Tag: Gershon Iskowitz

Collecting Opportunity: January Post-War and Contemporary Art Auction Highlights

Cowley Abbott is pleased to launch into the new year with our January Online Auction of Post-War and Contemporary Art. Comprised of fantastic works by blue-chip Post-War Canadian artists, practicing Contemporary artists, and hidden gems, this sale offers the opportunity for new and seasoned collectors alike to build their collections.

We’ve highlighted a few of the great artists and artworks included in this thematic sale and their significance to the canon of Canadian art history. This dynamic auction offers buyers the opportunity to inject colour, vibrancy, and modern aesthetics into their collections, while allowing a complex dialogue between works over a range of styles, themes and movements.

Ecology and The Canadian Landscape

Steve Driscoll, Lagoon

Two works of particular note in our auction are Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun’s ink drawing “Untitled” and Steve Driscoll’s mixed media “Lagoon”. Integral to both artist’s practice is the effect of human contact on the landscape.

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Untitled

Cowichan/Syilx First Nations contemporary artist, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is one of the most sought-after artists in contemporary Canadian art. Yuxweluptun’s strategy is to document and promote change in contemporary Indigenous history, infusing his art with Coast Salish cosmology, Northwest Coast formal design elements, and the Western landscape tradition. His work incorporates components from Northwest First Nations art, as well as evocations of the Canadian landscape painting tradition derived from the Group of Seven. The figures included in his works are not necessarily representations of real people, but instead act as a visual comment on Indigenous identity within the Canadian physical and social landscape. This diminutive work, though small in scale, exemplifies complex and weighty theories of colonization, Indigenous identity, social politics and questions Canadian national identity.

Steve Driscoll, a Toronto-based artist, is known for his mesmerizing urethan-based paintings of bold neon colours morphing and marrying into each other, creating expressive representations of the Canadian landscape. Toronto-based curator Bill Clarke explains that Driscoll’s works are “More than just re-imaginings of the landscape, his paintings, materially and conceptually, also illustrate how advancements in technology are shaping our interactions with the world and supporting innovative approaches to art-making.” “Lagoon” offers a psychedelic close-up view of the shimmering surface of a lagoon, with the abstracted currents and fauna hypnotizing the viewer. We are pleased to be entrusted with this commanding work by an important contemporary artist.

Blue Chip Post-War Art

Yves Gaucher, Silences

This auction introduces wonderful examples of works by celebrated Canadian Post-War artists. Aligned with the movements of Minimalism, hard-edge abstraction, conceptual art and bold expressionism, artworks by Yves Gaucher, Gershon Iskowitz, and Roy Kiyooka present an opportunity for collectors to diversify their collections with blue-chip artists who helped shape contemporary art practices.

Gershon Iskowitz, Untitled Abstraction

Yves Gaucher’s “Silences” exemplifies the artist’s minimalist approach as a rebellion to conventions of printmaking. Calm tonalities, geometric form and expanse of space provide an arena for introspection. Whereas “Untitled” by Gerson Iskowitz offers a bold expressive space, highlighting the artist’s signature exploration of colour relationships. An artist with a distinct style of his own, not fully aligning with abstraction or representation exclusively, Iskowitz produced these fresh watercolour works throughout his career as an exploration of the limits of the medium and colour relationships. The resulting organic forms bleed into one another and float ethereally across the paper.

Roy Kiyooka, Abstraction

The experimental Roy Kiyooka is represented in the auction by two distinct works. The artist’s early 1959 experimental watercolour “Abstraction”, which oscillates between abstraction and representation, is in contrast to a more contemporary 1971 conceptual gelatin silver print “StoneDGloves”. The former exemplifies the young artist’s explorations with watercolour and abstraction under the influence and tutelage of Jock MacDonald at the provincial Institute of Technology and Art. “StoneDGloves” presents a dramatic shift towards conceptual art in photography. This work was a part of a photographic series taken by the artist at the construction sites of Osaka, Japan at the time of Expo ’70. Kiyooka photographed various discarded workmen’s gloves which had been petrified in cement on worksites. The series recalls art theories of trace and ephemerality while exploring the poetic relationship of human interaction with the evolution of the landscape. The Collection of the National Gallery of Canada holds 18 photographs from this series, including this image.

