OSA RCA SCA
1846 - 1923
Canadian
Lights of a City Street
oil on canvas
signed and dated 1894 and on verso titled on the Hudson’s Bay Company Collection label and the exhibition labels
52 1/2 x 78 3/4 in, 133.4 x 200 cm
Estimate: $100,000 - $150,000 CAD
Sold for: $691,250
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
Robert Simpson Company, Toronto
Collection of the Hudson’s Bay Company, Canada
LITERATURE
18th Exhibition of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, National Gallery of Canada, 1897, listed
Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by F.M. Bell-Smith, RCA, OSA, Art Gallery of Toronto, 1923, listed, unpaginated
“F.M. Bell Smith” [obituary], circa 1923, OCAD University Archives, mentioned page 1,
https://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/4582/
The Development of Painting in Canada, 1665 – 1945, Art Gallery of Toronto, 1945, listed page 24
Three Hundred Years of Canadian Art, National Gallery of Canada, 1967, listed page 100, reproduced page 101 [cont'd in Essay field]
EXHIBITED
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 18th Exhibition of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, March 9, 1897, catalogue #17
Art Gallery of Toronto, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by F.M. Bell-Smith, RCA, OSA, 1923, catalogue #25
Art Gallery of Toronto, The Development of Painting in Canada, 1665 – 1945, January 1945, traveling in 1945 to the Art Association of Montreal; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and Musée de la province de Québec, Quebec City, catalogue #78
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Three Hundred Years of Canadian Art, May 12 – September 17, 1967, traveling to the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, October 20 – November 20, 1967, catalogue #161
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 100 Years: Evolution of the Ontario College of Art, November 5, 1976 – January 2, 1977, traveling to the Art Gallery of Hamilton, February 3 – 27, 1977; Rodman Hall Arts Centre, Brock University, St. Catharines, March 4 – 27, 1977; and Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, March 31 – April 24, 1977, catalogue #12
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith (1846 – 1923), September 1977, traveling November 1977 – July 1978 to Calgary, Oshawa, Stratford, Kingston, London and Windsor
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Exhibition of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, November 14, 1980 – January 4, 1981, label on verso
Literature continued
100 Years: Evolution of the Ontario College of Art, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1976, listed
J. Russell Harper, Painting in Canada: A History, second edition, 1977, reproduced page 242
Roger Boulet, Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith (1846 – 1923), Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1977, reproduced page 24
Peter Mellen, Landmarks of Canadian Art, 1978, reproduced page 137
Edith G. Firth, Toronto in Art: 150 Years through Artists’ Eyes, 1983, reproduced page 66
Jon Caulfield, “The Imagined Cities of Three Canadian Painters,” Urban History Review, vol. 20, no. 1, 1991, listed page 13 note 29
Mike Filey, “Fave Painting Tells a Story,” Sunday Sun (Toronto), January 21, 2001
Mike Filey, Toronto Sketches 8: “The Way We Were,” 2004, reproduced page 10
For full cataloguing, essay and images in PDF format, please click here.
Estimate: $100,000 - $150,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our
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condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.