131 SIR FREDERICK GRANT BANTING HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE 47 ESTIMATE: $12,000 ~ 16,000

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1 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE SIR FREDERICK GRANT BANTING 1891 ~ 1941 Village in Winter oil on panel, signed 7 7/8 x 10 1/3 in, 20 x 26.2 cm Given by Frederick Banting to Harold and Ruth Tovell (nee Massey), Toronto, circa late 1920s ~ early 1930s By descent to the present Private Collection, Colorado At the University of Toronto, Frederick Banting was a medical colleague of Dr. Harold M. Tovell, to whom he gave this work. Dr. Tovell married Ruth Massey of the Harris/Massey family, and Dentonia Farm, their large property in Toronto, became a centre of Canadian culture and art. The Tovells were patrons of the Group of Seven, and Arthur Lismer and A.Y. Jackson sketched at this farm on weekends, as did Banting. Village in Winter was displayed at Dentonia. In the evolution of renowned medical researcher Banting into a fine painter, his great friend, Group of Seven artist A.Y. Jackson, played a prominent role. They made many painting trips together to archetypal 131 Quebec towns such as the one portrayed in this richly atmospheric sketch. Jackson shared his knowledge gained through travels to Europe and his hearty enjoyment of these rural communities. Village in Winter captures the rustic charm of the simple, brightly painted houses with strong brush~strokes, boldly using the exposed wood panel to define form. Ultimately, Banting became an important participant in the fresh, direct approach to landscape painting led by the Group that changed Canadian art forever. ESTIMATE: $12,000 ~ 16,000

2 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE 48 PROPERTY OF A CANADIAN PHILANTHROPIST 132

3 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE DAVID BROWN MILNE CGP CSGA CSPWC 1882 ~ 1953 verso 132 Reflections I, Boston Corners, NY / Slate Hill and Green Fields (verso) double~sided watercolour on paper, dated Sept. 26, 1916 / May 10, 1916 (verso) 15 3/8 x 19 1/2 in, 39 x 49.5 cm Douglas Duncan Picture Loan Society, Toronto Morris Gallery, Toronto, 1972 Damkjar~Burton Gallery, Burlington, Ontario, 1972 R.M. MacKenzie, St. Catherines, Ontario, 1972 Marlborough~Godard, Toronto Acquired from the above by the present Private Collector, Toronto, 1976 LITERATURE: Canadian Classics, Morris Gallery, 1972, reproduced, unpaginated London Collects 2, London Art Gallery, 1976 Heather Bruce, The David Milne Cameo Exhibition, London Regional Art Gallery, 1982 David P. Silcox, Painting Place: The Life and Work of David B. Milne, 1996, page 127 David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings Volume 1: 1882 ~ 1928, 1998, reproduced page 176, catalogue #107.62, Slate Hill and Green Fields reproduced page 160, catalogue #107.1 EXHIBITED: Morris Gallery, Toronto, Canadian Classics, October 21 ~ November 4, 1972 London Art Gallery, London Collects 2, September 4 ~ 26, 1976, titled as Reflection, catalogue #29 London Regional Art Gallery, The David Milne Cameo Exhibition, July 16 ~ September 12, 1982, titled as Band of Reflections This double~sided watercolour reveals much about David Milne s genius, most notably the rapidity of his aesthetic evolution when he was confronted with subjects with which he could fully engage. The earlier painting on verso, Slate Hill and Green Fields, dated May 10, 1916, is one of the first works that Milne executed in Boston Corners. Dissatisfied with his life in New York City, Milne had traveled to the area with his friend James Clarke to find a suitable rural setting which would provide good painting, yet be within easy reach of New York by railway. Boston Corners became the centre of Milne s painting life immediately. Indeed, Milne was so eager to begin painting that he rented a house and moved in the same day, leaving it to his wife back in the city to gather their possessions for the move! The bold use of colour and simple shapes, such as the contrasting tree silhouettes, continues the work that he had begun in New York, but the sheer visual punch of this early Boston Corners work suggests his exhilaration at his new subject matter. The subject is a pastoral one but the image scintillates visually. His skill at convincing us of the rightness of his vision is seen in the tree to the left, the branches of which change colour when they are seen against the open sky. Milne has used only four colours ~ grey, blue, green and black, together with the white of the paper ~ but the work is far from dull, being filled with a vital energy. As Milne began to explore the area which was to be his home for the next two years, his approach to the use of watercolour also changed. A number of early New York works, of which The Defiant Maple, 1909 ~ 1910, is the most well known, suggest that Milne had long been fascinated with the subject of reflections, and Boston Corners allowed him access to a number of ponds, which enabled further exploration of the subject. The still surface of the water often mirrored perfectly the forms of the shore landscape, yet there were differences in texture. Milne experimented with ways to record this textural difference and began to use washes ~ both clear and tinted ~ on top of the water areas of his images. As he later wrote, The adventure in these pool pictures was one of texture, of contrast between the harsh, clear~cut colour and line of trees and contours, and the intimate combination of the two in the reflections. As the catalogue raisonné has noted, Reflections I, Boston Corners, NY, painted on September 26, 1916, is the earliest dated Boston Corners image which uses a tinted wash. The effects of this intimate combination of forms are both subtle and poetic. Always ready to challenge our assumptions visually, Milne has made the greater part of the reflection give us a view of the tops of the trees which are cut off on the shore. This idea of textural shift, which Milne would continue to elaborate on, produced some of his most beautiful watercolours ~ for example, Bishop s Pond, 1916, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. This double~sided painting encompasses, therefore, the beginnings of two vital aspects of Milne s artistic career ~ the discovery of the landscape of the Boston Corners area as a new subject and the explorations of the pool pictures. It is a remarkable and important work for understanding Milne s development as an artist. The consignor will donate the proceeds from the sale of this work to Canadian charities. ESTIMATE: $30,000 ~ 50,000

