limitation, the buyer understands that any item bought may be affected by the provisions of the Cultural Property Export Act (Canada).
15. The auctioneer reserves the right to refuse admission to the sale or to refuse to recognize any or all bids from any particular person or persons at any auction.
All lots will be offered and sold subject to the Conditions of Sale which appear in this catalogue as well as any Glossary and posted or oral announcements. By bidding at auction, bidders are bound by those Conditions and Glossary, as amended by any announcements or posted notices, which together form the contract of sale between the successful bidder (buyer), Waddingtonâsâą (auctioneer) and the consignor (seller) of the lot. Description or photographs of lots are not warranties and each lot is sold âas isâ in accordance with the Conditions of Sale.
CONDITION OF LOTS
All of the items are to be considered, unless otherwise noted in the catalogue description or condition report, in good condition. The definition of âgoodâ when used in reference to condition, describes an object as having had no major damage or repair but as with the nature of the material, may show minor surface wear, discolouration etc., which indicates the acceptable wear that the piece may acquire with age. If you are particular about minor flaws, you should have our staff answer any questions before bidding. Sizes are approximate. Frames on artwork are not included as part of purchase or condition. It is the sole responsibility of the bidder to inquire as to the condition of a lot before bidding. Condition reports are available upon request by phone, fax, email or in person. You are advised to make any requests well in advance of the sale.
BUYERâS PREMIUM
Waddington's charges a buyer's premium of 25% on the hammer price up to and including $25,000 CAD. Hammer price in excess of $25,000 CAD will be charged a buyer's premium of 22%.
Bidders buying on the Invaluable site will be charged a Buyer's Premium of 28% on the hammer price up to and including $25,000 CAD Hammer prices in excess of $25,000 CAD will be charged at 25%.
A charge of 13% HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) is applicable on the hammer price and buyerâs premium except for any items directly shipped from our premises out of Canada. In the case where purchases are shipped out of the province of Ontario, the HST or GST is charged based on the tax status of that province.
PAYMENT
Payment for purchases must be by cash; interac direct debit (CDN clients in person only); certified cheque (U.S. & Overseas not applicable); bank draft; E-Transfer; Wire Transfer (fee applies); visa or Mastercard (up to $25,000).
allâtransactions are conducted in canadian dollars (cad)
SHIPPING
The auctioneers will not undertake packing or shipping. The purchaser must designate and arrange for the services of an independent shipper and be responsible for all shipping and insurance expenses. The auctioneers will, upon request, provide names of professional packers and shippers but will not be held responsible for the service or have any liability for providing this information. Reliable pre-auction estimates of shipping costs of lots offered in this sale may be obtained from:
Purchases must be paid for within 48 hours of the date of the sale, and removed from premises within 10 days of the date of sale (see Conditions of Sale, conditions 8 to 15). Clients are advised that packing and/or handling of purchased lots by our employees or agents is undertaken solely as a courtesy for the convenience of clients.
CITES
Restrictions exist regarding the import and export of species protected under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). This includes but is not limited to items made of or containing bone (whalebone etc.), ivory, tortoise shell, seal skin, rhinoceros horn and any other animal part and is strictly controlled or forbidden by most countries. Please review your countryâs laws before bidding on pieces made of or containing
these restricted items. It is the sole responsibility of the buyer to inquire about and obtain the proper permits for artwork purchased that may contain restricted materials, if such permit can be obtained.
Please contact the department for further assistance. Failure to obtain necessary import/export permits will not void any sale..
For more information please visit: www.cites.org
INSURANCE
A 1% insurance charge, based on the hammer price of the property, will be applied to all accounts.
AUCTION ADVICE
For auction advice on paintings, drawings, prints, jewellery, and various forms of decorative arts and other collectibles, please contact us via email or telephone.
We are pleased to review emails containing photographs and information on your pieces in order to provide auction estimates for you to consider.
For collections with a variety of objects, please contact our Appraisals and Consignments department (consignments@waddingtons.ca).
For department-specific inquiries, please contact the specialist and/or department directly. All contact information can be found at www.waddingtons.ca.
With specialists located at our head office in Toronto as well as in Vancouver and Montreal, we are pleased to meet with prospective consignors across the country. For more information on consigning to our auctions, please contact us at consignments@waddingtons.ca.
Please note that property typically arrives at Waddingtonâs at least three months before the sale in order to allow our specialists time to research, catalogue, photograph and promote the items. Consignors will receive a contract to sign, setting forth terms and fees for our services.