|
WILLIAM KURELEK, R.C.A.
UKRAINIAN EASTER BASKET, mixed media on board, signed with initials and dated ‘73
30 ins x 49 ins; 75 cms x 122.5 cms
Auction Estimate: $50,000 / 70,000
Price Realised: $48,400.00
Provenance: Mr. and Mrs. Stanley William Frolick, Toronto
Exhibited: Kurelek, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, October 10 - November 23, 1980, no.30.
Literature: E. Legge and S. Madill, Kurelek, exhibition catalogue, Winnipeg, 1980, page 11 and 16, reproduced.
Legge and Madill write: “As a Canadian of Ukrainian descent, Kurelek provides important insights into cultural groups in Canada... To Kurelek’s dismay, his father and mother had eventually abandoned most of the Ukrainian customs, except for Easter Vigil. Disappointed that such customs should be forsaken, Kurelek decided to paint them as a means of preserving them.” Ukrainian Easter Basket is an expression of this concern
|
MARC-AURELE FORTIN, A.R.C.A.
A RED SLEIGH IN WINTER, oil on board, signed
22 ins x 28 ¼ ins; 55 cms x 70.6 cms
Auction Estimate: $18,000 / 22,000
Price Realised: $37,400.00
|
CORNELIUS KRIEGHOFF
FLIRTING WHILE BRAIDING STRAW HATS, oil on canvas, signed and dated “Quebec, 1862”
18 ½ ins x 22 ins; 46.3 cms x 55 cms
EST. $150,000 / 175,000
PRICE: $231,000.00
Provenance: Mrs. W.A. Marsh, Quebec, By descent to the present Owner
Exhibited: Exhibition of Paintings by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1815-1872, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, February, 1934, no. 65 (as Sparking). Also shown at the Art Association of Montreal, Montreal, March, 1934.
Literature: Marius Barbeau, Cornelius Krieghoff, Pioneer Painter of North America, Toronto, 1934, page 126 (listed as Canadians Sparking, Hat Making).
J. Russell Harper, Krieghoff, Toronto, 1979, pages 36-38 and plate 32, reproduced.
Krieghoff painted very few interior scenes of habitant life although, in some cases, he executed more than one version of a particular subject. It is important to note, however, that the artist only
executed one version of this particular subject of making straw hats.
Barbeau writes that the pretty young woman in this painting is “presumably Emily Krieghoff, the artist’s only daughter, the year of her first marriage.” She is depicted smiling at the spectator and braiding straws into wide-brimmed straw hats. The author also points out that the man in the blue toque is winking at her. According to Barbeau, this painting is a: “Fine quality, exceptional picture.”
Harper notes that the subject of straw hats was recorded and commented on by travellers of the time. Charles Dickens, for instance, was fascinated by these ‘great flat straw hats with most capacious brims.’ Harper, in describing this work, continues: “In later years Krieghoff painted a woman weaving such hats from straws plucked from temporary storage in a pottery jug, all the while sparring verbally with a pipe-smoking visitor while the children play on the catalogue
rug. Her house is warmed by a square St. Maurice stove made from iron in the early nineteenth century...”
This superb canvas has remained in the possession of the same family since being acquired at the turn of the century.
|
ROBERT WAKEHAM PILOT, P.R.C.A.
SUNDAY MORNING, SAULT-AUX-RECOLLETS, oil on canvas, signed
Painted circa 1925.
14 ins x 18 ins; 35 cms x 45 cms
Auction Estimate: $30,000 / 35,000
Price Realised: $48,400.00
Provenance: Private Collection, Montreal
Exhibited: Robert Pilot Retrospective Exhibition, Walter Klinkhoff Gallery, Montreal, September 12-24, 1988, no.2.
|
