Additional Images

Provenance:

Laing Galleries, Toronto, ON
Private Collection, Toronto, ON

Note:

Edward Seago amassed a devout following in Canada that began with his first exhibition, held at one of the foremost Canadian galleries, Laing Galleries in Toronto, in 1951. So noteworthy was his introduction to Canadian collectors that Earl Alexander, then the Governor General of Canada, opened the exhibition. Collectors would queue to attend Seago’s sell-out exhibitions hosted by Laing Galleries until the 1970s.

Waddington’s is privileged to be the market leader of Seago’s works in Canada, having auctioned many of the 70 important oil paintings and watercolours recorded since the early 1990s. One of these works is featured in the present auction.

In Early Morning, The Bay of Porto Cervo, a quintessential sailing scene is bathed in the sun’s first blush of morning over the coast of Sardinia. Art historian James W. Reid divulges the artist’s astute depiction of light and leisure in his 1991 monograph on Seago’s mastery of the landscape.

“Seago's paintings of Sardinia mirror [his] carefree, relaxed mood. Their colours are cheerful olive-greens, oranges, yellow ochres, brilliant whites and vivid blues. The human figure is rarely present, except for pleasure-seekers along the quayside or on the jetty at Porto Cervo. Compositions appear effortless… The paint is applied with a confident, light-hearted insouciance… The artist's mastery of light and atmosphere is much more in evidence in representations of early morning, evening and dusk.”[1]

[1] James W. Reid, Edward Seago: The Landscape Art, London: Sotheby’s Publications, 1991, 203-204.