ARCA CGP CSGA CSPWC OSA P11
1909 - 1977
Canadian
House Wreckers
watercolour on paper
signed and dated 1942 and on verso signed, titled, inscribed "WC-159"/ "Jack Bush Heritage Corp" / "9 Adelaide E Toronto" on the framing and numbered "M970" on the gallery label
23 x 30 1/2 in, 58.4 x 77.5 cm
Estimate: $7,000 - $8,000 CAD
Sold for: $5,625
Preview at:
PROVENANCE
Collection of the Artist
Estate of the Artist
Private Collection, Ontario
LITERATURE
15th Annual Exhibition of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, Art Gallery of Toronto, 1942, unpaginated
EXHIBITED
Art Gallery of Toronto, 15th Annual Exhibition of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, 1942
Theo Waddington Galleries, Montreal, Jack Bush: Watercolors, 1980
This vibrant, large-format watercolour by Jack Bush depicts the now vanished neighbourhood of central Toronto known as the Ward. Officially named St. John’s Ward, it was an area of often ramshackle, sometimes sub-standard housing, routinely home to newly-landed immigrants. It was gradually subsumed into the city beginning the 1920s, with a large section demolished in the 1950s for what would become Nathan Phillips Square. Bush and many other artists, including Group of Seven precursor Lawren Harris, found painterly inspiration in the lives of its residents, and the modernist irregularity of its buildings and streets.
In 1942, the world had just endured the Great Depression and was in the midst of World War II. Here, Bush documents the labours of anonymous workers as they demolish a home, carefully salvaging materials, which would have been extremely scarce. While elements of history are important aspects of this work, it also showcases Bush’s technical virtuosity as a draughtsman and a watercolourist. In a fascinating way, it also looks ahead to Bush’s impending explorations of colour and form in the bright wallpaper remnant at its centre.
The above essay was provided by Heffel. This work will be included in Dr. Sarah Stanners’s forthcoming Jack Bush Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonné.
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