65. [MARTIN, Thomas Mower] [1838-1934] (RCA & OSA).  [First Nations Camp]. Lower Right Margin: “Etched by T. Mower Martin”. [c1889]. 30 x 55.4 cm (11 ¾” x 21 ¾”). etching. Framed.                                                                                                                                                                                                                              $1,500 

 

“Martin would prove to be one of Canada’s most prolific nineteenth-century painter-etchers, producing at least eighteen subjects dating from 1884 and 1885. He proudly entered them in the annual exhibitions of the New York Etching Club (1885), Ontario Society of Artists (1885), Royal Canadian Academy (1888, 1889), and in the 1885 Spring show of the Art Association of Montreal.” (Tovell, A New Class of Art, p. 45). 

See National Gallery of Canada, Index to Nineteenth-Century Canadian Catalogues of Art, p. 101 (Indian Camp on Georgian Bay etching).  

 

 

 

66. HENNESSEY, Frank Charles [1893-1941] (RCA, OSA, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London). [Northland Twilight (Moose in a northern landscape)].26 ¾” x 33”. oil on canvas. signed on recto. Framed.                                                                                                                                                                                       $25,000 

 

The Ottawa artist developed an affinity for wildlife and the wilderness at a young age. When he was only six he produced nature study drawings that were reproduced in ‘The Ottawa Journal’. At the age of fourteen he acted as assistant naturalist and artist on an Arctic expedition led by Captain J.E. Bernier. He also provided illustrations for several books on Canadian birds written by P.A.Taverner. This may be the same painting entitled “Northland Twilight”, that was exhibited at the “49th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Canadian Academy” held at the Art Association of Montreal, November 24th to January 2nd, 1928, (cat. #85).McMann, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Exhibitions & Members, 1880-1979, p. 184. 

 

 

 

67. JACKSON, Alexander Young[1882-1974] (RCA, OSA, CGP,Group of 7). Paperboard Making. 19” x 25”. gouache on paper. signed on recto. [c1948]. Framed.   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              $40,000 

 

The Canadian Pulp and Paper Association commissioned Thoreau MacDonald, Albert Cloutier, Charles Comfort, J. S. Hallam, A. J. Casson, Lawren Harris, André Bieler, William Ogilvie, Franklin Arbuckle, and A. Y. Jackson to paint a series of works illustrating the paper industry. This work by Jackson is the original gouache painting done for that series.  

 “A Companion of the Order of Canada and recipient of a medal for lifetime achievement from the Royal Canadian Academy, A.Y. Jackson was a leading member of the Group of Seven and helped to remake the visual image of Canada…Fed up with advertising work and with Montréal's indifference to his painting, Jackson moved to Toronto in the fall of 1913. Soon he was sharing his studio with a shy, uncertain painter, Tom Thomson. The two quickly became firm friends, to their mutual advantage: Jackson taught Thomson aspects of technique, especially colour, while Thomson taught Jackson about the Canadian wilderness. Anxious to experience Thomson's north country, Jackson went up to Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park in February 1914. Here he not only found an excellent painting country but also an image of Canada. After a trip to the Rockies, he was back in the park that fall with Thomson, Arthur Lismer and Fred Varley, and painted The Red Maple, a sketch in which art-nouveau composition is balanced by bold colouring…He spent the summer of 1919 painting in Georgian Bay, and in September joined Lawren Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald and Franz Johnston in a boxcar trip into Algoma. These and subsequent expeditions provided the material for the first Group of Seven exhibition held in Toronto in May 1920. Jackson's active participation in seven other Group exhibitions and in many contemporary shows, including the controversial British Empire Exhibition in Wembley, England in 1924, ensured that his images of a rolling, unpopulated land became indelibly imprinted on the Canadian consciousness. All his life Jackson remained a leading proponent of the Group's land-based nationalism.” (The Canadian Encyclopedia online). 

Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, Ten Pulp and Paper Paintings, pp. 20-21 (illus. p. 20).  

 

 

 

68. JOHNSTON, Frank Hans [1889-1949] (ARCA, OSA, CSPWC, Graphic Arts Club, Toronto, President, Winnipeg Sketch Club, Group of Seven). [Horses pulling sled through woods].24 1/8”x 36 1/8” oil on board.signed “Franz Johnston” on recto. original Franz Johnston label on verso with inscriptions “12 ½” and “#27”. [1930s]. Framed.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    $55,000 

 

Provenance: Studio of the artist; Private Collections, Toronto. 