Pop Colour and Aesthetics

If you are looking to add a bold splash of colour to your collection or acquire playful op-art, works by Max Johnston, John MacGregor, and Burton Kramer would be perfect additions.

Max Johnston, Wholeness in a Collective Compression

Max Johnston’s “Wholeness in a Collective Compression” is an excellent example of the artist’s experimentation with the limits of paint as a medium. Moving towards sculptural application of the paint, this piece showcases Johnston’s physical language of paint on the two-dimensional plane. A vibrant technicolour display, this piece instantly inspires energy while adhering to the modernist grid.

John MacGregor, Ripple Time (Multi-Colour)

Throughout his practice, John MacGregor has investigated the effects of time on ordinary objects. Chairs, clocks, rooms, and objects are distorted on the image plane as a characterization of bending space and time. The artist explains:

“I have always been fascinated by the concept of time. What it might be, how it is perceived, how it is represented and what it symbolizes. We live in a society that is structured and regulated by a symbol of time. We have come to accept this symbol as a valid and real expression of what time is. However, this acceptance has been at the expense of our intuitive and subjective feelings about time. Clocks have forced us to view time as detached, regimented and a structured entity that has a reality separate from ourselves. The equal intervals and numbers on the face of the clock further this perception.”

Both “Ripple Time (Multi-colour)” and “Squeezed Time” employ surrealist and op-art aesthetics of morphed and distorted objects in a play of the visual plane of depth and dimension. This manipulation of form represents the artist’s investigation of metric time as a modern social construct and the power it wields over our core functions. Playful and contemplative, the works immediately energize the viewing space and engage the viewer with their own temporal experiences.

Burton Kramer, Garden Music

Finally, Burton Kramer’s fresh geometric canvas entitled “Garden Music” brings forth memories of effervescent symphonies. The artist is famously known as the graphic designer for the iconic 1974 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation logo with the radiating, stylized ‘C’. Through his fine art practice, Kramer is renowned for his experiments with synesthesia of colour and music, exploring the language of visual forms and sound as the eye dances along the exuberant canvas of fresh pigments.

Cowley Abbott is delighted to be entrusted with a variety of rare and stunning works in the current Post-War and Contemporary Art Auction. The full catalogue of artworks included in our January online auction can be found here, presenting a plethora of paintings, sculpture, works on paper and innovative mixed media pieces by renowned artists. Contact our team for further details on this sale, the bidding process and how we can assist you to build your collection with Cowley Abbott.

January 19, 2021
Museum-Quality Canvas by Quebec Master Jean Paul Lemieux Debuts at Cowley Abbott Fall Auction
Jean Paul Lemieux, Basse messe, dimanche

Basse messe, dimanche by Quebec Master, Lemieux is among historical and post-war auction highlights from Consignor Canadian Fine Art, now Cowley Abbott

October 23, 2019 (Toronto, ON) – An exceptional opportunity to own a major canvas by one of Canada’s most celebrated painters is up for auction from Cowley Abbott (formerly Consignor Canadian Fine Art) as part of its semi-annual Fall Live Auction of Important Canadian Art, taking place Tuesday, November 19 at Toronto’s Gardiner Museum. Presenting key work by Canada’s preeminent historical and post-war artists, many of which will be going under the hammer for the first time, the newly minted Cowley Abbott will also be celebrating the rebrand of the auction house under the monikers of its principals, Canadian auction industry veterans Rob Cowley and Lydia Abbott.

Jean Paul Lemieux’s Basse messe, dimanche (Low Mass, Sunday), painted in the classic style for which the artist is most celebrated, will make its auction debut with an estimate of $300,000 – $500,000. Basse messe, dimanche is a stunning canvas that depicts a group of parishioners exiting a church in the early morning, exposed to the winter cold under the harsh light of a white moon. Measuring nearly eight feet wide, the painting is one of the largest of the period by a key figure in Canadian modernity. Imbued with themes of Nordic sensibility and melancholy, Lemieux drew inspiration from memories of a bygone era in which Quebec traditions, customs, and popular religious beliefs gave life and structure to the artist’s community.

