Skeena Series G acrylic on canvas, on verso signed, titled on the stretcher, dated September 1971 and inscribed NY 34 x 34 in, 86.3 x 86.

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1 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE TAKAO TANABE OC 1926 ~ Skeena Series A acrylic on canvas, on verso signed, titled, dated October 1971 and inscribed New York, City on the stretcher and NY on the canvas 34 x 34 in, 86.3 x 86.3 cm Acquired directly from the Artist by the present Private Collection, Calgary Takao Tanabe is extremely familiar with the British Columbian landscape; as the son of a commercial fisherman, Tanabe spent his summers at fishing camps on the Skeena River. Both Skeena Series A and Skeena Series G are excellent examples of the non~representational landscape works that Tanabe produced while in New York from 1969 to During this period, he experimented with flat and hardened edges to achieve geometric abstraction. In both pieces, the crisp colours and curvature of the corners pay homage to the Skeena River of his native province while embracing the abstract energies of New York. ESTIMATE: $8,000 ~ 12, TAKAO TANABE OC 1926 ~ Skeena Series G acrylic on canvas, on verso signed, titled on the stretcher, dated September 1971 and inscribed NY 34 x 34 in, 86.3 x 86.3 cm Acquired directly from the Artist by the present Private Collection, Calgary ESTIMATE: $8,000 ~ 12,000 19

2 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE RODOLPHE (JAURAN) DE REPENTIGNY LP 1926 ~ 1959 Sans titre oil on canvas on board, x 18 1/8 in, 55.9 x 46 cm Estate of the Artist EXHIBITED: L Échourie, Montreal, Plasticiens, February 11 ~ March 2, 1955 Le Musée des beaux~arts de Sherbrooke, Plasticiens, June 24 ~ September 4, In the 1950s, the Plasticiens decided to propose a compelling alternative to Automatism. Influenced by Piet Mondrian s Neoplasticism and European geometric abstraction, Montreal s Plasticiens ~ Rodolphe de Repentigny (known as Jauran), Louis Belzile, Jean~Paul Jérôme and Fernand Toupin ~ wanted to liberate painting from any expressionistic heaviness and create a new spatial language and aesthetics through their rigorous use of the pure plastic elements of tone, texture, form and line. Similar to Borduas s role in the Automatists, but through a different artistic approach, Jauran was truly the artist~theoretician who led the Plasticien movement, having written the manifesto in The shift signalled by Jauran and the Plasticiens is considered to be the second important event in Quebec s contemporary art history which paved the way for its post~1955 artistic evolution. ESTIMATE: $10,000 ~ 15,000

3 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN AANFM RCA 1923 ~ 1999 Élégie criblée de gris no. 6 oil on canvas, signed and on verso signed, titled and dated x 120 in, x cm Waddington & Gorce Inc., Montreal Private Collection, Montreal LITERATURE: Constance Naubert~Riser, Jean McEwen, Colour in Depth, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1987, page 49 Jean McEwen s paintings illustrate that colour cannot be read as a two~dimensional element, as exemplified in Élégie criblée de gris no. 6. This fine work is from his Elegy series which he began in McEwen dedicated his career to exploring the qualities of colour. As seen in this work, with its double~depth effect, McEwen attempts to provide a structure for his colours as a means of exposing the intensity intrinsic to the colours themselves. Constance Naubert~Riser states that McEwen s works contain effects of depth that push the possibilities offered by the medium to their very limits. To create his paintings, McEwen would coat successive layers of opaque pigment on top of one another, which blended together seamlessly to create a sense of chromatic beauty. His layers of paint stretch almost to the edges of the canvas and pull back slightly in the corners to reveal the depth embedded within the colour fields. ESTIMATE: $20,000 ~ 30,000 21

