2020 June | Hodgins Art Auctions

Notes:

signed & titled lower right and verso
Provenance: Masters Gallery, Calgary AB
Note: Fernand Toupin was one of the original signatories of the “Manifeste des Plasticiens” in 1955. The Plasticiens, were a non-figurative, avant-garde group, that rejected the spontaneous abstraction of the Automatistes, in favour of more orderly and constructed abstraction.

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monogrammed lower centre; signed, titled & dated verso
Provenance: Estate of Bill and Peggy Code, Calgary AB

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signed & dated lower right

Exhibited: The Muttart Public Art Gallery (Calgary), “Janet Mitchell Retrospective: a Celebration” (Touring Exhibition: August 28-October 14, 1995)

Provenance: Estate of Bill and Peggy Code, Calgary AB; Masters Gallery, Calgary AB (acquired from the personal collection of Janet Mitchell)

Note: This work appears in a full page illustration on page 51 of “Janet Mitchell: Life and Art”; Peggy Armstrong (Paulson); Hyperion Press Ltd.; 1990.

On pp. 45-46 of her book, the author comments on Mitchell’s experimentation and evolving imagery, stating:
“One remarkable feature of Mitchell’s early work is the periodic appearance of a painting that seems to be a foreshadowing of an idea that she explores more fully at a later stage. It is as if she stores and records visual ideas until she has reached a point in her development at which she is ready to use them….Clowns (1952) is quite a different kind of painting, but the mask-like faces seem to present a starting point for a number of paintings of figures that developed from the grass series.”

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signed lower left

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signed & dated lower left; titled on the old backing attached verso
Provenance: Kaspar Gallery, Toronto ON

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signed & dated lower right; signed, titled & dated verso

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signed lower right; titled & dated on the artist’s label verso (AZ-325)

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signed lower right
Provenance: Wallace Galleries, Calgary AB

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signed & editioned in the cast

Provenance: Estate of Bill and Peggy Code, Calgary AB

Note: Born in Kentucky in 1937, Cheek moved to Montana after serving in the U.S. Navy (1958-1963). He took on ranching jobs, while maintaining his interest in art, and participated in many art shows over the years. He was self-taught, and won his first art award at the young age of 12. Cheek was keenly interested in pioneer traditions and “Indian” life in the Old West. His early works consisted of pen and ink drawings followed by watercolors and oil paintings. In the 1970s, Cheek developed an interest in sculpting; his works – in clay, polyform, wax and wood – formed the basis for his highly recognized and acclaimed bronzes. These bronzes are found in private and public collections around the world.

Notes:

signed lower right

Provenance: Kennedy Galleries, New York NY; Former collection of Nathan Coming, Massachusetts; Former collection of George Whitney, Philadelphia PA; Private collection, Texas; Masters Gallery, Calgary AB; Private collection, Calgary AB

Exhibited: 39th Annual Exhibition of Pennsylvania Academy of Arts, “Pennsylvania Academy of Arts” (1862)

Note: This work is Illustrated in “The Kennedy Quarterly, vol. X, no. 1, June 1970” (Kennedy Galleries, New York; 1970).

Dutch-born Krieghoff travelled extensively before settling in Canada some time around 1846 when he opened his Montreal studio. He later moved his family to Quebec City in 1853. Inspired by the common scenes around him, he was one of the first artists to depict the everyday experience in mid-19th century Quebec, which he did in the romanticized fashion of the era. Known for his genre scenes, and portraits of habitants and Indigenous subjects, Krieghoff was rarely interested in painting “Indian” portraits of the type that focused on the individual subject, on his/her distinct characteristics or feelings. Instead, his images are representational and emblematic of a culture, a time, and a way of life. While not very successful during his Montreal years, his single-figure portraits became very popular with his affluent patrons, and were also accessible to buyers of more modest means. Krieghoff’s favoured motifs included basket sellers, moccasin sellers, hunters and trappers – familiar images of the Quebec countryside.