“It is our privilege to introduce Basse messe, dimanche to the public for the first time at auction,” said Rob Cowley, President, Cowley Abbott. “This commanding, stunning canvas provides Jean Paul Lemieux’s classic view of Quebec and Canadian culture, effectively capturing themes of community, faith and isolation across an expansive winter landscape. The rich colour and larger-than-life characters that occupy the spectacular composition have stopped collectors in their tracks during early previews of this important painting by one of our country’s most renowned painters.”

The fall auction also provides a chance to own a piece of Canadian history, with a rare work on offer by Canadian scientist, physician, painter and Nobel Prize recipient Sir Frederick Banting. European Landscape (1925) was painted during his trip to Europe where he accepted the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his involvement in the discovery of insulin; and the work provides a rare glimpse from Banting at the point of receiving the highest honour in his field. As the then youngest laureate and first Canadian to receive the prestigious prize, Banting was also named Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” on the cover of its August 1923 issue, making him a renowned figure of scientific progress around the world. The painting has a distinguished provenance that includes being privately owned by members of the Banting family, and is accompanied by a letter from Banting’s son detailing the piece’s history and the trip during which the painting was created. European Landscape has a pre-auction estimate of $20,000 – $30,000, which Cowley Abbott anticipates could exceed expectations.

Multiple key works by William Kurelek will be featured in Cowley Abbott’s fall live auction including Pioneer Homestead on a Winter’s Evening (1971). Housed in a custom frame made by Kurelek, the painting depicts a Ukrainian woman drawing water from a well on the Canadian prairie in winter, and is an exemplary showcase of the artist’s characteristic themes and subject matter related to immigration, farming on the Prairies, Ukrainian heritage, and the harsh beauty of the Western Canadian landscape. The painting comes from the private collection of a Ukrainian-Canadian family in Toronto with an auction estimate of $50,000 – $70,000.

From the same collection comes Brothers, a larger winter farming painting by William Kurelek that has an auction estimate of $100,000 – $150,000. Commissioned by the family following their purchase of Pioneer Homestead on a Winter’s Evening, the composition presents two brothers walking together on a vast Prairie landscape, distantly following their father upon a horse-drawn sleigh.

“Our Fall Auction of Important Canadian Art features striking and rare examples by our country’s illustrious painters, sculptors and print-makers. Entrusted to our firm from Canadian and International private and corporate collections, it is a pleasure for our team to present these fantastic works to the collecting public, in many cases for the first time.” – Lydia Abbott, Vice-President, Cowley Abbott

Other notable artworks featured in Cowley Abbott’s Fall Live Auction include:
- A 1936 painting by Emily Carr depicting the Strait of Juan de Fuca, is a richly coloured work alive with the movement of the ruggedly beautiful British Columbia landscape. The painting comes from a United States private collection, available at auction for the first time with an estimate of $125,000 – $175,000
- Two rare canvasses by 19^th century master Cornelius Krieghoff, bothfrom a private collection: Indian Encampment by a River Autumn (1849) is being offered with a pre-sale estimate of $60,000 -$80,000 and Hudson Bay Trader (1845-47) at $40,000 – $60,000
- La Mare, Baie St. Paul, a 1920 oil on panel by Quebec painter Clarence Gagnon. This panel, a sketch for The Pond in October housed in the National Gallery of Canada’s permanent collection, is being offered with an estimate of $15,000 – $20,000
- A trailblazer for women in the arts in Canada, Molly Lamb Bobak’s Highland Games, Fredericton is expected to excite collectors with its colourful and heavily populated setting during the city’s Highland Games Festival. This large 40” x 48” canvas is likely to exceed its pre-sale estimate of $30,000 – $50,000
- One of Canada’s earliest and most renowned champions of abstraction, Bertram Brooker’s Autumn Bouquet makes its first appearance at auction, subject to a $20,000-30,000 estimate. Cowley Abbott set an auction record for a work by Brooker in the fall of 2018, Delta Ice House more than tripling its opening bid to fetch $82,600
Historical offerings in the auction also include the workof the Group of Seven, Sybil Andrews, J.W. Beatty, André Biéler, J.W. Morrice, P.C. Sheppard, M.A. Suzor-Coté, Robert Pilot and Frederick Verner.