“A member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Franz Johnston was one of the founding members of the Group of Seven and among the most productive and successful artists of his generation…Johnston's landscapes reflect his knowledge of turn-of-the-20th-century ideals, being more atmospheric and decorative than those of the Group of Seven…A versatile artist equally comfortable painting in oil, watercolour or tempera, Johnston painted everything from pastoral scenes in the Ontario and Québec countrysides to the landscape and peoples of the Arctic, where he was sent in 1939 by Gilbert LaBine, vice president of Eldorado Gold Mines. As his career evolved, he moved toward a traditional form of realism closer to that of 19th-century painters such as Homer Watkins than to the more modernist approach of such artists as Tom Thomson or Lawren Harris. (Canadian Encyclopedia)  

 

 

 

69. DAY, Katherine [1889-1976] (CSGA & CPE). “Saps Running”. signed & titled in pencil. [c1942]. 20.9 x 22.1 cm (8” x 8 ½”).  woodcut on japan paper (faint creasing & light foxing to margins). Framed.                                                                                                                                                                                                              $600 

 

An iconic image of a man pouring sap to make maple syrup; the National Gallery of Canada has ”Saps Running” in their Print collection.  

 

 

 

70. LISMER, Arthur [1885-1969](RCA, OSA, CSPWC, Group of Seven, P-CGP). Isle of Spruce. 29 ¼” x 39 ¼”.colour silkscreen on board. signed in the screen. Ottawa: Issued by the National Gallery of Canada. Printed by Sampson-Matthews Ltd., Toronto.label on verso, [1943].                                                          $2,000 

 

“Lismer had one silkscreen in the Sampson-Matthews program: “Isles of Spruce”. First printed in 1943, it was one of the bestselling prints for two decades, second only to Tom Thomson’s “Northern River". The silkscreen was based on a painting from 1922 that is now in Hart House, University of Toronto. Lismer’s best-known work and one of Canada’s few truly iconic paintings, it was issued by Canada Post as a six-cent stamp in September 1970, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Group of Seven.”  

“As an immigrant from England, Arthur Lismer was fascinated by the Canadian landscape of rocks, pines, and expansive stretches of tumultuous water and sky. From 1920 he was a member of the Group of Seven, painters who advocated a new Canadian art that expressed the spirit of the nation through its landscape. Throughout his life he was a dedicated painter and draftsman and visionary teacher…Lismer was a charter member of the Group of Seven, and joined his fellow artists on painting trips to the Algoma region and north shore of Lake Superior. In 1928 he painted in the Rockies and from 1930 in the Atlantic provinces. His Impressionist-influenced paintings of the 1910s evolved into a more angular and cruder expression that he equated with the Canadian terrain and national identity. In his later work, Lismer concentrated on detailed foregrounds and tightly framed, close-up compositions of vegetation and land formations.” (National Gallery of Canada website). 

      Sigvaldason & Steedman,Art for War and Peace, pp. 46-47; 215.       

 

 

 

71. HORNYANSKY, Nicholas [1896-1965] (CPE, OSA, CSGA & ARCA). Rainbow Bridge & Clifton Gate. signed & titled on recto. 24 x 31.6 cm (9 ½” x 12 ½”).graphite with watercolour & coloured pencil. Framed.                                                                                                                                                                                           $1,000 

 

Hornyansky’s drawing shows the 1450 footRainbow Bridge which provides a vital link between  Canada and the United States at Niagara Falls. Designed by Richard (Su Min) Lee, it opened in 1941. The Hungarian born artist immigrated to Toronto in 1929. He executed fine colour aquatints of Canadian scenery and cities, including a number of the churches and buildings of Toronto.  

 

 

 

 

72. BEAMENT, Harold[1898-1984] (P-RCA, CSGA, ACM, Official War Artist, RCN, WWII). Departure for the Hunt. 30” x 40”. colour silkscreen on board. signed in the screen. Ottawa: Issued by The National Gallery of Canada. Printed by Sampson-Matthews Ltd., Toronto. [c1947].                                                                  $1,800 

 

Beament was an official war artist with the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and held the rank of ‘Commander’, the highest service rank of any of the official war artists. In 1943 he was awarded the Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration. Upon his retirement he resumed his career as a professional painter and travelled extensively including to the Canadian North where he painted Eskimo genre scenes. As a graphic artist he designed the 10 cent stamp for the Canadian Postal Service with an Eskimo figure in1955. 

