P11 RCA
1926 - 1998
Canadian
Boudoir
oil on canvas
signed and dated 1961 and on verso titled, numbered R-238 and stamped with the Kootz Gallery stamp
60 x 49 1/2 in, 152.4 x 125.7 cm
Estimate: $25,000 - $35,000 CAD
Sold for: $67,250
Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave
PROVENANCE
Kootz Gallery, New York
Private Collection, New York
LITERATURE
Stuart Preston, review of Kootz Gallery show, New York Times, September 16, 1961, page 9
William Ronald, interview by John Porter, April 13, 1984
EXHIBITED
Kootz Gallery, New York, William Ronald: 18 New Paintings, September 12 - 30, 1961
In September 1961, a New York Times reviewer wrote: “William Ronald shows non-objective paintings that manage to look like decoupages. The irregular strips of color that entwine in restless patterns, writhing upward like flames, resemble accidents of tearing strips of colored paper.” Boudoir was one of the 18 paintings, each with its own unique central image and daring palette, on view in the 1961 solo exhibition at the Kootz Gallery, the fifth of seven successful Ronald shows held there.
When Ronald unexpectedly told an interviewer in 1984 that he considered himself to be one of the last people in his generation to be influenced by the Surrealists, he was likely referring to the influential “accidental” compositions made by the great twentieth-century European artists such as Hans Arp, Paul Klee and Max Ernst. Boudoir is indeed a painting that at first glance may fit the New York reviewer’s description, but it was much more complex in its execution. Typical of his now rare paintings from the early 1960s, the composition is far from random. Constructed with multiple layers of pigments applied with bold, instinctive brush-strokes, it invites the viewer to explore the subtle hints as to what lies below the surface.
Estimate: $25,000 - $35,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
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