Post-War Contemporary and Abstraction artists are also strongly represented in the sale with works by David Blackwood, Jack Bush, Greg Curnoe, Sorel Etrog, Paterson Ewen, Joe Fafard, Betty Goodwin, Ted Harrison, Gershon Iskowitz, Maud Lewis, John Little, Jean McEwen, Norval Morrisseau, Kazuo Nakamura, William Perehudoff, Bill Reid, Goodridge Roberts, Otto Rogers, Gordon Smith and Takao Tanabe.

Live previews will take place at the Cowley Abbott Gallery located at 326 Dundas Street West (located across the street from the Art Gallery of Ontario) beginning the weekend of Art Toronto – Friday, October 25. Cowley Abbott’s Fall Live Auction of Important Canadian Art will take place on Tuesday, November 19 at 7 p.m. EST at the Gardiner Museum located at 111 Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON.

Since its inception in 2013, Cowley Abbott’s live and online auctions have included headline-grabbing works such as a rare 100-year-old Tom Thomson portrait (Daydreaming, sold for $172,500), a celebrated depiction of Kensington Market by William Kurelek (Hot Day in Kensingon Market, sold for $472,000), and Jack Bush’s Summer Lake, which broke online auction records in May 2014 for the most expensive painting by a Canadian artist to be sold in an online auction ($310,500). Their inaugural live auction event in May 2016 set the record for the highest-selling Algoma sketch by Lawren Harris, fetching $977,500, tripling the previous auction record.

Cowley Abbott is currently accepting consignments for its upcoming auctions. Cowley Abbott offers all-inclusive selling commissions and the lowest buyer’s premium in the industry. Those interested in consignment can arrange a complimentary and confidential consultation by contacting Cowley Abbott’s specialists at 1-866-931-8415 or mail@cowleyabbott.ca.
October 21, 2019
Consignor’s Fall Live Auction & the Story of Abstract Art in Canada

William Perehudoff, AC-78-20

Auction Showcases Important Non-Figurative Works in Canadian Art History

Consignor’s Fall Live Auction of Canadian Art presents an impressive selection of abstract painting from artists across the country and through the decades. Early ventures into abstraction in Canada occurred in the 1920s and 1930s, although they were sporadic and inconsistent. These artists, notably Kathleen Munn, Bertram Brooker, Lawren Harris and Jock MacDonald, were heavily influenced by European artistic movements, namely Cubism, Surrealism and Symbolism. An examination of the abstract works in Consignor’s November sale can help illustrate the story of how abstraction emerged and developed throughout Canada in the following decades.

In the 1940s, Montreal gave rise to the highly-influential Automatistes, Canada’s first avant-garde art movement. Under the leadership of Paul-Émile Borduas, a group of young artists rebelled against their artistically conservative and politically and religiously repressive province. They strove for creative spontaneity, free from academic rules.

After reading André Breton’s “Le Surréalisme et la peinture” in 1945, Jean-Paul Riopelle was inspired to break away from tradition to pursue non-representational painting. The young artist created several small watercolours in the next two years, consisting of web-like black lines, inspired by Surrealism and Breton’s automatic writing techniques, such as Sans titre of 1946, lot 6 in Consignor’s November sale.

Another member of the Automatistes, Marcelle Ferron was encouraged by Borduas to abandon landscape painting in favour of a more radical abstraction. From 1946 to 1953, Ferron preferred a ‘sgraffito’ technique, applying multiple layers of pigment and scraping away between applications with a palette knife. This signature approach of Ferron is exemplified in the colourful layers of paint in Sans titre (1949), lot 101 in the Live Auction.

In the following decade abstraction spread across Canada. Toronto exploded as an art centre in the 1950s, largely influenced by the Abstract Expressionists in New York. Harold Town was a founder and member of the Painters Eleven, a group of Toronto abstract artists that exhibited together during the 1950s. Rich colour and thick paint application, as exemplified in Clandeboy Reprise (1959), lot 71, are characteristic of Town’s approach to abstraction, inspired by the New York School.

