“In Switzerland, Scandinavia – everywhere, I recall my French Canada”
“Over there, I paint only Canadian subjects, I dream only of Canada. The motif remains fixed in my mind, and I don’t allow myself to be captivated by the charms of a new landscape. In Switzerland, Scandinavia – everywhere, I recall my French Canada.” Clarence Alphonse Gagnon, Paris 1931
In the latter part of the 19th century, many Canadian artists influenced by the Romanticists and later the Impressionists, aspired to exhibit and study in France. Two of the greatest Canadian painters of this period, James Wilson Morrice and Clarence Alphonse Gagnon, in fact lived most of their lives abroad.
With this in mind we found an interesting theme around which to set our September Canadian Art Select auction. ‘Canadians at Home and Abroad’, an eclectic offering reflected in numerous works, both derived from European influence and others more clearly home grown. The auction features works by artists who painted the European landscape and cityscape, as seen in two superb Swiss views by Gagnon, as well as works that trace the influence of European painting exemplified by Robert Harris and Frederick Martlett Bell-Smith.
The landscape at home also deserves special attention and we’ve balanced the auction with a plethora of excellent works by Alan Caswell Collier, Doris McCarthy, William Goodridge Roberts and Walter Joseph Phillips. There are also many superb urban views, both historical and modern, with examples from artists as disparate as Lucius Richard O’Brien and John Kasyn.
We hope this auction will attract and inform collectors of the many genres and periods in the canon of great Canadian art.
The auction opens Saturday, September 21 and closes Thursday, September 26.
Previews will be held Sunday, September 22 and Monday, September 23, or contact us for an appointment for select viewing of works in the auction.