CGP CPE CSGA OC OSA P11 RCA
1924 - 1990
Canadian
Entrance of the Stage Left Dragon
mixed media on board
signed and dated 1960 and on verso signed, titled and dated on the exhibition label
48 x 36 in, 121.9 x 91.4 cm
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 CAD
Sold for: $7,500
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
An Important Private Collection, Toronto
LITERATURE
David Burnett, Town, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1986, reproduced page 15
EXHIBITED
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Harold Town: A Retrospective, May 16, 1986 - July 6, 1986
2024 marks not only the 70th anniversary of the first exhibition by Painters 11, of which Town was a founding member, it also marks the centennial of Town’s birth, providing us the perfect vantage point from which to observe his place in Canadian Art history. Painter, printmaker, draftsman, author, and critic, Town’s centrality to Canadian art and culture in the 1950s and 1960s is difficult to overstate. Prolific and intensely collected both publicly and privately, his works are often boldly iconoclastic, intellectually confrontational, and technically virtuosic. Apart from his numerous Canadian exhibitions and retrospectives, his works were also included in international exhibitions held at the Guggenheim, the Smithsonian, Canada House Gallery in London, the Bienal de São Paulo, the Milan Triennale, and twice at the Venice Biennale. Fiercely loyal to a national and regional focus and practice, Town’s broad oeuvre forever impacted art in Canada.
This work is a pristine example of the mixed media collage Town produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Here, Town uses the paper’s translucence to create layers of depth in the lower half of the work, contrasted against the minimalism of the rest of the image. While these works are easily associated with the Surrealists’ tradition of collage, Town’s engagement with fine paper, negative space, and a calligraphic sense of line also points to the influence of a classically Japanese aesthetic.
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
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