2019 May | Hodgins Art Auctions

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signed, titled, dated & editioned in the cast; impressed with the foundry mark
Note: Produced as an edition of 30.

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signed & editioned in the cast; titled on the artist’s plaque

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signed lower right; titled on the stretcher verso

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signed lower right; titled on the gallery label verso_
Provenance: Wynick/Tuck Gallery, Toronto ON

Doris McCarthy travelled extensively, well into her 90s. Reflecting late in life on her travels and inspirations McCarthy said:

“It is always the natural world around me that drives me to paint. I grew up loving wild country and believing that wilderness was beautiful…I travel to rural places in Canada and overseas, as well as to the sea, the mountains, the prairies, the badlands, and the high Arctic or Antarctic to get my inspiration, and especially to get the detachment from the normal responsibilities and distractions of my daily life in the city.”

Doris McCarthy was a guest at the Cloudy Ridge Ranch in 2003, painting daily en plein air, sometimes going so far as to move farmyard objects to prepare the scene she wanted. The ranch is located near Waterton Lakes National Park.

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signed lower right; signed, titled & dated on the artist’s label verso

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signed & dated lower right; titled & dated on the stretcher verso
Provenance: Gainsborough Galleries, Calgary AB

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signed lower right
Provenance: Estate of the artist.

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signed & titled verso

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signed lower right; bears title verso
Provenance: Estate of the artist

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signed, titled & dated verso
Provenance: Roberts Gallery, Toronto ON

As early as 1896, J. E. H. MacDonald began exploring the vast 400 acre High Park located in Toronto’s West End. The park, with its rich natural reserve, served as a prime location for the artist to observe and record, with subject matter that included dense forest, grassland, an abundance of native species, and the impressive Grenadier pond.

This area held a sentimental history for MacDonald as well. Following his honeymoon in 1899, MacDonald and his new wife rented a cottage nearby on Quebec Avenue, two years later building a family home on the same street. It was here that his son, artist Thoreau MacDonald, was born. From his home on Quebec Ave, MacDonald would walk to the park, sketch book and paints in hand.

In 1907, upon returning from a trip to England, MacDonald became head designer of Grip Limited, the same year that Tom Thomson joined the firm. The two artists spent much time together discussing materials, techniques, and locations. MacDonald’s and Thompson’s works from this formative period share similarities, as both artists were seeking to define their personal style. In 1911, MacDonald exhibited a number of sketches, many painted in High Park. The show was so well received that MacDonald left his job at Grip to freelance, so that he could spend more time on his painting. In response to the exhibition, Lawren Harris was struck by the particularly Canadian subject matter and technique. A. Y. Jackson, who met MacDonald around this time, would later write that MacDonald “was probably the first to dream of a school of painting in Canada that would realize the wealth of motifs we had around us”. (p. 29 “A Painter’s Country, The Autobiography of A.Y. Jackson”; Clarke, Irwin & Company Ltd.; 1958″. There is no doubt that the early years that J. E. H. MacDonald spent sketching in and around High Park had a profound effect on the artist;s development; this early work helped him to forge the connection between art and the land, a connection that would go on to define Canadian art.