 

 

 

73. CASSON, Alfred Joseph [1898-1992](P-RCA, P-OSA, CSPWC, CPE, Group of Seven & CGP). Haliburton Barn. 11 ½” x 15 ¼”.tempera over graphite on paper. signed on recto. signed, titled & dated 1977 to artist’s label on verso.                                                                                                                                                   $20,000 

 

Provenance: Roberts Gallery Limited, Toronto, label on verso.  

Over the years Casson made numerous works depicting this barn on a York River farm near Lake Baptiste. “I noticed the barn on the hill and went up to take a look at it. It turned out to be the most beautiful and interesting structure of its kind I have ever had the opportunity of painting.” 

The painter and designer A.J. Casson was younger than other members of the Group of Seven, andbecame a full-time artist only on retirement from his successful commercial career.During his seven-year apprenticeship (1919-26) at the firm of Rous & Mann Ltd. as assistant designer to Franklin Carmichael, he accompanied his boss on numerous painting trips. In 1921 Casson made his first extended painting trip with Carmichael to Lake Rosseau in the Muskoka District and exhibited for the first time with the OSA. He was invited to join the Group of Seven in 1926 after the departure of F.H.Johnston. As Vice-President and Art Director for almost 20 years, he was responsible for the technical development of programs in connection with reproduction of artists' works carried out by the National Gallery of Canada, Canadian Pulp and Paper Association and Sampson-Matthews Limited.  

Paul Duval, A.J. Casson: My FavouriteWatercolours, pp.138-139(similar view illustrated on p. 139). 

 

 

 

74. CASSON, Alfred Joseph [1898-1992](P-RCA, P-OSA, CSPWC, CPE, Group of Seven & CGP). [Canada Geese & Pussy-willows]. 10 ¼” x 8 3/8”.colour silkscreen on paper. signed “A.J. Casson” in the screen. Produced at Sampson Matthews, Toronto. Framed.                                                                                             $1,200 

 

One of Canada's leading graphic art companies, Sampson-Matthews was co-founded by Ernest Sampson, a pioneer of silkscreen printing, and Charles Matthews. In 1926 Casson began his thirty-two year employment with the firm where his duties included silkscreen design, typography planning, and production supervision.. In 1927, he produced this, his first serigraph for Sampson-Matthews, which was used by the company as a presentation gift to clients. 

 

 

 

75. TURNER, Stanley Francis[1883-1953] (ARCA, CPE & OSA). Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. 30” x 40”. colour silkscreen print on board. Ottawa: Issued by The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Printed by Sampson-Matthews Ltd. Toronto. [c1953].                                                                                                          $1,400 

 

Turner immigrated to Canada at the age of 20 and held jobs in the advertising department of the prominent Eaton Company, and then at the advertising firm of Rous and Mann, where he worked under established Canadian artist Franklin Carmichael. He received a scholarship to study at the Ontario College of Art where he studied under George Reid and J.W.Beatty. A skilled draughtsman, illustrator, cartographer and artist, he is best known for his etchings of Toronto and Quebec City architecture. 

 

 

 

76. BOYLE, John B. [b. 1941] (RCA). Northern Landscape. 25 ½” x 18 ¼” colour offset lithograph on Carlyle Japan paper. signed, titled, numbered, & dated 1976. Framed.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    $1,000 

 

Edition of 80.Printed through the Niagara Artists Centre by Coach House Press, Toronto, under the supervision of Stan Bevington. The image is of Al McGuire, a Southampton, Ontario, auctioneer and Peter Pitseolak, an Inuit photographer. Boyle was a founding-member of the Nihilist Spasm Band in 1965 and a founder-member of the Niagara Artists' Cooperative in 1970. Boyle, a strong Canadian nationalist, often included images of well-known Canadian historical and contemporary figures in his works, including William Lyon Mackenzie, Louis Riel, and Marshall McLuhan. Boyle has received a number of significant public commissions including two huge murals for the Queen Street subway station, Toronto (“Our Knell” 1980, 7 x 49 ft. long of baked porcelain on steel) depicting author Nellie McClung and William Lyon Mackenzie with a background of major buildings of the area. Boyle designed a stamp for Canada Post in 1974 to honour Guglielmo Marconi, the father of radio.  

