LOT 136

ARCA G7 OSA
1881 - 1969
Canadian

The Grey Day
oil on board
signed and with the artist's thumbprint and on verso titled, inscribed "Bought by Frieda Schneller 1948 at the Doon School of Fine Arts" and stamped with the Varley inventory #56
11 3/4 x 15 in, 29.8 x 38.1 cm

Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD

Sold for: $52,250

Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave

PROVENANCE
Acquired by Frieda Schneller at the Doon School of Fine Arts, Ontario
Private Collection, Montreal

LITERATURE
Peter Varley, Frederick H. Varley, 1983, page 186


Frederick Varley lived in Doon from June 1948 until late in 1949, teaching in the summer at the Doon School of Fine Arts, in artist Homer Watson’s historic former house near Kitchener, Ontario. Students boarded in cabins at the school and received instruction in small classes from well-known artists. After the previous years in Toronto, Varley found the rolling country around Doon to be liberating, and Peter Varley wrote that “here, after so many years locked in cities, his happiness and zest for life returned.” He wandered the countryside with his students, teaching en plein air. Varley painted during the rest of the year, staying at an inn near the school, producing drawings, watercolours and oil sketches. The Grey Day is a fine tonal study of bare trees against a stormy sky, whose layers of clouds break into glimpses of blue and set up a rollicking motion over the hills. Varley’s vigorous brushwork defines the elements of the scene with a gestural gusto.

This work is #56 in the Varley Inventory listing, titled as Trees - Doon.


Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD

All prices are in Canadian Dollars


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