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5 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE DAVID BROWN MILNE CGP CSGA CSPWC 1882 ~ 1953 Green Hillside, Boston Corners, NY oil on canvas, signed and dated May 9, 1920 and on verso titled on the Marlborough~Godard label 18 x 22 in, 45.7 x 55.9 cm Marlborough~Godard, Toronto Acquired from the above by the present Private Collector, Toronto, 1976 LITERATURE: David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings Volume 1: 1882 ~ 1928, 1998, reproduced page 280, catalogue # One of the most striking aspects of David Milne s artistic career is the way that two radically different media can parallel, complement or transform each other as he worked concurrently. Between December of 1918 and August of 1919, Milne, working as an artist for the Canadian War Records program, produced a remarkable group of over 100 watercolours. Often working at great speed, Milne was forced to adapt his use of watercolour, and evolved an approach which used very little water. These dry~brush images transformed his work on paper. When Milne returned to North America and his home in Boston Corners, New York, he sought to bring this approach to painting watercolours into his work with oil paint. Not surprisingly, the earliest oils produced upon his return to Boston Corners are quite similar to the last works which he produced before his military service. Gradually, however, the spare quality of the line, which he developed during his time in Europe, began to inform his oil paintings. The brush was used as a drawing tool, and although colour and texture remained of great importance to Milne, he eschewed painterly flourishes such as heavy impasto. The landscape around Boston Corners continued to inspire him, as it had done before the war, but he now saw it more analytically. This series of paintings are amongst Milne s most intimate and evocative depictions of the landscape. Works such as Green Hillside, Boston Corners, NY might be said to have been more drawn than painted, but this is in no way a bad thing. Milne s technique allowed him to use colour and line in subtle and delicate ways. While the subject, a house set in a wooded area at the foot of a rocky, sparsely wooded hillside with the sky above, is quite simple, the image Milne has produced is an immensely complex one. Never an artist to shy away from aesthetic adventure, Milne has presented himself with a remarkable series of challenges. Firstly, he used a very small palette of colours ~ blue, green, brown, grey and the white of the canvas primer ~ to depict everything ~ rock, foliage, branches, house and sky. Secondly, his application of the paint is remarkably consistent, despite the considerable variations of texture and form that these objects would have in the real world. In other words, he has employed great artifice to depict the natural world. Finally, he has chosen a subject which, when one describes it, seems to hold relatively little visual interest. It is a measure of his skill that, despite imposing dramatic restrictions on himself, he has produced a visually rich and vibrant depiction of the landscape which delights the eye. The image is busy, but never frantic, and quiet, but never still. The eye moves from one patch of colour and texture to another and gradually we see the topography of the hillside, the patterns of the trees and the shape of the compositional space emerge. It is a painting that arrests our attention quickly, but reveals richness and subtlety the longer we look. On the verso of this work is a graphite drawing of a Boston Corners landscape. The consignor will donate the proceeds from the sale of this work to Canadian charities. ESTIMATE: $70,000 ~ 90,000

