Sold for: $99,450

PROVENANCE
Laing Galleries, Toronto
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
The Art Emporium, Vancouver, 1976
Private Collection, Vancouver
Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, November 28, 2013, lot 107

EXHIBITED
Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, 1929

When Arthur Lismer first went to the Canadian Rockies to paint, he struggled with the grandeur of the soaring peaks. Condensing their vast forms onto his small sketch panel was not possible, he felt, so he moved to a different format and a larger size. In this bold depiction of Mount Odaray, Lismer has mastered this challenge. He set his scene from a perch on the cliff face of the Opabin Plateau - the more easily reached Opabin Prospect is higher than the vantage point in this scene. Lismer settled himself like a hawk on one of the large cliff-face rocks to look out over the waters of Lake O’Hara, which he painted in their characteristic chalky blue-green. The flank of Deception Peak is a golden contrast to the cool greens of the forest as well as the brilliant whites of the Odaray Glacier and the clouds in the sky.

Lismer’s Rocky Mountain paintings are rare, as most major canvases from this part of his oeuvre are housed in public collections, and sketches of this calibre come to auction only occasionally.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars