P11 RCA
1926 - 1998
Canadian
Untitled (Black Series)
watercolour on paper
signed and dated 1959 and on verso inscribed "#35" on a label and variously
18 x 20 in, 45.7 x 50.8 cm
Estimate: $1,500 - $2,500 CAD
Sold for: $2,000
Preview at:
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the Artist by a Private Collection, Toronto
By descent to the present Private Collection, Ontario
The medium of watercolour has played an important role in the emergence of abstraction in mid-century Canadian painting. Paul-Emile Borduas, Jean Paul Riopelle, and Jean McEwen all used watercolour in their early experiments with non-objective paintings. In Ontario, Jock MacDonald made wonderful use of the medium in his semi-abstract automatic fantasias, and New York critic and theorist Clement Greenberg notably suggested to Jack Bush that he follow the freer impulses present in his watercolours. Here fellow Painters 11 member William Ronald also explores it’s properties at a key moment in his career when he had departed Toronto for New York. As demonstrated here, the fluidity, translucency, and often uncontrollable accident inherent in watercolour lends itself beautifully to the intuitive, non-rational, and even musical nature of abstract painting.
This work is certified by the William Ronald Authentic Inventory # WRAI.1959.0003
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