Please note our offices will be closed from Friday March 29 through Monday April 1 for Easter. Local pick-ups will start on Tuesday April 2.
      
      
      

LOT 006

BCSFA CGP CPE OC RCA
1919 - 2020
Canadian

Winter
oil on canvas
signed and on verso titled, dated circa 1960 on a label and inscribed "W.A. Picture Loan" and "$175.00"
24 x 30 in, 61 x 76.2 cm

Estimate: $25,000 - $35,000 CAD

Sold for: $46,250

Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Vancouver
Sold sale of Western Canadian Modernists, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, June 25, 2009, lot 411
Private Collection, Vancouver


The late 1950s and early 1960s were a time of solid accomplishment for Gordon Smith. In 1959 he won the Baxter Prize from the Ontario Society of Artists, and in 1960 he was chosen to represent Canada at the Bienal de São Paulo. Also in this eventful year, a Canada Council fellowship enabled him to take a sabbatical from his teaching at the University of British Columbia to paint and travel to New York, England and Europe.

No matter what degree of abstraction is present in Smith’s work, landscape is the point of departure. In Winter, Smith paints an abstracted urban scene with a strip of buildings on the horizon, and areas of blue for the sky and water. Buildings are suggested by outlines of fluid black lines. The colours of the buildings seep down as if they are reflections in the ocean into softly modulated planes of colour, which are predominantly blue and grey. Smith contrasts the more intense colours of the structures against the subtle and reflective atmospheres of sky and water in this lyrical work, evocatively transforming a specific locality into abstraction to emphasize colour, mood and light.


Estimate: $25,000 - $35,000 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.