4 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE 30 22a 22b 22 ULYSSE COMTOIS 1931 ~1999 Two Works a) Silhouette oil on board, signed and dated 1964 and on verso signed, titled and dated 12 x 10 in, 30.5 x 25.4 cm b) Untitled Sculpture oil on wood, stamped with the artist s signature 10 x 7 1/2 x 6 in, 25.4 x 19 x 15.2 cm Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal; Private Collection, Toronto The painting Silhouette and the accompanying untitled sculpture are clearly bound by a shared aesthetic vision, and are also linked by a shared history. Before the sale of the painting was completed some time in 1964, Mira Godard, the owner of Galerie Agnès Lefort since 1962, suggested that the purchaser consider having both works since they seemed to belong together ~ and happily, he agreed. The bright and playful application of colour on both the painting and its three~dimensional companion invite us to view the two works as siblings or romantic partners in the midst of what might either be a lively conversation or a stubborn stand~off. The bright stripes applied to the unexpected curves of the carved wood form invest it with a personality to match that of the abstract figure that boldly emerges from the painting s blue and green backdrop. These two works confirm Ulysse Comtois s equal skills as painter and sculptor and point out the consistency of style and content he could convey in different media. ESTIMATE: $5,000 ~ 7,000

5 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE JEAN~PAUL ARMAND MOUSSEAU AANFM AUTO CAS QMG 1927 ~ 1991 Suspended Lamp fibreglass and coloured resin light fixture, signed and dated x 19 x 18 in, 81.3 x 48.3 x 45.7 cm Estate of Andrée Lavigne~Trudeau, Montreal LITERATURE: Pierre Landry et al, Mousseau, Musée d art contemporain de Montréal, 1996, similar works reproduced pages 110, 111 and 112 Towards the end of the 1950s, Jean~Paul Mousseau took a new direction in his artistic approach. After 20 years of painting, Mousseau wanted to go beyond the limits of the opacity of paint and the support of canvas. This decision was certainly very audacious for the artist, and the innovations that resulted were impressively modern and in sync with the cultural revolution of the time. Mousseau became involved in different collaborative projects: set design for the theatre, architectural murals and design art in schools, metro stations, corporate and government buildings and restaurants, to name only a few. Throughout his career, from the Automatist period until the multidisciplinary projects of the 1960s, the notion of light had always been at the core of his work, probably more so than the notion of space. The light fixtures Mousseau created during this time are an integral part of his creative and modern energy and his will to explore even more the artistic possibilities of light and colour. The fibreglass and coloured resin light fixtures became true light sculptures, combining the utilitarian and the aesthetic. ESTIMATE: $8,000 ~ 10,000

6 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE RITA LETENDRE ARCA OC QMG 1928 ~ Épopée barbare oil on canvas, signed and dated 1962 and on verso signed, titled, dated and inscribed Paris ~ /2 x 31 7/8 in, 64.8 x 81 cm Galerie Camille Hébert, Montreal, inventory #RL 10 Private Collection, Montreal Rita Letendre s early association with the Automatist movement produced remarkable works such as Épopée barbare, with layers of thick paint that have been applied and then scraped away and reapplied, almost as if they have been molded on the canvas. This gestural application of bold colour characterizes her early work, of which this is a prime example. The final result ~ the painting itself ~ was the goal, not the painting s subject or form or any sort of preconceived idea. For Letendre, the act of painting was the primary and only objective. She often worked with black, here using orange~yellow and blue together with it which, by virtue of being mixed on the canvas, adds a rich, inky green. The 1960s were a time of recognition for her work, and Letendre was the focus of a solo show at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in She has since exhibited widely across Canada as well as internationally. In 1962, Letendre traveled to Europe, visiting Paris, Rome and then Israel. She continued to paint during this time, as we see from the Paris ~ 1962 inscription on this work. ESTIMATE: $20,000 ~ 30,000 24

7 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE GORDON APPELBE SMITH BCSFA CGP CPE OC RCA 1919 ~ SA 13 Landscape oil on canvas, signed and on verso titled, circa /2 x 30 in, 64.8 x 76.2 cm LITERATURE: Ian M. Thom and Andrew Hunter, Gordon Smith: The Act of Painting, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1997, a similar circa 1966 canvas entitled Blue Still Life reproduced page 83 Gordon Smith is one of Canada s most important early modernist painters; his work has always existed in a procession of evolutionary styles. His period of abstraction began after he studied with abstract painter Elmer Bischoff at the California School of Fine Arts in Seeing American Abstract Expressionists such as Clyfford Still caused him to examine the qualities of paint itself, and he immersed himself in colour, texture and brushwork. A new direction emerged in 1965 that incorporated bold colour and a dynamic tension between forms and lines that expanded from the center and encountered the limitation of the edge of the canvas. These works, of which this is an outstanding example, were imbued with a kind of nervous energy, activated by a vivid colour palette that included brilliant reds, blues and greens. Explosive central forms hovered on rich colour fields as Smith painted with a daring eloquence. An initiatory 1965 oil from this group entitled Red Wizard, Red was reproduced in Time magazine. In 1966, a retrospective of Smith s work was mounted at the University of British Columbia Fine Arts Gallery, including works from this series, further establishing Smith s importance in British Columbia s artistic community. ESTIMATE: $20,000 ~ 30,000 25