Contemporary artist Michael Snow exhibited in Toronto in the mid-to-late 1950s at the Greenwich Gallery. Though today he is known as a pioneer of conceptualist and multimedia art throughout the world, Snow’s work of these years were also heavily influenced by American abstract artists such as De Kooning, Kline, and Rothko. Off Minor (1958), lot 25 in Consignor’s November auction, exemplifies Snow’s affiliation with avant-garde abstract movements at the time, shortly prior to creating his famous Walking Woman Works.

A notable and influential group of Canadian abstract artists formed in Regina in the 1960s, known as the Regina Five. Founding member Ron Bloore was instrumental in starting the Emma Lake workshops as a way for practising artists to break from the artistic isolation they felt in the prairies. As a professor of art history and archaeology, the influence of archeological excavation and ancient civilizations worked their way into Bloore’s painting.The monochromatic palette of Untitled, lot 86, references the white marble buildings and sculptures of ancient Greece and the Classical period.

During the Emma Lake Artists’ Workshops held in 1962-63, Saskatchewan artist William Perehudoff was introduced to Post-Painterly Abstraction by art critic Clement Greenberg and American artist Kenneth Noland. Many of the artist’s wide horizontal canvases of the mid-to-late 1970s are composed of vibrant parallel bands of colour, such as AC-78-20, lot 11 in the live auction. The effect of the flat plains and open skies that are so dramatically present throughout Saskatchewan is often detectable in Perehudoff’s work – AC-78-20 may be evocative of a prairie sunset.

Jack Shadbolt was an innovative and dominant figure in the Vancouver art scene beginning in the 1940s. Shadbolt drew from many sources of inspiration, including Cubism, Surrealism, American Regionalism and Northwest Coast art. The artist met Emily Carr in 1930 while attending Victoria College. Carr left a strong impression on Shadbolt’s life and work; they were both inspired by the spiritual unity with nature that is apparent in Northwest Coast art. Sea Edge 5 (1978), lot 9, is exemplary of Jack Shadbolt’s bold and colourful work of the late seventies. Sea Edge 5 serves as part of a series on the theme of abstracted seascapes, and Contexts: Variations on Primavera Theme, lot 10, is one of 15 hand-painted posters of the ‘primavera’ theme, which together form a mosaic-like mural.

Abstract painting in Canada has continued to evolve through a multitude of approaches in the 1970s, 80s and through to today. Lot 8, Rituel, by Léon Bellefleur, Lot 31, Spring Yellows – B by Gershon Iskowitz, and Lot 103, Les feuilles d’un astre by Jean-Paul Jérôme, among many other non-figurative artworks in Consignor’s Fall Live Auction, demonstrate the enduring development of unique abstract styles throughout the country, from the ‘gestural’ to the ‘hard-edge’. Visit our gallery and view the full catalogue on the Consignor website for more artworks and details regarding the Fall Live Auction of Important Canadian Art on November 23rd at the Gardiner Museum.

November 13, 2017
La vente d’automne de Consignor et l’histoire de l’art abstrait au Canada

William Perehudoff, AC-78-20

Chefs-d’œuvre d’art non-figuratifs au cœur de la vente en salle

La vente automnale d’art canadien de Consignor présente une sélection impressionnante d’oeuvres abstraites d’artistes à travers le pays et à travers les époques. Les premières incursions dans l’abstraction au Canada ont eu lieu durant les années 1920 et 1930, bien qu’elles aient été sporadiques et incohérentes. Ces artistes, notamment Kathleen Munn, Bertram Brooker, Lawren Harris et Jock MacDonald, ont été fortement influencés par les mouvements artistiques européens, à savoir le cubisme, le surréalisme et le symbolisme. Un examen des œuvres abstraites qui feront partie de la vente de novembre de Consignor peut servir comme illustration historique de la façon dont l’abstraction est apparue et s’est développée à travers le Canada au cours des décennies qui ont suivi.

