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LOT 017

ARCA OC OSA
1927 - 1977
Canadian

Abandoned Goulettes
mixed media on board
initialed and on verso titled and dated 1976 on the gallery labels
20 x 28 in, 50.8 x 71.1 cm

Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD

Sold for: $22,500

Preview at:

PROVENANCE
The Isaacs Gallery Ltd., Toronto
Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
Sold sale of Important Canadian Art, Sotheby's Canada in association with Ritchie's, November 18, 2002, lot 186
Private Collection, Calgary
Sold sale of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, November 20, 2019, lot 17
Private Collection, Vancouver

LITERATURE
Joan Murray and William Kurelek, Kurelek’s Vision of Canada, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 1983, page 60, reproduced page 60

EXHIBITED
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Kurelek’s Vision of Canada, June 14 – August 14, 1982, traveling in 1982 – 1984 to the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery; New Brunswick Museum, Saint John; Confederation Centre Art Gallery and Museum, Charlottetown; Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, Halifax; McCord Museum, Montreal; Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon; Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary; Manitoba Museum of Man, Winnipeg; Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina; Memorial University Art Gallery, St. John’s; Musée regionale de Rimouski; and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, catalogue #36


William Kurelek wrote about this work:

This painting is meant to convey the sadness of a way of life that has passed. For over a hundred years these small timber transports plied the St. Lawrence River between the Saguenay and Quebec City carrying lumber and pulp logs to the mills at Quebec City. They were family boats. The mother was a cook, the father the captain, the children the sailors, and all lived on board during the shipping season. In winter the boats were winched up on to the land and stored on the dry dock rails you see in the foreground of the painting. Then new methods of transport, notably trucking spurred on by timber stands retreating inland, began to put these boats out of business. The last ones, some of which Jim and I found at St. Joseph de la Rive, were not even put in dry dock but simply dragged up on the beach.

Kurelek painted Canada from coast to coast, and his vision was documented in the 1982 exhibition Kurelek’s Vision of Canada, which this evocative painting was a part of.

This work is in the original frame made by Kurelek.


Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 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 Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.