 

 

 

77. SURREY, Philip Henry [1910-1990] (Contemporary Arts Society, RCA). [Hockey Player Number 8]. signed ‘Surrey’ in plate. 17.4 x 7.4 cm (6 ¾” x 3”).etching. (framed measurements 41 x 30 cm)                                                                                                                                                                                                            $600 

 

Philip Surrey, a founding member of the Contamporary Arts Society, is best known for his depictions of human subjects in Montreal streetscapes. If one were to speculate that the subject of this print is a Montreal Canadiens player, no. 8 was most famously worn by Doug Risebrough from 1975-82, during which time the Canadiens won four Stanley Cups.  

 

 

78. HUTCHINSON, Leonard [1896-1980]. Steel (Mike). signed, titled & numbered 34 of an edition of 50 in pencil. 26.5 x 21.5 cm (10 ½” x 8 ½”).wood engraving (few ink smudges to margins).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  $850 

 

Hutchinson specialized in prints depicting the economic and social conditions of workers and the unemployed and the landscape of Ontario. "...Hutchinson could not ignore the plight of the people, both in rural and industrial areas, during the depression years. He was deeply moved by the hardships of the unemployed and the suffering of the farmers scratching out a living on the land. His numerous images of the oppressed and the unemployed show his sympathy with their condition. The starkness and graphic quality of the black and white print, especially wood engraving, provided a perfect vehicle for his themes." (Ainslie p. 57) 

Brown, Leonard Hutchinson, People's Artist, p. 57 (illus.).SeeMacDonald, A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Vol.II pp. 497-498 & Glenbow Museum, Images OfThe Land Canadian Block Prints, pp. 56-57.  

 

 

 

 

79. 20th CENTURY CANADIAN INUIT SCHOOL. Inuit Fishing.11” x 7” x 5”.carved, dark grey soapstone with wood and twine. no visible signature or initials to bottom.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      $1,000 

 

 

  

80. 20th CENTURY CANADIAN INUIT SCHOOL. [Inuit Hunter and Seal].9” x 14” x 13”.whale bone. unsigned. [1980s].                                                                 $1,000 

 

 

 

 

81. BEAM, CARL [1943-2005] (RCA).[The Solar System].15” x 12”. mixed media on paper. signed. bearing artist seal. [c2000]. [#47]. Framed.                         $1,400 

 

Beam, an innovative conceptual artist of international stature, was the first contemporary aboriginal artist whose work was purchased by the National Gallery of Canada. His work was the subject of a major National Gallery retrospective in 2010. Born on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Beam earned a Bachelor's degree in fine art from the University of Victoria art school and later did post-graduate work at the University of Alberta and taught at Ojibway Cultural Foundation. Beam worked in a variety of media, including watercolour and coloured pencil, acrylic and graphite on plexiglass and plywood; colour Xerox and mixed media; photo-emulsion and acrylic on paper, canvas, and ceramics. He is known mainly for his unique prints which juxtapose images of the contemporary  world and technology with symbols from First Nations culture and photos of historical native leaders (Chief Sitting Bull, Geronimo and others), embodying multiple layers of meaning.  

 

 

 

82. POITRAS, Jane Ash [b. 1951] (RCA). Constitutional Rights.23 ¾” x 18” (image); 26 ½” x 19 ¾” (sheet). mixed media on paper. signed, titled, & marked “Mono” on recto.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  $2,600 

 

“Jane Ash Poitras began to seek her Chipewyan roots only in early adulthood, after a Roman Catholic upbringing. She earned a degree in microbiology and then went on to study art, completing her postgraduate studies in printmaking at Columbia University in 1985. There she was exposed to the work of American artists including Mark Rothko, Kurt Schwitters, Robert Rauschenberg, and CyTwombly. Like them, she layers images and text into multiple narrative strands, a technique she has carried from printmaking to painting. Poitras has pursued the knowledge and practice of indigenous spirituality for many years, embracing personal, historical, and contemporary aspects of Native spiritual life. She has sought to understand and enrich her own spiritual being through research, the teaching of elders and shamans, and participation in ceremonial life. She has also explored the relationship of personal identity with cultural identity and the history of Native people, integrating these into her art making.” (National Gallery of Canada website)