Lot # 001
BERTRAM CHARLES (B.C.) BINNING
BCSFA CGP CSGA OC RAIC RCA 1909 - 1976 Canadian

Two Ships Standing Off
oil on board, circa 1948
signed and on verso signed and titled
14 x 7 1/8 pouces,  35.6 x 18.1 cm

Provenance:
Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art Inc., Vancouver
Private Collection, British Columbia

Référence:
Doreen E. Walker, B.C. Binning, A Classical Spirit, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1986, unpaginated

A pioneer West Coast modernist, B.C. Binning was head of the Fine Arts Department at the University of British Columbia, an architect, an internationally recognized artist and an important cultural catalyst in the Vancouver art scene. From the late 1940s into the 1950s, Binning painted semi-abstract nautical themes. The tall standing vessel in Two Ships Standing Off is an iconic image used in works such as the well-known 1948 oil Ships in a Classical Calm, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. This important motif was derived from a pivotal experience Binning had during an excursion into Indian Arm just after the Second World War, where he saw a group of World War II ships tied up in a cove, and became fascinated with the image of the hulls towering above him. He recounted, "There is something about a ship viewed - especially bow on - that has a regalness about it and the great shapes, to me, were terrifically impressive." Binning often included colourful nautical details, and the pennants, rigging and navigation wheel add a lyrical note to the elegance and formal strength of this modernist work.

Estimation : 20,000 $ ~ 30,000 $ CAN

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Lot # 002
EDWARD JOHN (E.J.) HUGHES
BCSFA CGP OC RCA 1913 - 2007 Canadian

Low Tide at Roberts Bay
watercolour on paper,
signed and dated 2006 and on verso signed, titled and dated
20 x 24 pouces,  50.8 x 61 cm

Provenance:
Acquired directly from the Artist by the present Private Collection, Vancouver

After 1991, E.J. Hughes no longer painted canvases and turned his full attention to watercolour, a medium he used throughout his oeuvre. He would sometimes revisit earlier subjects painted in oil, as he did in this stunning watercolour based on a 1953 canvas entitled Roberts Bay, BC. The watercolour and the oil are virtually identical, except that Hughes has intensified some of the colours and eliminated the small pile of rocks on the left of the foreground boat in the watercolour. Hughes's strong images from the 1950s and 1960s of British Columbia coastal scenes are highly valued. This image pivots on the four boats marooned onshore, the central one pulled up against a huge log. Highly colourful and unique in shape, they reflect the intensity of observation and deliberation in execution that is the mark of Hughes's best work. Hughes emphasizes the angles they make against each other, tilting as if bobbing on the sea. The nearby ocean and screen of trees provides a serene backdrop to this superb West Coast scene.

Estimation : 30,000 $ ~ 40,000 $ CAN

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Lot # 003
GORDON APPELBE SMITH
BCSFA CGP CPE OC RCA 1919 - Canadian

Shannon Falls E5
acrylic on canvas,
signed and on verso titled and dated 1989 on the gallery label
50 x 36 pouces,  127 x 91.4 cm

Provenance:
Equinox Gallery, Vancouver
Private Estate, Vancouver

Référence:
Ian M. Thom and Andrew Hunter, Gordon Smith: The Act of Painting, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1997, page 48

The mid-1980s brought about a shift in Gordon Smith's approach to painting, resulting in a dramatic change in the aesthetic of his works. Smith's palette moved away from the bright blues, soft mauves and pale pinks that surfaced in the Cumberland Basin series, and became earthier, reflecting the atmosphere of the moist West Coast rain forest. Starting in 1985, Smith made a series of visits to Shannon Falls. On contemplating the natural vertical form of the falls, Smith began to experiment with verticality in his canvases, marking a departure from the horizontality of his images of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. Smith's initial paintings of Shannon Falls were realistic representations of the area; however, as the series progressed, the images became further abstracted. In his description of the Shannon Falls series, Ian Thom states, "Here brushwork and colour are used with an abandon perhaps not seen since the work of the early fifties." Shannon Falls E5 combines Smith's affection for the landscape with his awareness and mastery of the physical qualities of paint.

