Lot 109
HAROLD BARLING TOWN, R.C.A.
Provenance:
Mazelow Gallery, Toronto.
Private Collection, Toronto.
Exhibited:
Seventh Biennial of Canadian Painting, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 5 July - 1 September, 1968.
Note:
“Window #2” was painted during a very active year for Town: exhibitions in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary and Chicago were met with great enthusiasm which kept the artist busy both in the studio and in the press. This work was chosen for the Seventh Biennial of Canadian Painting at the National Gallery of Canada held in the summer of 1968. William Sietz, then a curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, was invited by the gallery to make the selections for this important exhibition of contemporary Canadian art.
“Window #2” is a work which appears on the very cusp of Town’s “Silent Light” series. The artist uses thin strips of masking tape to create the very fine, bold coloured lines seen on the smaller mounted canvas. Vertical and horizontal stripes are painted meticulously in green, yellow, orange and deep violet and are layered over black amorphous shapes. This layering technique creates a tension between the rigid bars and the loose forms below, highlighting Town’s signature play with order and disorder.