Tag: Milne

  • New Digs on Dundas: Ohler’s Fine Arts New Home

    30 years in Calgary, 6 years in Vancouver and now, later this spring, here on the second floor at Cowley Abbott on Dundas St. in Toronto, Peter Ohler will have a new home to meet with clients and show a selection of Top Quality Canadian Art available for Private Sale. Please feel free to contact Peter at peter@cowleyabbott.ca for more details or drop in to view his recent acquisitions.

    One of the recent acquisitions that will be on display, a wonderful 1927 David Milne oil.

    David Milne
    Under the Porch, Big Moose Lake,
    Adirondacks, N.Y. 13 September 1927
    Oil on canvas
    12×16 in.

    Milne inventory #207.98

    Provenance
    Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto c.1980
    Private Collection
    Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York, 1990
    Private Collection

    Exhibited
    Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto, Centenary
    Exhibition, 1982, no. 7

    The verandah of the staff house at the Glenmore Hotel on Big Moose Lake provided David Milne with a sheltered painting place on several occasions. Under the Porch as well as The Glenmore, Big Moose, and Hotel Across the Way were all painted from this location.

    During the five years between the spring of 1924 and 1929, Milne’s life was split between Big Moose Lake in the summers (where his time was largely absorbed by building a teahouse) and Lake Placid in the winters (where he and Patsy ran the teahouse at Ski-T, at the foot of the Intervale ski-jump). The construction schedule at Big Moose Lake and the responsibilities at the Lake Placid Club cut heavily into Milne’s painting time and, although he produced some outstanding paintings, his overall production fell sharply.

    David Milne Jr and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne, Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Toronto, 1998, cat. no. 207.98

  • Spring Season Sees Strong Results for Canadian Historical & Post-War Artwork

    Claude Tousignant, Absurdo (1964) – Price Realized $188,800

    May 28, 2019 (Toronto, ON) – An energetic and hypnotizing canvas by Claude Tousignant had bidders spellbound during the Tuesday evening Consignor Canadian Fine Art Spring Live Auction of Important Canadian Art, when it fetched $188,800 (all prices include the 18% Buyer’s Premium), more than tripling the opening bid. Absurdo (1964) drew feverish bidding attention from participants in the room and on the telephone before being hammered down well beyond expectation.

    David Milne’s Soft Hills (Misty Hills) (Boston Corners, N.Y.), a masterful 1917 watercolour also attracted strong attention in the packed auction gallery at Toronto’s Gardiner Museum, finally selling for $112,100, more than doubling the painting’s pre-sale estimate of $40,000-60,000. The stunning watercolour appeared for its first time at auction with Consignor and the rarity drew praise and attention from collectors across Canada.

    Algoma Sketch XCII (Algoma Autumn), a 1920 oil sketch portraying the region where the Group of Seven embarked on their earliest sketching trips as an official association sold for $125,000 during the week, while a small graphite sketch by the artist (Algoma) fetched $25,960, exceeding its pre-sale auction estimate.

    A close friend of Harris and Group of Seven, Tom Thomson’s Road Near Leith (1908) sold for $100,300, the early canvas, depicting the region where the painter was born and his family lived, exceeding the high-end of expectation.

    Prairie-born Colour-Field painter William Perehduoff also turned heads during the May auction with AC-69-29 (1969) commanding strong competition in the auction gallery before finally selling for $51,920, more than doubling the opening bid volleyed by the auctioneer.

    Other notable results during Consignor’s spring auction include:

    • Bill Reid, Bear Cub Pendant (1990), the 22k gold jewellery work by the internationally renowned Haida artist, fetched $47,200 (exceeding the high-end of pre-auction expectation).
    • Jack Bush, Ochre Blue Square, the small canvas by the celebrated post-war painter selling for $30,680, while an earlier, 1951 work by the artist, Lovers, sold for $28,320 (within expectation).
    • William Kurelek, Tale of a Dog, a gift from the painter to the consignor, a fellow framer and friend, achieved $10,620 (exceeding the high-end of pre-auction expectation).
    • Frederick Varley, Spring Meadow, Don Valley, a vivid canvas painted during the period in which the Group of Seven were associated, sold for $28,320 (within expectation).

    The season continues with a second online session of Canadian artwork on offer until June 5th and a further session of Canadian and International artwork included in the Consignor June Online Auction between June 9th and 16th.

  • Rare 1935 David Milne Canvas; Recently Discovered William Kurelek Featured in Consignor Fall Auction

    WORKS OF ART BY RENOWNED CANADIAN HISTORICAL AND POST-WAR ARTISTS OPEN FOR BIDDING BETWEEN NOVEMBER 19th AND 28th

    Hepaticas in a Cup, a rare 1935 still life by renowned Canadian painter David Milne is being offered for the first time at auction, featured in the Consignor Fall Auction of Important Canadian Art, one of more than 130 works of art which will be open for bidding between November 19 and 28, 2014.  The 22 X 24 inch canvas, being offered with an auction estimate of $125,000 to 175,000, was once praised by the artist himself as being a fine achievement and among one of his best works.  Milne praised the painting to his patrons (the Rt. Honourable Vincent and Alice Massey) through a series of letters during the execution of the artwork and regarded it as his “Spring Fever” painting of 1935.  The striking canvas was painted during Milne’s time living at Six Mile Lake and features his charismatic large blank space with curious “out of focus” close-up objects (flowers in bowls).  Hepaticas captures the artist’s excitement for the season.

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