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For Immediate Release
April 2, 2009
VANCOUVER - April 2, 2009 - On June 17th, Heffel Fine Art Auction House will hold its two-session live auction of Canadian Post-War & Contemporary Art at 4 pm followed by Fine Canadian Art at 7 pm, at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The two session sale is already at an impressive pre-sale estimate and counting. Highlights of the sale include an alluring breadth of paintings, sculpture and drawings from some of the most pre-eminent artists working during both periods in Canadian art. The two session sale offers an exceptional opportunity to acquire seminal works by Canada's most influential artists.
EMILY CARR
CGP OSA 1871 - 1945 Canadian
Wind in the Tree Tops
oil on canvas, circa 1935 ~ 1936
signed and on verso inscribed in graphite
"Property of Mrs. Hill Cheney, Capilano BC
1115 Haywood W. Vancouver";
also inscribed in graphite
"Property J.A. MacAulay"
36 1/2 x 21 1/8 in, 92.7 x 53.7 cm
Estimate: $900,000 ~ $1,200,000 CAD
The first session of Canadian Post-War & Contemporary Art offers a wide range of high calibre and seminal works from artists working from 1945 to the present, further substantiating Heffel's commitment to this area of the market and the continued integral importance of this period in Canadian art. To date, an impressive array of 75 lots have been consigned to the Post-War sale. Featured in the sale are such distinguished artists as Rodolphe (Jauran) de Repentigny, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Jack Leonard Shadbolt, Michael James Aleck Snow, Yves Gaucher, Jean-Philippe Dallaire, Marcelle Ferron, Paul-Émile Borduas, Bertram Charles (B.C.) Binning, Jack Hamilton Bush, William Ronald, Harold Barling Town, Walter Hawley Yarwood, Joanne Tod, Alexander Colville, Sorel Etrog, Gershon Iskowitz, Rita Letendre, Edward John (E.J.) Hughes, and Attila Richard Lukacs, to name a few.
Leading the offerings included in the sale is an exquisite early 1953 drip period Riopelle, whimsically entitled Jouet, estimated at $1,000,000 - $1,500,000. This enigmatic work, from the artist's most sought after period, embodies the year when the art world in Paris met that of New York. Riopelle was working in Paris and in 1953 his work was included in the important exhibition Younger European Painters at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. He exhibited Blue Night, 1952, now in the collection of the Guggenheim Museum, and his work was received with wide acclaim. As Dr. François-Marc Gagnon writes in the catalogue essay, "At this time, Riopelle was already in contact with the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. Moreover, the art critics, who were quick to compare him to Pollock, noticed his contribution to the Guggenheim's show, singling him out as one of the most promising among the 33 'younger European [!] painters' exhibited. It was a grand debut."
Another of many seminal works from the 1950s is Alex Colville's 1951 masterpiece Coastal Figure estimated at $250,000 - 300,000. Dr. Mark Cheetham in his catalogue essay for this superb work writes, "Coastal Figure embodies many of the qualities that give Colville's unique images their potency. Painted in 1951 when he was teaching studio art and art history at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, it is part of a group of early pictures with which he was, for the first time, satisfied. The sophistication of the work is manifest. The divisionist application of pigment is confident, as is the sense of place on Canada's East Coast and the presentation of the female nude, a recurrent theme for Colville. He had his first solo exhibition in Canada in the year this canvas appeared, 1951. By 1953, he was exhibiting successfully in New York."
JEAN-PAUL RIOPELLE
SCA 1923 - 2002 Canadian
Jouet
oil on canvas,
signed and dated 1953 and on verso titled on the stretcher
44 7/8 x 57 1/2 in, 114 x 146 cm
Estimate: $1,000,000 ~ $1,500,000 CAD
Following Heffel's fall 2008 William Ronald record result, Ronald's early work Jazz Town, painted in 1953, was consigned to the Spring 2009 sale. Jazz Town is a strong example of the influence of the New York art scene at that time on Canadian artists, particularly members of the Painters Eleven. Ronald's first painting completed in 1953, shortly after returning back to Toronto from New York, Jazz Town displays the qualities quintessential to the Abstract Expressionist movement, with its bursts of paint against a richly textured surface (estimate: $12,000 - $15,000). Also on offer are exquisite works by other members of the Painters Eleven group, including Bush's large-scale 1958 oil Downsweep (estimate: $70,000 - $90,000), Walter Yarwood's dynamic abstract Island, also painted in 1958, (estimate: $15,000 - $20,000) and Town's vibrant mastery of colour, line, and texture in his work entitled Toast (estimate: $10,000 - $15,000), painted in 1953, the same year Painters Eleven was formed.
Robert Heffel states: "We are very cognizant of how critical the period of the 1950s and 1960s are to 'Contemporary' Art History - with the Post-War sale we focus on consignments from this period. This is the golden age of contemporary art after the second world war. Canadian artists of this period are inherently linked to the international art scene, whether it be that of New York or Paris."
Continuing in Heffel's tradition of selling the Group of Seven, Tom Thomson and Emily Carr for record prices, Heffel's second session of Fine Canadian Art will start at 7 pm on June 17. The Fine Canadian Art catalogue consists primarily of the Canadian Impressionists and the Group of Seven and is the equivalent of the Impressionist and Modern Art sales in New York. To date, 78 lots are consigned to this important sale. Heffel's Fine Canadian Art sale will bring to the market important works by an impressive showcase of pivotal Canadian historical and Modernist/Impressionist artists. Works featured in the sale are by such distinguished artists as; Sybil Andrews, Emily Carr, Alfred Joseph (A.J.) Casson, Lawren Stewart Harris, Alexander Young (A.Y.) Jackson, Cornelius David Krieghoff, Arthur Lismer, James Edward Hervey (J.E.H.) MacDonald, David Brown Milne, Kathleen Moir Morris, Walter Joseph (W.J.) Phillips, Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, Thomas John (Tom) Thomson and Frederick Horsman Varley, to name a few.
