John Young Johnstone

Canadian (1887 - 1930)

John Young Johnstone was a Canadian painter.
Based on ArtValue.ca records, John Young Johnstone's estimated art value is C$9,000 (*)

John Young Johnstone's work could be available for sale at public auction with prices in the range of C$1,000 - C$50,000, or even much higher.

From ArtValue.ca records, the highest price paid at auction for an oil painting work attributed to John Young Johnstone (1887-1930) was C$45,000 - paid for "In The Maple Grove" at Sothebys in Toronto on Thu, Dec 3, 2009.
ArtValue.ca has 82 auction art sale records for their oil painting results, with prices in the range of C$1,000 to C$50,000.

Heffel Auction House Biography and Notes

John Johnstone studied at the Art Association of Montreal under Impressionist William Brymner and later trained in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Back in Montreal, he became a member of the city's Pen and Pencil Club, and was included in the Beaver Hall Group's first exhibition in 1921. He painted Montreal street scenes as well as rural villages along the St. Lawrence. A.K. Prakash describes Johnstone's mature style as "essentially a beautiful, simplified realism, though influenced by Impressionism." There is an intriguing stillness in Johnstone's work, as seen in Indian Trinket Sellers, embodied in the solidity and stoicism of the First Nations women, patiently waiting for buyers. Broad brush-strokes bring strength and simplicity to the image, and the close vantage point and abstracted background make the figures dominant. Johnstone's palette is primarily dark and earthy, giving strong contrast to the bright sparks of colour of the trinkets. One can sense Johnstone's empathy for the women, and this, together with his distillation of the image into strong, simple elements, gives this work its impact.

(*) Value is calculated as an average of the top oil painting sale records from ArtValue.ca database.
This information is not intended to substitute professional advice.
To estimate the value of a specific artwork created by John Young Johnstone, follow some of the advice from our Valuating art page, or contact an art specialist if our automated estimate value is greater than C$2,500.