8 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE JEAN~PAUL RIOPELLE AUTO CAS OC QMG RCA SCA 1923 ~ 2002 Sans titre oil on canvas, signed and dated 1955 and on verso signed 44 3/4 x 57 1/4 in, x cm Acquired directly from the Artist by A.R. Laing (Laing Galleries), Toronto Lawrence T. Porter, St. Andrews East, Quebec Sold sale of The Collection of the late Lawrence T. Porter, St. Andrews East, Quebec, Joyner Fine Art Inc., November 25, 1987, lot #27 Private Collection, Ontario LITERATURE: G. Blair Laing, Memoirs of an Art Dealer, 1979, pages 210 and 211 Yseult Riopelle, Jean Paul Riopelle Catalogue Raisonné, Volume II, 2004, reproduced full page colour page 213, catalogue # H.1955 EXHIBITED: Centre culturel de Lachute, Quebec, Centennial Exhibition, 1967 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Another major Jean~Paul Riopelle at Heffel! Another surprise! This work was originally acquired from Laing Galleries in Toronto by Lawrence T. Porter, an important early collector of modern Canadian art. Sans titre is typical of Riopelle s so~called mosaic style. Warm in tone, opened at the top by an unexpected yellow sky, this rather dark painting in brown and black remained a Sans titre. Admittedly, there is something frustrating in this habit of many modern artists to leave their work untitled, or to call them simply Painting, or Composition. Riopelle was particularly prone to this, even allowing critics or friends to give titles to his paintings. It seems to imply that these images, as moving or powerful as they are, are without content, or are Pictures of Nothing, to quote the title of a series of lectures given in 2003 by John Kirk Varnedoe, Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the same breath, we are told that it is a bad habit to look for content in an abstract painting, as bad as finding subject matter in music. In fact, is it so? The ancient Greeks used to distinguish between praxis and poesis to designate two different ways to produce something. In the case of praxis, the thing produced was simply the product of a will to produce, without regard to a possible meaning of the form of the object, or for that matter, to the need of the spectator to understand what it was all about. The key word here is the will, or the desire to produce. The only justification of such a thing is that it reflects the will of its maker. Poesis was a different concept. The thing produced by poesis was intended to express something, to have a meaning, to speak to the spectator. In poesis, the content was important. Poesis aspired to unveil a truth, to manifest an aspect of the world shared both by the artist and the spectator. At the same time, poesis was contributing to the creation of a world, in the sense of a spiritual world, of a culture, of a way to perceive and enjoy the world around us. Even if it may seem paradoxical, many figurative paintings could be defined as the typical product of praxis. Their content is not really important; they serve only the ego of the one who produced it, and they do not add much to our understanding of the world around us. A pure imitation of a scene does not reveal much more than the scene itself! It is true that it detaches the spectator from the scene and gives him the opportunity to study it at leisure, but at the price of losing a grip on the experience of the actual scene. On the other hand many abstract paintings, like this magnificent Riopelle, could be defined as the product of poesis. In fact, its surge towards light, its joyful celebration of the early sun that puts an end to the darkness of the night, is more meaningful, has more content, than many superficial figurative paintings which are only anecdotal or purely decorative. In Riopelle s Sans titre, it is our world which is manifested, unveiled. After all, the word for truth in Greek was alètheia, meaning unveiling. It is well known that Riopelle never attached too much importance to the distinction between figurative and non~figurative art. He had indeed often crossed the border in one direction and the other. Our Sans titre is more on the side of abstract art, even of what in France was called abstraction lyrique, as opposed to geometric abstraction. But one knows of many figurative paintings, in particular an extensive bestiary, by Riopelle. In fact, one could say that in this Sans titre what we hear is a voice, not words about this or that, but the mighty voice of nature, the voice of every morning on the Earth. Not for nothing was so much brown, dark red and black ~ the colours of the earth ~ introduced here. At the same time, no direct clues are given of the exact intention of the painter. The extraordinary thing is that through this voice we also hear the voice of the painter. Each stroke of the palette knife is witness to his presence. Each stroke of paint represents a decision, and a risk overcome. Riopelle was known to work in a single session with his big paintings, in the

