2019 May | Hodgins Art Auctions

Notes:

signed lower right; titled on the label verso
inscribed verso by Bates’ close friend and colleague, John Snow: “painted about 1948 or /9”
Exhibited: Calgary Allied Arts Council, Women’s Committee
Literature: “Maxwell Bates: A Canadian Expressionist” (Michael Morris, David Silcox & Robin Skelton; The Edmonton Art Gallery; 2004); “Maxwell Bates: Landscapes/Paysages 1948-1978” (Nancy Townsend; Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery; 1982).

In January of 1946, Max Bates returned to Calgary after a 15 year transformative absence. During those years abroad Bates was immersed in the contemporary art scene in England; he exhibited extensively; he travelled the continent visiting museums and sketching; he joined the British Territorial Army at the outset of WWII; and, ultimately, was a prisoner of war for 5 years.

The period that immediately followed, from 1946 to 1949, was a period of post-war adjustment, stability, reestablishment, and a time of reconnection with the Calgary arts community, which was now more progressive and accepting. Bates connected with old friends (particularly W. L. Stevenson and John Snow), and made new ones (like Jock MacDonald, the new director of the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art). He joined the Calgary Group of Artists, the Canadian Society of Graphic Art, and the Alberta Society of Artists. This was a busy time, marked by support and encouragement. Even though Bates had rejoined his father’s architectural firm, and this would become his primary profession until 1961, he continued to paint extensively. He had his first Canadian solo exhibition in 1947, at Canadian Art Galleries, followed by a show in Vancouver and Saskatoon. He taught evening classes in life drawing, and children’s art classes at the Institute. Bates again left Calgary, briefly, during late 1949 and 1950 to marry his first wife, Mae, in her native New York, and to study at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

This work, painted during those post-war years in Calgary, depicts a street scene from the Connaught neighbourhood in which Bates grew up, and where he once again lived during this time. The view is to the north of Bates’ home, and while the houses have recently been torn down, the top right quadrant appears to show part of the old Wesley United Church, now home to the Calgary Opera.

Notes:

signed, titled & editioned
MBL202

This woodcut is illustrated on p. 139 of “The Tranquility and the Turbulence: The Life and Work of Walter J. Phillips” (Roger Boulet; M.B. Loates Publishing Ltd.; 1981). Phillips also produced a watercolour of the same title, which is reproduced, opposite the print, on p. 138.

In 1928, the Hudson Bay Company commissioned Phillips to produce drawings of York boats. This undertaking had the added effect of rekindling in Phillips his interest in some of the lakeside villages of Manitoba. He began to sketch them, later using these sketches to produce watercolours and woodcuts. On one such sketching trip that began in Gimli, Phillips describes his impressions of this scene (pp. 114-15):

One day, dodging the raindrops, we drove north. We reached Hnausa, an inconsiderable hamlet, and left the highroad seeking the lake. We came upon it suddenly, and stopped by a gushing spring just short of a long angular pier. The plank causeway, relieved by occasional bollards, made straight for the horizon, changing its mind after 50 yards and turning to the right like a bending arm. There was a shack at the point where it ended abruptly.

This breakwater embraced a handsome lake steamer, a pure white craft with the high super-structure common to its kind, and seeming top-heavy to those who are accustomed to go down to the sea, instead of to the lake, in ships. There was no sign of life either on the boat or on the pier. In fact the prospect was singularly lonely.

The scene was an extraordinarily good arrangement, considered pictorially. Its beauty was apparent to the whole party, not all of whom were artists…the pathos of the scene was overwhelming. It was such a little boat, such a vast and empty setting.”

Notes:

signed lower left

Notes:

signed lower right; signed & titled verso (73-M-35)

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signed lower right; titled verso

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signed lower right; signed & titled verso

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signed & dated lower right; titled on a label verso; personal inscription on the backing verso

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signed, titled, dated & editioned
Literature: “Joe Fafard” (Terrence Heath; Douglas & McIntyre; 2008)

During the 1990’s Fafard grew more interested in experimentation and innovation. He became fascinated by relief sculpture, and flat forms. During this time, Fafard created a number of laser-cut steel pieces that were an extension of his “drawing in space” work, where free-standing figures of cows and horses were cut out and manipulated using a three-dimensional approach, ultimately resembling a line drawing. The resulting effect seemed to integrate elements of both printmaking and sculpture.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts mounted an extensive retrospective of Joe Fafard’s work in 1996. In 2007, Fafard was again honoured with a retrospective exhibition organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada. The artist passed away recently, leaving behind an important body of work that spans more than half a century. Fafard’s focus on prairie imagery, and success on a national and international stage, has been instrumental in raising Saskatchewan’s artistic profile.

Notes:

signed lower right
Provenance: Aggregation Gallery, Toronto ON

Notes:

signed lower right