Leading the sale is a mature period Emily Carr oil on canvas - a mature period Carr canvas is perhaps one of the rarest commodities in the Canadian art market. Emily Carr's canvas Wind in the Tree Tops is conservatively estimated at $900,000 - 1,200,000, and represents the primary theme in the mature period of her work and that for which she is perhaps best known, the British Columbia forest. Wind in the Tree Tops powerfully and spiritually embodies the rhythms of the Western forests and the expansive radiating skies overhead. Carr's modernist method of painting applied to nature enabled her to convey a beauty and mysteriousness to the Pacific coast forests, perhaps a manifestation of that which was in her imagination. The provenance of this masterpiece is as illustrious as the work itself, having been acquired directly from Emily Carr by her good friend Nan Cheney in 1939 for $75 and later sold to famed collector John A. MacAulay of Winnipeg in 1950 for the grand sum of $1,200.
FREDERICK HORSMAN VARLEY
1881 - 1969 Canadian
John, Garibaldi Park, BC
oil on canvas, circa 1928
on verso inscribed on the stretcher
"Frederick H. Varley's Son John
Age 16 Painted in 1928 at Garibaldi"
and stamped with the Varley Inventory #1236
47 x 30 1/4 in, 119.4 x 76.8 cm
Estimate: $400,000 ~ $600,000 CAD
The sale also includes the rare opportunity to acquire a brilliant large oil on canvas by Frederick Horsman Varley entitled John, Garibaldi Park, BC, circa 1928, estimated at $400,000 - 600,000. The canvas depicts the artist's son in Garibaldi Park at the age of 16. Among the members of the Group of Seven, Varley and Lawren Harris were the only members to paint portraits, and this work is not only one of the most seminal Group Period paintings for the artist but also one of the very few canvases painted in British Columbia by Varley or a member of the Group. By 1928 Varley had been living in British Columbia for two years, and many collectors consider Varley's BC period to be his best.
Another major Group canvas consigned to the sale is Lawren Harris's superb painting Warehouse - No II estimated at $650,000 - 750,000. This group period Harris canvas is a fascinating, haunting work set in a cold winter day. The work is related to a number of canvases, all now held in public collections, such as Harris's Ontario Hill Town, 1926, in the collection of the University of Toronto. This is another rare opportunity to acquire a major group canvas of which fewer and fewer are in private hands.
David Heffel comments: "It is a very rare opportunity for collectors to have two major Group Period Group of Seven canvases and a mature period Carr canvas consigned to one sale. Both sessions have incredible offerings - the adage remains true that major paintings attract major collectors!"
Click here for a link to upcoming Live Auction Highlights:
Heffel's has the most experienced team of fine art specialists in the business, providing customers with the best opportunity for maximizing the value of their works. Heffel's has national presence with offices and galleries in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, and representatives in Calgary and Victoria .
Entire online catalogue posted on heffel.com on May 1st.
Full colour printed catalogues for each session available for distribution
after May 12th.
The Spring Auction, which is divided into two sessions, will showcase over 150 Canadian works.
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ALEXANDER COLVILLE
OC 1920 - Canadian
Coastal Figure
glazed tempera on board,
signed and dated 1951 and on verso signed, titled and dated
23 3/4 x 55 in, 60.3 x 139.7 cm
Estimate: $250,000 ~ $300,000 CAD
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JACK HAMILTON BUSH
1909 - 1977 Canadian
Downsweep
oil on canvas,
signed and dated 1958 and on verso signed, titled, dated and inscribed "Toronto"
75 x 96 in, 190.5 x 243.8 cm
Estimate: $70,000 ~ $90,000 CAD
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LAWREN STEWART HARRIS
1885 - 1970 Canadian
Warehouse - No II
oil on canvas,
signed and on verso signed, titled and inscribed
"Painted before 1920" on the stretcher
30 x 37 in, 76.2 x 94 cm
Estimate: $650,000 ~ $750,000 CAD
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AUCTION
Wednesday, June 17, 2009,
4:00 PM & 7:00 PM
Vancouver Convention Centre
West Building
Meeting Room 211 ~ 214
999 Canada Place
Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Preview at
Heffel Gallery, Toronto
Thursday, May 21 through
Sunday, May 24,
11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
13 Hazelton Avenue
Toronto, ON, Canada M5R 2E1
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Preview at
Galerie Heffel, Montreal
Saturday, May 30 through
Monday, June 1,
11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
1840 rue Sherbrooke Ouest
Montreal, QC, Canada H3H 1E4
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Preview at
Heffel Gallery, Vancouver
Saturday, June 13 through
Tuesday, June 16,
11:00 am to 6:00 pm
Wednesday, June 17,
10:00 am to 12:00 pm
2247 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6H 3G1
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Media Contact:
For further information please contact:
Nina Kim
Director of Post-War & Contemporary Art
416 961 6505
nina@heffel.com
David Heffel 604 732 6505
david@heffel.com
Robert Heffel 604 732 6505
robert@heffel.com
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