Durant les années 1940, Montréal a donné naissance aux Automatistes, le premier mouvement artistique « avant-garde » au Canada. Sous la direction de Paul-Émile Borduas, un groupe de jeunes artistes s’est rebellé contre leur province artistiquement conservatrice, ainsi que politiquement et religieusement répressive. Après la lecture de « Le Surréalisme et la peinture » d’André Breton en 1945, Jean-Paul Riopelle a décidé de rompre avec la tradition afin de poursuivre la peinture non-figurative. Au cours des deux prochaines années, le jeune artiste crée plusieurs aquarelles de petite taille et composées de lignes entrelacées, tel que Sans titre (1946), lot 6 dans la vente de novembre de Consignor. Ces oeuvres ont étées inspirées du surréalisme et des techniques d’écriture automatique de Breton.

Un autre membre des Automatistes, Marcelle Ferron a également été encouragée par Borduas à abandonner la peinture de paysage en faveur d’une abstraction plus radicale. De 1946 à 1953, Ferron préfère une technique de « sgraffito » : elle a appliqué plusieurs couches de pigments et gratté la surface avec un couteau à palette entre chaque application. Ce style personnel de Ferron est apparent dans les couches de peinture colorées de Sans titre (1949), lot 101 dans la vente aux enchères.

Au cours de la décennie suivante, l’abstraction s’est répandue à travers le Canada. Toronto a explosé en tant que centre d’art dans les années 1950, largement influencée par les expressionnistes abstraits de New York. Harold Town était membre fondateur du « Painters Eleven », un groupe d’artistes abstraits de Toronto qui ont exposé ensemble durant les années 1950. Les couleurs vivantes et les coups de pinceaux épais, comme illustrés dans Clandeboy Reprise (1959), lot 71, sont caractéristiques du style de Town, inspiré par le « New York School ».

L’artiste contemporain Michael Snow exposait du milieu à la fin des années 1950 au Greenwich Gallery à Toronto. Bien qu’aujourd’hui il est reconnu mondialement comme un pionnier de l’art conceptualiste et multimédia, le travail de Snow de ces années a également été fortement influencé par les artistes abstraits américains tels que De Kooning, Kline et Rothko. Off Minor (1958), le lot 25 dans la vente aux enchères de Consignor en novembre, démontre l’affiliation de Snow avec les mouvements abstraits d’avant-garde de l’époque, peu avant la création de ses célèbres « Walking Woman Works ».

Un groupe notable d’artistes abstraits canadiens s’est formé à Regina dans les années 1960, connu sous le nom de Regina Five. Ron Bloore, membre fondateur, a joué un rôle déterminant dans le lancement de l’École des beaux-arts d’Emma Lake afin de permettre aux artistes de rompre avec l’isolement qu’ils ressentaient dans les Prairies. En tant que professeur d’histoire de l’art et d’archéologie, l’influence des fouilles archéologiques et des civilisations anciennes a fait son chemin dans la peinture de Bloore. La palette monochrome de Untitled, lot 86, fait référence aux bâtiments et sculptures en marbre blanc de la Grèce antique et de la période classique.

Durant les sessions à Emma Lake tenus en 1962-1963, l’artiste de la Saskatchewan William Perehudoff a été présenté à « Post-Painterly Abstraction » par le critique d’art Clement Greenberg et l’artiste américain Kenneth Noland. Plusieures des grandes toiles horizontales de Perehudoff du milieu à la fin des années 1970 sont composées de bandes de couleurs vibrantes et parallèles, tel que AC-78-20, lot 11 dans la vente aux enchères. Dans les travaux de Perehudoff, la référence aux plaines et aux ciels ouverts de la Saskatchewan est souvent détectable – AC-78-20 peut évoquer un coucher de soleil dans les prairies.

Jack Shadbolt était une figure novatrice et dominante de la scène artistique de Vancouver à partir des années 1940. Shadbolt a tiré de nombreuses sources d’inspiration, y compris le cubisme, le surréalisme, le régionalisme américain et l’art de la côte du Nord-Ouest. L’artiste a rencontré Emily Carr en 1930 alors qu’il fréquentait Victoria College. Cette dernière a laissé une forte impression sur la vie et le travail de Shadbolt; ils ont tous deux été inspirés par l’unité spirituelle avec la nature qui se manifeste dans l’art de la côte du Nord-Ouest. Sea Edge 5 (1978), lot 9, sert comme exemple du travail audacieux et coloré de Jack Shadbolt de la fin des années 1970, et Contexts: Variations on Primavera Theme, lot 10, est l’une des quinze affiches peintes à la main avec le thème « primavera ». Ensemble, ces quinze affiches forment une murale.