Estimation : 50,000 $ ~ 70,000 $ CAN

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Lot # 004
GORDON APPELBE SMITH
BCSFA CGP CPE OC RCA 1919 - Canadian

Abstract
oil on canvas, circa 1965
signed
26 x 32 pouces,  66 x 81.3 cm

Provenance:
Private Collection, Vancouver

A new direction emerged in Gordon Smith's work in 1965 that incorporated bold colour and a dynamic tension between forms and lines that expanded from the centre and beyond the limitation of the edge of the canvas. These works, of which Abstract is a superlative example, were imbued with a kind of nervous energy, activated by a vivid colour palette. Explosive central forms hover on rich colour fields as Smith painted with a daring eloquence. The physics of expansion and compression were at play and in movement, creating sensations of both tension and freedom. Various subjects were indicated in these works by their titles, such as gardens, landscapes and still life, but abstraction was dominant. The 1965 oil considered to be the initiatory painting of this group - entitled Red Wizard, Red - achieved considerable recognition and was reproduced in Time magazine. In 1966, a retrospective of Smith's work was mounted at the University of British Columbia Fine Arts Gallery including works from this series, further reinforcing Smith's eminence in British Columbia's artistic community.

Estimation : 20,000 $ ~ 30,000 $ CAN

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Lot # 005
BERTRAM CHARLES (B.C.) BINNING
BCSFA CGP CSGA OC RAIC RCA 1909 - 1976 Canadian

Vacant and Occupied Squares
oil on board,
signed and dated 1950 and on verso titled and inscribed "16" on the artist's label
17 3/4 x 11 7/8 pouces,  45.1 x 30.2 cm

Provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario

Référence:
Abraham J. Rogatnick, Ian M. Thom and Adele Weder, B.C. Binning, 2006, page 125

B.C. Binning's interest in abstraction goes back to 1939 in London when he studied at the Ozenfant Academy with Henry Moore, at which time he became aware of the work of artists such as Pablo Picasso and Paul Klee. In 1947, Binning took a leave from teaching at the Vancouver School of Art to design two houses and, in the process, reconsidered the direction of his painting. The influence of architecture heightened his awareness of the formal elements of painting, and he had "the sudden realization of what can happen creatively when one frees not only colour, but form and everything else, from visual accident and recreates through the formal and architectural approach." By 1948 Binning was painting pivotal works of abstracted marine subjects, and marine motifs became important elements in his work. Vacant and Occupied Squares, from this important period, takes abstraction a step further, and its contrasting textural background, shapes, strong colour areas and patterning create a vital dance of forms. Lyrical yet formally balanced, Vacant and Occupied Squares is evidence of Binning's status as a quintessential West Coast modernist.

Estimation : 20,000 $ ~ 30,000 $ CAN

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Lot # 006
BERTRAM CHARLES (B.C.) BINNING
BCSFA CGP CSGA OC RAIC RCA 1909 - 1976 Canadian

Shapes in Tension
oil on board,
signed and on verso signed, titled, dated 1950 and inscribed "2968 Mathers Cr., West Vancouver - Canada" on the artist's label
8 x 18 pouces,  20.3 x 45.7 cm

Provenance:
Private Collection, California

Référence:
Doreen E. Walker, B.C. Binning, A Classical Spirit, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1986, unpaginated

In 1949, B.C. Binning was appointed Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture at the University of British Columbia. His profession honed his awareness of line, geometry and spatiality. In 1950 Binning was working with both abstracted marine images and pure abstraction, such as this vibrant work in which two-dimensional geometric shapes in bright primary colours oscillate against a background of swipes of black and white. Shapes in Tension is a carefully thought-out composition, yet it contains an element of playfulness in the relationships of the shapes as they hover in the spatial plane. Insight into this dichotomy in his work was revealed by Binning's comment when he stated, "I think my work plays between two sides of me: there is a certain joy and fun - perhaps even wit - but this seems to vacillate every now and then between another extreme of plain coolness - which I call a classic sense." Shapes in Tension, from Binning's pivotal 1950s period, is a fine example of Binning's modernist aesthetic of formalism enlivened by a joyous sense of play.

