Sold for: $67,250

PROVENANCE
Gallery Moos, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto

LITERATURE
Joe Fafard: Cows and Other Luminaries, 1977 - 1987, Mendel Art Gallery, 1987

EXHIBITED
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Joe Fafard: Cows and Other Luminaries, 1977 - 1987, October 2 - November 15, 1987, traveling to the Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, December 12, 1987 - January 17, 1988, another cast reproduced catalogue #41

In the winter of 1982 to 1983, Joseph Fafard read Dear Theo, a collection of Vincent van Gogh’s letters to his brother. The book had a profound impact on Fafard, resulting in a series of works that would occupy him for years. The twentieth century consecrated van Gogh as the saintly icon of tortured artistic genius, a martyr for freedom of self-expression—concepts that are now bound up with his image. This image of the artist fascinated Fafard, who through repeatedly sculpting his likeness, sought to understand both himself and the enigmatic figure. Like van Gogh, he remained faithful to his personal vision in spite of prevailing artistic trends.

In The Painter, Fafard depicts van Gogh seated on his famous cane chair, palette in his left hand and right hand on his knee, holding a paintbrush with his fingers raised, poised to apply another generous daub of paint to one of his sculptural impasto surfaces. It is a moment of thoughtful tension, as though Fafard were imbuing his subject with an awareness of the historical juncture he occupies, when art and expression were fused not only in paint but also in the embodied form of the artist.

This work is secured to a plinth that measures 37 x 25 ¼ x 12 ¾ inches.

The foundry mark JA/PL refers to Joe Fafard's foundry Julienne Atelier and Pierre l’Héritier, a master in bronze casting whom Fafard was working with at the time.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars