Dorothy Knowles
Dorothy Knowles
1927 - 2023
OC
Dorothy Knowles was born in the small town of Unity, Saskatchewan, in April of 1927. She attended the University of Saskatchewan and received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology in 1948, intending to become a laboratory assistant. At the encouragement of a friend, Dorothy attended the 1948 workshop at Emma Lake, led that year by Reta Cowley and James Finley. That summer would redirect Knowles’s life toward art. From then on she was a regular participant in the Emma Lake Artists’ Workshops until 1969, studying with Joe Plaskett, Will Barnet, Clement Greenberg, Ken Noland, Jules Olitski, Lawrence Alloway and Michael Steiner. She would take classes from Eli Bornstein at the University of Saskatchewan, attend the Goldsmith School of Art in London in 1951 and the Banff School of Arts in 1952. In 1987 she was awarded the Medal of Saskatchewan and in 2004 she received the Order of Canada.

Knowles’s work is firmly grounded in the landscape of her home on the Canadian Prairies, painting large format panoramas of prairie skies, cool pools of water and vibrant, verdant gardens. With the exception of a brief experiment with abstraction in her early years, Knowles has remained firmly committed to the land. Although in art circles in the mid-1950s landscape was falling from favour, Knowles was encouraged by critic Clement Greenberg, who saw her uncommon approach to the land as worthy of pursuing. She has made Saskatoon her lifelong home, and in 1951 she married abstract painter William Perehudoff. Their three daughters Catharine, Rebecca and Carol are all accomplished painters.

Knowles is deeply indebted to the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists and their approach to colour and light, but her work is more immediate and intimate than that of Monet or Cézanne, to whom she is often compared. Knowles has worked hard to avoid conventionality in her work, and painting scenes of less appealing views has been one of her ways to achieve this. The result is often a more real representation of nature. As her career progressed she began to thin out her paint, moving from heavily painted oils to thin acrylics. Recently she has worked again in heavier paint. From the mid 1980s until the mid 1990s her works were characterized by their large format and by their wonderful quality of line. They are as much drawings as paintings, with the subject being drawn first in charcoal directly on the canvas. Knowles then uses thin acrylic to add colour, leaving most of the drawing intact; clear and definitive in some areas or washed over and diffused in others. These striking works are uniform and consistent, full of movement and action - extremely painterly.

Since 1954 her work has been the subject of regular shows, both solo and group, in Saskatoon at the Mendel Art Gallery, Waddington Galleries in Montreal, in Toronto at the David Mirvish Gallery, as well as in Regina, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa. In 1968 she was included in the 7th Biennial Exhibition of Canadian Painting at the National Gallery of Canada and in 1977 the Hirshhorn Museum of the Smithsonian Institution included her work in 14 Canadians: A Critic’s Choice. She is widely collected by public museums in Canada and considered to be Saskatchewan’s quintessential landscape painter.

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Fall by Dorothy Knowles sold for $40,250
Dorothy Knowles
Fall
59 x 72 in, 149.8 x 182.9 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $9,000 - $12,000 CDN
Sold for: $40,250 CDN (premium included)
Fine Canadian Art Fall 2005 on Thursday, November 24, 2005
Waves by Dorothy Knowles sold for $40,250
Dorothy Knowles
Waves
60 x 71 in, 152.4 x 180.3 cm
acrylic on canvas
Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000 CDN
Sold for: $40,250 CDN (premium included)
Canadian Post-War & Contemporary Art on Thursday, November 30, 2017
Rolling Hills by Dorothy Knowles sold for $37,375
Dorothy Knowles
Rolling Hills
57 x 72 in, 144.8 x 182.9 cm
acrylic on canvas
Estimate: $15,000 - $20,000 CDN
Sold for: $37,375 CDN (premium included)
Fine Canadian Art Fall 2007 on Friday, November 23, 2007
#2 River in Autumn by Dorothy Knowles sold for $34,250
Dorothy Knowles
#2 River in Autumn
40 x 80 in, 101.6 x 203.2 cm
acrylic on canvas
Estimate: $35,000 - $45,000 CDN
Sold for: $34,250 CDN (premium included)
Vancouver Art Gallery Art Auction 2021 | Spring Forward on Tuesday, June 15, 2021
The River by Dorothy Knowles sold for $31,250
Dorothy Knowles
The River
45 x 76 in, 114.3 x 193 cm
acrylic on canvas
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CDN
Sold for: $31,250 CDN (premium included)
Post-War & Contemporary Art on Thursday, November 30, 2023
Down to the River by Dorothy Knowles sold for $28,125
Dorothy Knowles
Down to the River
57 3/4 x 71 1/4 in, 146.7 x 181 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $15,000 - $20,000 CDN
Sold for: $28,125 CDN (premium included)
Spring 2017 - 1st Session on Wednesday, May 24, 2017
June Field Series: Weeds by Dorothy Knowles sold for $28,125
Dorothy Knowles
June Field Series: Weeds
38 x 71 in, 96.5 x 180.3 cm
acrylic on canvas
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CDN
Sold for: $28,125 CDN (premium included)
Post-War & Contemporary Art on Thursday, May 30, 2024
Little Breeze Zephyr by Dorothy Knowles sold for $23,750
Dorothy Knowles
Little Breeze Zephyr
60 x 68 in, 152.4 x 172.7 cm
acrylic on canvas
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CDN
Sold for: $23,750 CDN (premium included)
The Great Outdoors: A Selection of Landscapes on Thursday, August 31, 2023
Bright Edges by Dorothy Knowles sold for $22,500
Dorothy Knowles
Bright Edges
40 x 90 in, 101.6 x 228.6 cm
acrylic on canvas
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CDN
Sold for: $22,500 CDN (premium included)
Prairie Modern on Thursday, September 27, 2018
The Biggar Hills by Dorothy Knowles sold for $22,500
Dorothy Knowles
The Biggar Hills
58 x 72 in, 147.3 x 182.9 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CDN
Sold for: $22,500 CDN (premium included)
Modern Landscapes on Thursday, September 26, 2024