La peinture abstraite au Canada a continué d’évoluer à travers une multitude d’approches dans les années 1970, 1980 et aujourd’hui. Lot 8, Rituel, de Léon Bellefleur, Lot 31, Spring Yellows – B de Gershon Iskowitz, et Lot 103, Les feuilles d’un astre de Jean-Paul Jérôme, parmi beaucoup d’autres œuvres d’art non-figuratives dans la vente automnale de Consignor, démontrent le développement de styles abstraits uniques dans l’ensemble du pays, du style « gestural » au « hard-edge ». Visitez notre galerie et consultez le catalogue complet sur le site internet de Consignor pour plus d’œuvres d’art et de détails concernant la vente automnale d’art canadien, laquelle se tiendra le 23 novembre au musée Gardiner.

November 13, 2017
Fall Auction a Huge Success for Group of Seven & Quality Modern Artworks

(Toronto – November 26, 2015) Consignor Canadian Fine Art is nearing the end of another successful year with the close of the Fall Auction of Canadian Art on November 25. The auction invited active client participation from across Canada, with a wealth of consignors, bidders, buyers and visitors to our downtown gallery leading to strong bidding competition, notable results and a high sell rate for the November sale.

Emerging and established collectors bid well into the evening from the comfort of their homes using Consignor’s proprietary and specialized online auction software. The evening’s high achievers included fine examples by Frank Johnston (and fellow members of the Group of Seven), Illingworth Kerr and Manly MacDonald, three of the many works which fetched values well beyond their pre-sale estimates. A rare nocturne painting by Johnston captured bidders’ interest, March Midnight selling for $12,650 (all prices include the 15% Buyer’s Premium), more than double its estimate. Illingworth Kerr also rocketed past its expectation, Mountain Moon ultimately achieving $11,500, tripling the estimate. Manly MacDonald’s impressionistic painting of the iconic University of Toronto Hart House also easily passed its estimate, Hart House in Winter inviting strong comptetion between bidders and selling for three times the expectation. Each of these paintings found homes in private collections across Canada, the fall auction generating interest and bidding from clients nationally and internationally.

Artwork by the Group of Seven showed particular strength during the sale with examples by Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald, A.J. Casson, and Frank Johnston performing strongly. Other Canadian historical artists highlights included paintings by John William Beatty, Frederick Loveroff, and John McNaughton, with rare examples by the three painters inspiring competition from bidders. Loveroff’s The Portage, a spectacular oil on canvas that hung comfortably among his Group of Seven counterparts, sold for $19,550, one of the highest prices ever achieved for the painter’s work at auction. A luminous canvas by J.W. Beatty, a favourite during Consignor’s extensive previews in November, sold for $32,200, one of the highest auction results for the celebrated artist’s work, a result deserving of Baie St. Paul‘s evidence of Beatty as a true master of light and colour.

Equally sought during the fall auction were modern and contemporary artworks by Jean Paul Riopelle, Gershon Iskowitz, Jean-Paul Jerome, William Kurelek, Ted Godwin, William Winter and Maud Lewis, all of whom continue to enjoy excellent results through Consignor’s online auctions. Riopelle’s Sans titre (PM16) fetched $41,400, the estimate exceeded for the wonderful example of the artist’s signature style executed on a unique oval canvas. Captivating paintings by Iskowitz and Godwin were favourites during the November preview, Violet-A and Hidden Valley (B) selling for $17,250 and $21,850, respectively.

Select highlights from the Fall Auction of Important Canadian Art can be viewed by following this link.

From the entire team at Consignor Canadian Fine Art, we thank you for supporting us in 2015 and we wish you the best holidays with family and friends. Stay tuned to our website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up-to-date on exciting news and events for 2016!

November 27, 2015