Two Paintings by Doris McCarthy

Held online from May 24-29, 2024, our spring auction of Canadian and International Fine Art brings together exceptional work from around the world, including two paintings by Doris McCarthy.

THE STREAM FROM THE FOOTHILLS, 2005

Joan Murray writes that “McCarthy’s work reiterates, in lines, textures and colours, her strategy of simple contrast. In her paintings, powerful shapes generate a stimulating mix of aesthetic energies. Her forté lies in the Midas-like transformation of ordinary worlds into shining visions.”[1]

Painted by McCarthy at the age of 95, this vista was made with great economy of vision. “The Stream from the Foothills” displays the assuredness of a life spent at the easel, the brushstrokes spare yet, as is typical for the artist, highly evocative of place. Her strong design sense is also at play, with the landscape condensed to its most elemental forms. This is a straightforward work, a direct representation of something – a spontaneity which McCarthy chased throughout her career. Per Stuart Reid, “painting for McCarthy is a game of give and take, back and forth – a sustained rally between the artist and the work, lingering somewhere between suggestion and definition.”[2]

ARIZONA VISTA, 1998

McCarthy took a trip to Arizona, New Mexico, Klondyke, Taos and Abiquiu with fellow painters Judith Finch, Brenda Bisiker and Wendy Wacko from April 1-26, 1998. Finch recalls McCarthy being singularly focused on her work, rising early to paint during the morning before breaking for lunch, after which she would resume painting. “With Doris there was no time to be wasted. She found a suitable view, often spotted the day before, set up her gear and went to work straight off, usually while the rest of us were still wandering about trying: a) to find a place out of the wind, or b) out of the sun, or c) land not too treacherous, or d) out of the line of cars, people, or animals. None of these details seemed to distress Doris one bit; she merely focused on the view and got on with it. Her power of concentration, in spite of all that was going on is legendary.”[3]

While the artist is best known for her Canadian scenes, Arizona Vista displays all of the hallmarks of a classic McCarthy painting. Stuart Reid writes: “there is a communion between the artist and the landscape evident in all of McCarthy’s work. She looks at the land. She chooses interesting vistas that are formally sound compositions. Often she sets the major horizon line at the golden mean of the page — a little less than two-thirds up from the bottom. There is a trademark ‘folding’ of the imagined space into a trinity: foreground, midground, far distance and sky; that recurs no matter what her subject. It often seems as though the foreground is less distinct than the midground, fading into washes at the bottom of the page. This recurring trait does not allow the viewer a sure footing in the scene — the vantage-point is somewhere hovering above the land. McCarthy seems to enjoy this spiritual distance from the points of interest, which are usually out of reach — at picture-postcard distance in the midground of the painting. The artist understands how the human eye wanders over a picture plane…”[4]

About the auction

Held online from May 24-29, 2024, our spring auction of Canadian and International Fine Art brings together exceptional work from around the world. This auction features celebrated Canadian artists such as Cornelius Krieghoff, A.Y. Jackson, P.C. Sheppard, A.J. Casson, Bertram Booker, Alexandra Luke, Jean Paul Lemieux and Yves Gaucher as well as important First Nations artists Norval Morrisseau, Roy Thomas and Alex Janvier. International highlights include work by Jules Olitski, Karel Appel, Kwon Young-Woo, Norman Bluhm, Józef Bakoś, Léon Lhermitte and Montague Dawson.

Previews will be available at our Toronto gallery, located at 275 King Street East, Second Floor, Toronto:

 Thursday, May 23 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
 Friday, May 24 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
 Saturday, May 25 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm
 Sunday, May 26 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm
 Monday, May 27 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
 Tuesday, May 28 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Or by appointment.

Please contact us to find out more.

[1] Joan Murray in Celebrating Life: The Art of Doris McCarthy (Kleinburg: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1999), 72.
[2] Stuart Reid, “Island Sketches” in Celebrating Life: The Art of Doris McCarthy, (Kleinburg: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1999), 212.
[3] Judith Finch, in Celebrating Life: The Art of Doris McCarthy, (Kleinburg: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1999), 52.
[4] Stuart Reid, “Island Sketches” in Celebrating Life: The Art of Doris McCarthy, (Kleinburg: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1999), 231.