Estimation : 12,000 $ ~ 16,000 $ CAN

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Lot # 007
CHRISTOPHER PRATT
ARCA CSGA OC 1935 - Canadian

Landing
oil on board,
signed and dated Oct. 1973 and on verso signed, titled and dated September 1973
30 x 38 pouces,  76.2 x 96.5 cm

Provenance:
Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto

Référence:
David P. Silcox and Meriké Weiler, Christopher Pratt, 1982, reproduced page 113
Joyce Zemans, Christopher Pratt: A Retrospective, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1985, reproduced page 27 and listed page 92
David P. Silcox, Christopher Pratt: Personal Reflections on a Life, 1995, reproduced page 89
National Gallery of Canada, www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artist.php?iartistid=4433, accessed February 2011

Exposition:
Vancouver Art Gallery, Christopher Pratt: A Retrospective, November 23, 1985 - January 26, 1986, traveling to the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, February 21 - April 20, 1986

Christopher Pratt is one of Canada's most recognized and acclaimed artists. The abiding success of his paintings and prints over a long, productive career stems in large measure from their directness and unpretentiousness. Yet the merits of accessibility are not sufficient to explain Pratt's appeal. The simplicity of his work is never simplistic; there is always much more in his images than what so readily meets the eye.
Pratt's work is stamped indelibly with both familiarity and mystery. A published poet, his images are also poetic in the sense of being highly personal and acutely observed. Pratt's habitual subjects are drawn from his native Newfoundland and can be readily categorized: landscapes, figures, boats and architecture. Landing is a classic example of his accomplishments in the last group. Pratt's buildings are important personally, not architecturally or historically. He reports in an interview conducted by the National Gallery of Canada that "buildings have personalities that resonate with me." He goes on to say, "I tend to remember incidents in my life in terms of where they happened." Interiors are in a sense his interior, yet their neutrality asks viewers to enter imaginatively into the scene.
As observant of himself as he is about his environment, Pratt subdivides his indoor architectural works into two main categories: those that allow the spectator a view beyond the interior and those that remain enclosed, with no visual escape. Pratt comments wryly in the interview that only a psychiatrist could explain why he works this way. Landing shows us an enclosed domestic space, certainly, but it is not a place that betokens the frustration of being trapped, as some of his images do. Our eyes can travel straight ahead, from the landing of the title into the room with the unusual mauve-brown chaise longue, or they can move up the stairs. Tellingly, the door into the room ahead is fully open, the fine shadow-line of its jamb working with Pratt's other carefully rendered vertical and horizontal lines to frame the room securely for our vision. There is nothing vertiginous about this space. Yet, typical of Pratt's images, it asks us to look harder and longer.
As we dwell visually in the space, we might acknowledge how unphotographic it is. Pratt works from memories and studies of architectural spaces, not from photographs. Why? Because he seeks to render what he remembers, not what a camera would record, which would be much more. The realism of this image comes, then, not from how much detail it reveals but instead from how radically it has been edited. Nor does this realism stem from a human narrative; there are no people and no stories for us to latch onto. The sense of truth we find in Landing is the result of distillation, of the selection of visual data by the artist.
What Pratt chooses to show us in his precise way is the subtle and potentially profound play of light, colour and line that for us constructs the interior we see. We might surmise that the green of the nearer walls is the same shade as that in the next room, and that these surfaces appear different because more light falls on the wall further away. The floor coverings in the two spaces, however, are different. One is wood; it is darker, and it has a pattern because of its boards. The other is carpet and lighter, also because of its greater illumination. Its blue bordering line runs the other way from the pattern of the floorboards. The prominent screws in the door hinge are turned on three different angles, quietly disrupting the work's regularity.
But what of the prominent chaise longue which announces its reality by casting shadows on the floor and wall? Curvilinear, an unusual colour and the centre of attention, it is as uncanny as it is identifiable. It provides the mystery of the everyday.
We thank Mark Cheetham, Professor of Art History at the University of Toronto and author of the recent Artwriting, Nation, and Cosmopolitanism in Britain: The "Englishness" of English Art Theory since the 18th Century, for contributing the above essay.