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10 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE 36 Pollock, Franz Kline or Riopelle just threw their paint at the canvas. We are left with a wall of paint which is also a window open on the world around us. Riopelle always refused to choose between these two paradigms of modern art. The first one, as we know, was suggested by Honoré de Balzac in his short story The Unknown Masterpiece of 1831, which tells of young Nicolas Poussin and François Porbus s visit to the old master Frenhofer, who complained about having worked ten years on a painting without succeeding in giving life to it. When he showed it to his visitors, they were astounded to see nothing but a wall of paint, where a foot in the bottom of the composition was the only recognizable object. The painting seen as a window open on the world, on the other hand, is a metaphor as old as the Renaissance, since one finds it in Leon Battista Alberti s treatise Della pittura (On Painting). In the modern era, this idea was defended by the Surrealists, and by André Breton in particular. Needless to say, Riopelle was vividly aware of both paradigms. He was close enough to the Surrealists and to Breton to share their view on the idea of a window open on an indefinite vista. And as an admirer of the late Claude Monet, he could have seen a perfect example of the wall of painting mentioned by Balzac. Suffering from cataracts on both eyes and scared to death of the needed operation, Monet at the end of his life could not distinguish colour as before, and even when painting very familiar scenes in his garden at Giverny produced barely readable paintings. The result was both troubling and premonitory of the abstract revolution ahead in the works of American painters like Sam Francis, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Joan Mitchell and, of course, Riopelle himself. The result is clear in our Sans titre. It is not possible to choose between the two directions ~ both are present and in competition with each other. The wall of paint opens on tous les matins du monde ~ all the mornings of the world. We thank François~Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay. ESTIMATE: $900,000 ~ 1,200,000 Portrait de Jean~Paul Riopelle (Portrait of Jean~Paul Riopelle) circa 1947, silver print, Premo, R.O. & C., N.Y. Photograph: Maurice Perron Collection Musée national des beaux~arts du Québec greatest concentration of mind possible. Some sessions, we are told, could last up to 24 hours. There is a Robert Doisneau photograph from 1956 showing Riopelle in front of his large painting Pavane, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, with a heap of empty oil paint tubes in front of him. He smiles at the camera, and it is a triumphant smile, the smile of somebody who has tamed the risk and not lost control of the painting. Nothing is further from the truth than the idea sponsored by cartoonists that modern artists like Jackson 27 JEAN~PAUL RIOPELLE AUTO CAS OC QMG RCA SCA 1923 ~ 2002 Vieille lune oil on canvas, signed and dated 1958 and on verso signed, titled and dated on the stretcher and with three Pierre Matisse Gallery labels 23 1/4 x 28 3/4 in, 59 x 73 cm Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York Private Collection, Paris By descent to the present Private Collection, Florida LITERATURE: Guy Robert, Riopelle, Chasseur d images, 1981, page 95 Yseult Riopelle, Jean Paul Riopelle Catalogue Raisonné, Volume II, 2004, reproduced page 289, catalogue # H.1958 Jean~Paul Riopelle experimented with various methods of applying paint to canvas. Vast amounts of paint were used all at once, letting it drip and flow on the surface of the work. He used paint straight from the tube, squeezing blobs onto the canvas and trailing the tail of liquid to create ribbons of pattern. A palette knife was also utilized to trowel paint directly onto the canvas, blending colours in a simple, smooth motion. Vieille lune employs this latter technique, wherein the deepest layers of paint are blended flat, smoothing their colours together so that they recede into space. Additional colour and texture has been added in the surface marks, which have also been made with a palette knife or perhaps the pointed end of a painting knife held at varying angles to cut, swirl and slide through the paint. At this time, Riopelle began to give his work titles again, as he did here with Vieille lune (Old Moon), evoking thoughts of inky night~time colours, waxing and waning, and the daytime world as it appears obscured by the darkness of night. ESTIMATE: $100,000 ~ 150,000 27