The Butterfly
50.8 cms x 58.4 cms (20 ins x 23 ins)
Signed And Dated ‘57; Also Signed And Titled On The Reverse
Lot offered for sale by Waddington's, Toronto at the auction event "Canadian Fine Art Auction" held on Mon, Nov 21, 2016.
Lot 99
Lot 99
Estimate: CAD $20,000 - $30,000
Realised: CAD $19,200
Realised: CAD $19,200
Lot description - from the online catalogue*
Provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario
Private Collection, British Columbia (by descent)
Literature:
Joyce Zemans, Jock Macdonald: The Inner Landscape, A Retrospective Exhibition, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1981, page 207 for The Butterfly, 1946 a watercolour directly related to this lot, in the collection of the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, reproduced.
Joyce Zemans, Jock Macdonald: 1897-1960, (Canadian Artists Series), National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1985, page 7, 24 and page 45 for this lot reproduced.
Notes:
Joyce Zemans states: "The art of Jock Macdonald, one of Canada's greatest and most dedicated exponents of abstract painting, represents in microcosm the development of abstract art in this country." In short, though his role is often eclipsed by the story of abstract art in Quebec, Macdonald's influence on a generation of abstract artists assuredly in Ontario if not more broadly was as crucial as Borduas’ was in Quebec.
Macdonald's full-time teaching responsibilities at OCA during the mid-50s left him limited time for painting but Zemans tells us that over the summer of 1956 he was able to devote himself full time to his practice. It was at this time that he discovered DUCO, a product which allowed him to paint with greater fluidity but at a huge cost; DUCO had an unfortunate odor that sickened Macdonald who was compelled to paint with his windows thrown wide open. He experimented with the product until Harold Town introduced him to Lucite 44 which rendered similar effects to DUCO without the dreadful smell. Zemans notes: ”Fluid and quick drying, it allowed Macdonald to work in oil on canvas or masonite as he had in watercolour on paper." Indeed, Macdonald produced The Butterfly in 1957, inspired by a work of the same name he had executed in watercolour and ink only a year prior achieving in this new medium an almost identical effect.
According to Zemans in January 1958 the influential New York art critic Clement Greenburg (friend and adviser to color field painters everywhere), "told Macdonald that his latest work was 'hitting absolute tops'.” This lot, The Butterfly, hails from that seminal period.
Private Collection, Ontario
Private Collection, British Columbia (by descent)
Literature:
Joyce Zemans, Jock Macdonald: The Inner Landscape, A Retrospective Exhibition, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1981, page 207 for The Butterfly, 1946 a watercolour directly related to this lot, in the collection of the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, reproduced.
Joyce Zemans, Jock Macdonald: 1897-1960, (Canadian Artists Series), National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1985, page 7, 24 and page 45 for this lot reproduced.
Notes:
Joyce Zemans states: "The art of Jock Macdonald, one of Canada's greatest and most dedicated exponents of abstract painting, represents in microcosm the development of abstract art in this country." In short, though his role is often eclipsed by the story of abstract art in Quebec, Macdonald's influence on a generation of abstract artists assuredly in Ontario if not more broadly was as crucial as Borduas’ was in Quebec.
Macdonald's full-time teaching responsibilities at OCA during the mid-50s left him limited time for painting but Zemans tells us that over the summer of 1956 he was able to devote himself full time to his practice. It was at this time that he discovered DUCO, a product which allowed him to paint with greater fluidity but at a huge cost; DUCO had an unfortunate odor that sickened Macdonald who was compelled to paint with his windows thrown wide open. He experimented with the product until Harold Town introduced him to Lucite 44 which rendered similar effects to DUCO without the dreadful smell. Zemans notes: ”Fluid and quick drying, it allowed Macdonald to work in oil on canvas or masonite as he had in watercolour on paper." Indeed, Macdonald produced The Butterfly in 1957, inspired by a work of the same name he had executed in watercolour and ink only a year prior achieving in this new medium an almost identical effect.
According to Zemans in January 1958 the influential New York art critic Clement Greenburg (friend and adviser to color field painters everywhere), "told Macdonald that his latest work was 'hitting absolute tops'.” This lot, The Butterfly, hails from that seminal period.
Most realised prices include the Buyer's Premium of 18-25%, but not the HST/GST Tax.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Waddington's auction house for permission to use.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Waddington's auction house for permission to use.