Estimation : 60,000 $ ~ 80,000 $ CAN

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Lot # 008
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
AANFM RCA 1923 - 1999 Canadian

Étude pour Murale Place des Arts
oil on canvas,
signed and on verso signed, titled and dated September 1966 - 1967
20 x 20 pouces,  50.8 x 50.8 cm

Provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario

Jean McEwen was experienced with large-scale commissions, as he had completed a five-panel work for the Toronto International Airport in 1963 and designed a series of stained glass pieces for Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University) in 1966. The following year, McEwen completed an oil mural for the Théâtre Port-Royal of Montreal's Place des Arts (now the Théâtre Jean-Duceppe) entitled Éclats de gaité verte. This fiery piece is a study for the mural still on display at the theatre, although it is a self-contained and powerful work in itself. Étude pour Murale Place des Arts demonstrates the artist's strong relationship with primary elements of formalism - colour, rhythm, shape and depth. McEwen employs his characteristic vertical band, which he used to balance the pictorial plane and to create depth. The stratification of orange and red paint layers create an inferno of colour, allowing them to radiate from within the canvas. In 1966 and 1967, McEwen was included in various important exhibitions, including shows at the National Gallery of Canada, the Musée du Québec, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Canadian Pavilion at Expo '67, Montreal.

Estimation : 20,000 $ ~ 30,000 $ CAN

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Lot # 009
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
AANFM RCA 1923 - 1999 Canadian

Le drapeau écorché, phase 2, no. 12 (Trou de mémoire)
oil on canvas,
signed and dated 1992 and on verso signed, titled variously and dated on the canvas and 1986 on the gallery labels
60 x 60 pouces,  152.4 x 152.4 cm

Provenance:
Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Rental & Sales Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Montreal

Référence:
Constance Naubert-Riser, Jean McEwen: Colour in Depth: Paintings and Works on Paper, 1951 - 1987, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1987, page 50

In the 1960s Jean McEwen produced a series of works entitled Le drapeau inconnu (The Unknown Flag). In the mid-1980s another related series emerged - Le drapeau écorché (The Slaughtered Flag), of which this is a stunning example. Common to both these series were hot reds and blazing yellows, as in this incandescent golden work. McEwen's brilliance as a colourist is in full play, as his central colour is enlivened with orange, pink and mauve, contrasted with background tones of green. Constance Naubert-Riser writes, "It is only after an examination of all the works in this series that the full critical significance of the title emerges: these 'slaughtered flags' are a reformulation of the problem of underlying structure treated so brilliantly in the 'unknown flags' series. The result of this reformulation is the complete obliteration of the central structure and a reassertion of the nonetheless increasingly threatened margins. So the element of diversity is back in force - the element that is ultimately the uniting feature of this oeuvre and the central paradox of all painting."

Estimation : 10,000 $ ~ 15,000 $ CAN

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Lot # 010
PAUL-ÉMILE BORDUAS
AUTO CAS QMG RCA 1905 - 1960 Canadian

La nuit se précise
oil on canvas,
signed and dated 1952 and on verso signed and titled
7 3/4 x 12 pouces,  19.7 x 30.5 cm

Provenance:
Acquired from the Artist by Gérard Lortie, Montreal
Fred S. Mendel, Saskatchewan
A gift from the above to Miriam Shields, Saskatchewan
By descent to the present Private Collection, Calgary