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7 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE LAWREN STEWART HARRIS ALC BCSFA CGP FCA G7 OSA RPS 1885 ~ 1970 Algoma Landscape oil on canvas, signed, circa 1950 ~ /4 x 42 in, 94.6 x cm Waddington Galleries, Toronto Acquired from the above by the present Private Collector, Toronto, 1978 The end of the First World War in 1918 was a pivotal time for Lawren Harris and his painter friends. In September of that year, Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald, Frank Johnston and their friend, physician Dr. James MacCallum, made the first of a series of boxcar sketching trips to the Algoma region of Ontario. The artists were so struck by the rich variety of subject matter that they returned the following year, this time with A.Y. Jackson, and a pattern of painting in the region was established. The sketches that Harris produced are characterized by a directness of observation and a keen appreciation for the colours of nature. These sketches became the sources for canvases which were produced later in his studio in Toronto. It is likely that it was in either 1918 or 1919 that Harris produced Algoma Sketch XLII (reproduced here). This sketch, a more realistic image than the large~scale decorative canvases he produced before the war (for example, Decorative Landscape, 1917, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada), shows us a screen of trees, some living and some dead, against a remarkably radiant sky. There is a careful balance between the strong verticals of the trees and the horizontal format of the panel, and the work is animated by flashes of brighter colour throughout the design. Not every sketch was turned into a canvas, and for whatever reason, Harris did not immediately work up this sketch into a larger composition. Although Harris is renowned as a landscape painter and was a pivotal figure in the formation of the Group of Seven, beginning in the mid~1930s he devoted most of the latter part of his career to abstraction. This move was driven by a desire to get away from anecdotal painting and to express more purely his spiritual beliefs. He did not, however, abandon the natural world, and continued to hike and sketch outdoors for much of his life. He also did not abandon landscape painting ~ many of the abstractions retain traces of the natural world and occasionally, such as in Algoma Landscape, he produced large~scale canvases later in his career. There are a number of paintings, of the Rockies and the Algoma region, where he used earlier sketches as the source for paintings produced years later. Two notable examples are a version of Isolation Peak sold at auction in 1990 and a canvas entitled Mountains, Moraine Lake, now in the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery. These later canvases have a number of characteristics that differentiate them from works of the 1920s. The support (whether board or, as in this case, canvas) is different; Lawren S. Harris Algoma Sketch XLII oil on board, circa /2 x 13 1/2 in, 28.7 x 34.3 cm In a Private Collection; not for sale with this lot the application of the paint is less reliant on impasto and more reliant on subtle shifts of colour, something that he developed in his abstractions. What remains constant, however, is a desire to refine and formalize the composition. The immediacy of the sketch has been transformed into a more cerebral and considered work of art. The changes that occur between the sketch and Algoma Landscape are subtle but striking. Reflecting his spiritual beliefs, the colours used have an evanescent quality, particularly in the sky, and there is a greater formality to the composition, which suggests that the scene is more imagined than observed. Harris retains that careful balance of horizontals and verticals found in the sketch, but there is a greater distance between the viewer and the subject ~ one that comes from years of reflection and careful thought. Harris has returned to an earlier subject, but as with other instances when this occurs, he does not try to repeat himself, but rather to produce a more contemporary variation which reflects his achievements as an artist in the intervening years. Algoma Landscape is a work which is deeply informed by both his early explorations of the Canadian landscape and his almost two decades as one of Canada s most important abstractionists. The consignor will donate the proceeds from the sale of this work to Canadian charities. ESTIMATE: $250,000 ~ 350,000

