Karlukwees, BC (Siwash Winter Village)
35.6 cms x 30.2 cms (14 ins x 11.89 ins)
Signed and on verso titled
Lot offered for sale by Heffel, Vancouver at the auction event "Fall 2012 Live auction" held on Thu, Nov 22, 2012.
Lot 101
Lot 101
Estimate: CAD $20,000 - $30,000
Realised: CAD $64,350
Realised: CAD $64,350
Lot description - from the online catalogue*
Provenance:
Masters Gallery Ltd., Calgary
Private Collection, British Columbia
Literature:
Walter J. Phillips, Wet Paint, unpublished manuscript, undated, unpaginated, Glenbow Museum Archives, M-969-4
Roger Boulet, Walter J. Phillips, The Complete Graphic Works, 1981, the 1930 wood engraving from this image entitled Shacks on the Beach, Karlukwees reproduced page 350
Roger Boulet, The Tranquility and the Turbulence, 1981, the 1930 wood engraving from this image entitled Shacks on the Beach, Karlukwees reproduced page 116
Notes:
Walter J. Phillips traveled to the West Coast in 1927, visiting and sketching at Siwash and Kwakiutl villages such as Mamalilicoola, Alert Bay and Karlukwees on Turnour Island. Of Karlukwees, the subject of this extraordinary watercolour, he wrote, "We found another village - Karlukwees - more interesting than the others. The clean white beach had borrowed its shape from the new moon...Karlukwees provided many subjects for painting. In fact never have I seen a more delectable sketching ground. We had penetrated an arm of the sea, the open sea seemed far away, for it flowed only in narrow channels, between an immense number of islands. I regretted leaving the coast, and I long to return." Now abandoned, Karlukwees was at that time the primary winter village residence of the Tlowitsis Nation. The village was the subject of one of Phillips's finest colour woodcuts, entitled Karlukwees, as well as two prints from his 1930 portfolio of black and white wood engravings entitled An Essay in Woodcuts, including Shacks on the Beach, Karlukwees, which is derived from this watercolour. Phillips was renowned for his technique in watercolour, originating from his training in England and the influence of accomplished nineteenth century British watercolourists such as David Cox and John Sell Cotman. Once in Canada, his work was transformed by the brilliance and clarity of light. This stunning watercolour is an outstanding example of Phillips's refined use of transparent washes, which define form and atmospheric effects while being light-filled. One can sense not only the feeling of the essence of the village, but the very air itself. Phillips captures all the structural uniqueness of the village - the massed planes of the buildings with the pilings that lift them above the reach of the ocean, and the central focus of the striking totem, behind which the tip of yet another totem rises. A masterful watercolour of this "delectable sketching ground", Karlukwees BC (Siwash Winter Villages) is a fascinating illustration of this village when it was still inhabited.
Masters Gallery Ltd., Calgary
Private Collection, British Columbia
Literature:
Walter J. Phillips, Wet Paint, unpublished manuscript, undated, unpaginated, Glenbow Museum Archives, M-969-4
Roger Boulet, Walter J. Phillips, The Complete Graphic Works, 1981, the 1930 wood engraving from this image entitled Shacks on the Beach, Karlukwees reproduced page 350
Roger Boulet, The Tranquility and the Turbulence, 1981, the 1930 wood engraving from this image entitled Shacks on the Beach, Karlukwees reproduced page 116
Notes:
Walter J. Phillips traveled to the West Coast in 1927, visiting and sketching at Siwash and Kwakiutl villages such as Mamalilicoola, Alert Bay and Karlukwees on Turnour Island. Of Karlukwees, the subject of this extraordinary watercolour, he wrote, "We found another village - Karlukwees - more interesting than the others. The clean white beach had borrowed its shape from the new moon...Karlukwees provided many subjects for painting. In fact never have I seen a more delectable sketching ground. We had penetrated an arm of the sea, the open sea seemed far away, for it flowed only in narrow channels, between an immense number of islands. I regretted leaving the coast, and I long to return." Now abandoned, Karlukwees was at that time the primary winter village residence of the Tlowitsis Nation. The village was the subject of one of Phillips's finest colour woodcuts, entitled Karlukwees, as well as two prints from his 1930 portfolio of black and white wood engravings entitled An Essay in Woodcuts, including Shacks on the Beach, Karlukwees, which is derived from this watercolour. Phillips was renowned for his technique in watercolour, originating from his training in England and the influence of accomplished nineteenth century British watercolourists such as David Cox and John Sell Cotman. Once in Canada, his work was transformed by the brilliance and clarity of light. This stunning watercolour is an outstanding example of Phillips's refined use of transparent washes, which define form and atmospheric effects while being light-filled. One can sense not only the feeling of the essence of the village, but the very air itself. Phillips captures all the structural uniqueness of the village - the massed planes of the buildings with the pilings that lift them above the reach of the ocean, and the central focus of the striking totem, behind which the tip of yet another totem rises. A masterful watercolour of this "delectable sketching ground", Karlukwees BC (Siwash Winter Villages) is a fascinating illustration of this village when it was still inhabited.
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 Heffel auction house for permission to use.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.