Référence:
François-Marc Gagnon, Paul-Émile Borduas (1905 - 1960), Biographie critique et analyse de l'oeuvre, 1978, pages 313, 315, 348, 350 and 488
This work is included in François-Marc Gagnon's online catalogue raisonné on the artist's work at www.borduas.concordia.ca/en/about/index.php

Exposition:
Saint-Hilaire Studio, Dernière exposition...des derniers tableaux, April 26 - 27, 1952, catalogue #10
Foyer de l'art et du livre, 445 Sussex St., Ottawa, Exposition de tableaux et d'encres, October 10 - 20, 1952, catalogue #9

There is no doubt that La nuit se précise (Night Takes Shape) from 1952 is a little gem in Paul-Émile Borduas's works. But it is also an important discovery. It appears on a list of 18 oil paintings shown in his studio at Saint-Hilaire in 1952 for only two days, April 26 and 27, in an exhibition titled Dernière exposition...des derniers tableaux...à la maison de Saint-Hilaire (Last exhibition...of the most recent paintings...in the Saint-Hilaire house). The circumstances in which this exhibition took place were both tragic and mysterious. When it was held, it reflected Borduas's recent return to painting after a long period of inactivity during the winter of 1951 - 1952. His family had left him the previous year; when he came back on October 19 from a short trip to Toronto where his works had been presented at The Picture Loan Society, he found the house empty. Mrs. Borduas, probably exhausted by his insistence on being the only breadwinner of the family and to live exclusively from his painting, had left him, taking their children with her. She was a nurse and had decided to go back to work.
The title of the exhibition had an ominous element, especially in French, where the word "dernier" is repeated twice. As a matter of fact, Borduas sold la maison de Saint-Hilaire soon after, and went to live with his brother Adrien, before leaving Canada for the United States.
This is not all. When trying to reconstruct the content of this exhibition in the 1970s, which was known only from a list of works, I could not find a single one of the 18 paintings exhibited, and have not had any luck in locating the actual paintings since then! It is as if the whole exhibition had disappeared by magic. Even though some - six or seven - of the same titles reappear at the Foyer de l'art et du livre show in Ottawa, October 10 - 20, 1952, and La nuit se précise appeared on a list of paintings belonging to Gérard Lortie, I could not locate them. I imagine some of them could have been exhibited at the Rose Fried Gallery in New York, since Borduas mentions in a letter to his daughter Janine, dated May 2, 1953 from Provincetown, "un certain nombre de mes peintures sont déjà en vente à la galerie Rose Fried" (a certain number of my paintings are already on sale at the Rose Fried Gallery). Regarding the whereabouts of our painting, it was acquired by Fred S. Mendel, a well-known Saskatchewan-based art collector and industrialist, who was a major financial contributor to the museum in Saskatoon that bears his name, the Mendel Art Gallery. Mendel then gave it to his friend Miriam Shields, from whom it passed by descent through her family into a private Calgary collection.
There is one sign of the whereabouts of the painting, which is at the same time an interesting suggestion of its presentation, on the back of the painting. One can read there the English word "TOP" on the section of the stretcher that corresponds to the side of the painting. If one follows that suggestion, the picture still makes sense, even if it was not the intention of Borduas, who had signed it at the bottom on the right. Lortie, for instance could have written "HAUT" rather than "TOP" if he had wanted to do so.
The importance of this painting is that it is the missing link between the last Automatist paintings and the New York production of Borduas. It shows a will to fragment the "objects" of his previous paintings into palette knife strokes, creating an effect similar to an analytical Cubist painting. Even the minimal range of colours (from black to white) points in the same direction. On the other hand, the tragic overtone of this small painting, where the black of the "night" mentioned in the title is witness to the difficult period in the life of Borduas that it belongs to, also gives it a moving lyrical dimension.
We thank François-Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
This work is included in François-Marc Gagnon's online catalogue raisonné on the artist's work at www.borduas.concordia.ca/en/about/index.php

Estimation : 30,000 $ ~ 40,000 $ CAN

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