CGP CPE CSGA OC OSA P11 RCA
1924 - 1990
Canadian
Oracle Set #2
oil and Lucite 44 on canvas
signed and dated 1962 and on verso signed twice, titled, dated twice and inscribed "Oil + Lucite 44 use no turps in cleaning"
81 1/4 x 64 1/4 in, 206.3 x 163.2 cm
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD
Sold for: $18,880
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
Mazelow Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
LITERATURE
National Gallery of Canada, Harold Town, http://www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artist.php?iartistid=5495, accessed October 24, 2014
EXHIBITED
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, McEwen and Town, 1967, catalogue #8
Documenta III - Kassel, Munich, Harold Town
The work of this Painters Eleven founder was often a wild explosion of colour and form, but Oracle Set #2 is more measured. This however, was not out of character for Harold Town, for as journalist and critic Robert Fulford wrote: "He always pursued parallel careers, as though he was convinced that the world deserved several Harold Towns at once." In his book on Town, David Burnett indicates that in the Set series paintings, the reference is to stage sets. In some of these works, Town used fine patterns of light marks on dark backgrounds, as he does here. Over this two-dimensional patterned surface floats a white circle at the bottom right, whose existence brings awareness and tension to the dark circle in the middle left. Both are encircled by a white line, and they are like cells which may attract, repel or exist in stasis with each other. Town's Oracle Set #2 is a mysterious and charged field, executed with an elegant formality.
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