Sold for: $43,875

PROVENANCE
Collection of Janet and Pierre Berton, Kleinburg
By descent to the present Private Collection, Toronto

LITERATURE
Recent Canadian Painting, The National Gallery of Canada and The National Museum Warsaw, 1962, reproduced, unpaginated
Colin S. MacDonald, A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume 8, 2006, page 405

EXHIBITED
The National Museum, Warsaw, Poland, Recent Canadian Painting, January 5 - April 1962, catalogue #42

Jack Shadbolt’s artistic influences were varied and rich. He was familiar with the work of the Group of Seven as early as 1925, and had met Emily Carr in 1930 and Lawren Harris in 1933. He saw the works of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Paul Cézanne in Paris in 1937 and 1938, and shared their interest in primitive sculpture, vibrant, dancing colour and fractured form. While Shadbolt’s style varied dramatically over the course of his prolific career, what always comes through in his work is a powerful sense of his personal insightfulness. And, as his work is often described as having dreamlike beauty, he must have dreamed of interesting things.

This stunning, brilliantly coloured work was inspired by his travels in 1956 to 1957. After representing Canada at the Venice Biennale, Shadbolt traveled through the Mediterranean region of France, visiting small villages along the French Riviera. With the support of a Canada Council Overseas Fellowship and a Canadian Guggenheim International Award combined, he spent a month at the small Spanish-influenced fishing village of Collioure, which lies in a beautiful circular harbour some 24 kilometres north of France’s border with Spain. Surrounded by ancient buildings, colourful architecture and vibrant people, all set against the backdrop of the blue Mediterranean Sea and lit by the heat of the sun, Shadbolt’s passion for colour changed hue, as his work was warmed by the glowing tones of the region. Mediterranean Forms is rendered in a blocky patchwork style that immediately brings to mind an ancient brick wall set with a figurative mosaic. Faces, forms, eyes and arms all seem to be present in this dancing work. Instantly appealing, this work seems to glow with the very warmth of the place it depicts. Shadbolt made two trips to the Mediterranean, the second in 1960, and his response to the region by way of mosaic-like fracturing, the patchwork style, and his affection for hot, burning, ember-like colours would remain present in his work long after the trips took place.

Of particular note is the fact that this work was selected for inclusion in the important show Recent Canadian Painting, held in Poland in 1962 and organized by the National Gallery of Canada. Alex Colville’s Man on Verandah (sold by Heffel in November 2010 - a record for a living Canadian painter sold in Canada) was also selected for inclusion in this notable show. Further, Mediterranean Forms once belonged to one of Canada’s famous sons - author, television host and journalist Pierre Berton. Berton and Shadbolt were both distinguished alumni of Victoria College (now the University of Victoria) in British Columbia (although over ten years apart). They both had great pride in Canada and her history, and shared an interest - Berton as an historian and Shadbolt being an official Canadian war artist - in the after effects of World War II. In addition to the cover art that Shadbolt produced for MacLean’s magazine while Berton was on the editorial staff there, MacLean’s acquired Shadbolt’s work for its corporate collection.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars