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ONLINE AUCTION
Abstraction
2nd session

March 02 - March 30, 2023

LOT DETAILS
         
         
         
         

This session is closed for bidding.
Current bid: $14,000 CAD
Bidding History
Paddle # Date Amount

824083 28-Mar-2023 08:37:58 PM $14,000 AutoBid

1824 28-Mar-2023 08:37:58 PM $13,000

824083 28-Mar-2023 08:37:06 PM $12,000 AutoBid

1824 28-Mar-2023 08:37:06 PM $11,000

824083 28-Mar-2023 05:36:02 PM $10,000 AutoBid

846746 28-Mar-2023 05:36:02 PM $9,500

824083 26-Mar-2023 07:09:31 PM $9,000 AutoBid

846746 26-Mar-2023 07:09:31 PM $8,500

824083 26-Mar-2023 07:08:49 PM $8,000 AutoBid

846746 26-Mar-2023 07:08:49 PM $7,500

824083 26-Mar-2023 07:07:30 PM $7,000 AutoBid

846746 26-Mar-2023 07:07:30 PM $6,500

824083 10-Mar-2023 09:53:03 AM $6,000 AutoBid

The bidding history list updated on: Friday, March 29, 2024 11:44:18

LOT 123

1947 -
Canadian

Untitled (Abstract Composition in Blues)
acrylic on canvas, 1972
48 x 48 in, 121.9 x 121.9 cm

Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD

Sold for: $17,500

Preview at:

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, British Columbia

LITERATURE
Shirley Madill, Robert Houle: Life and Work, Art Canada Institute, 2018, https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/robert-houle/, the related 1972 canvases Love Games and Epigram of the Shortest Distance reproduced


Robert Houle’s practice has been defined by an acute treatment of colour, light, and immediacy with a keen sense of Indigenous knowledge and tradition. This early work was one of several large rectangular canvases produced in 1972, while Houle was a student at McGill University developing his abstract practice. The origin of these works was twofold. They drew their subject matter from a series of love poems written by Houle’s friend Brenda Gureshko - the concept of “love” proving rich material. Stylistically, the compositions were influenced by the geometric motifs found in traditional Ojibway textiles and design - specifically patterns that Houle encountered in the 1943 book Ojibway Crafts by Carrie A. Lyford. Houle stated, “I found the geometrical patterns represented in the book had a spiritual connection to traditional ritual and ceremonial objects, and this in turn led to a series of geometric acrylic paintings.”

The field is dominated by a strong diagonal bisecting the canvas, broken up by steeply-angled lozenges and facets. The resulting darts and tessellations are rendered in flat, closely-hued planes of blues and greens. In these we can see the formal influence of the contemporary American abstractionists working the late 60s and early 70s, in particular the monochromatic constructions of Frank Stella and the sparse clarity of Barnett Newman’s colour fields. Taken together with explicit reference to the designs of ritual objects, the muted pastel geometry presents a vibrant dialogue between the sacred and the abstract. A master colourist, Houle draws an assertive through-line between traditional spiritualism and clarified modernism.


All prices are in Canadian Dollars


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