8 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE LAWREN STEWART HARRIS ALC BCSFA CGP FCA G7 OSA RPS 1885 ~ 1970 Cottage, Metis Beach, Que., Houses Group XXIX oil on panel, signed and on verso signed twice on the board and on the artist s label, titled twice on the board and on the artist s label, inscribed property Bess Harris 1943 BHC~115 / keep and with the artist s symbol and numbered variously 26 / 7 / 60, circa /8 x 14 in, 27 x 35.6 cm Bess Harris Collection, Vancouver Marlborough~Godard, Toronto Acquired from the above by the present Private Collector, Toronto, 1979 This beautiful painting of a cottage, inscribed by Lawren Harris s wife Bess as one to keep, is a fine example of his explorations of Canadian 135 architecture as a subject. Harris treated the homes and buildings that he painted as an artist treats a subject sitting for a portrait ~ indeed, his houses can be considered portraits of what they represent: the people who inhabit them, the activities that are conducted in them, in whatever state they may be in. He delved more deeply into the structure than the surface and shape ~ he wished to get to the essential character of his homes and buildings. In this depiction of a pleasant Quebec cottage, Harris portrayed a well~kept home, with a porch and gabled roof in contrasting red and white. Framed by blossoming green trees, the scene is absolutely still, and the closed door, shuttered windows and sharply angled shadows emphasize this stillness. Harris s buildings are filled with socially conscious messages; he was keenly aware of the difference between classes, and thus his architectural works can be seen as allegories of Canadian society. The consignor will donate the proceeds from the sale of this work to Canadian charities. ESTIMATE: $90,000 ~ 120,000

9 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE DAVID BROWN MILNE CGP CSGA CSPWC 1882 ~ 1953 Ossington Street watercolour on paper, signed and dated 1939 and on verso inscribed by Douglas Duncan W ~ / / 139 / 141 / Ossington St. / Summer 1939 and inscribed by the Duncan estate x 14 in, 25.4 x 35.6 cm Marlborough~Godard, Toronto Acquired from the above by the present Private Collector, Toronto, 1976 LITERATURE: David Milne Jr., David Milne, The Toronto Year, 1939 ~ 1940, Marlborough~Godard, 1976, reproduced front cover, listed page 11 David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings Volume 2: 1929 ~ 1953, 1998, reproduced page 698, catalogue # EXHIBITED: Marlborough~Godard, Toronto, David Milne, The Toronto Year, 1939 ~ 1940, January 1976, reproduced front cover, catalogue #5 After six years in a small cabin on Six Mile Lake in the Ontario wilderness, David Milne was feeling his isolation, and in July 1939 moved to Toronto, remaining there until August of During this year, he painted from pencil sketches drawn on walks in the city, recording urban scenes ranging from cathedrals to rowhouses on Ossington Street, as well as his apartment interior. After a hiatus of 12 years from watercolour painting, Milne resumed using this medium in 1937, and it was his focus in Toronto. A subtle shift took place in his work ~ the watercolours had a new softness and freedom. Contributing to this was a joyous change in Milne s personal life that came with his new relationship with Kathleen Pavey. Ossington Street is a fine Toronto scene, highlighted by warm colours and lively conversation, and was featured on the cover of Marlborough~Godard s exhibition catalogue for David Milne, The Toronto Year, 1939 ~ The consignor will donate the proceeds from the sale of this work to Canadian charities. ESTIMATE: $15,000 ~ 20,000

10 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE 56 PROPERTY OF VARIOUS COLLECTORS 137

11 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE ALEXANDER YOUNG (A.Y.) JACKSON ALC CGP G7 OSA RCA RSA 1882 ~ 1974 North Shore, Quebec oil on canvas, signed and on verso inscribed Dr. Stanley Campbell on the stretcher, circa /4 x 26 1/4 in, 56.5 x 66.7 cm A gift from the Artist to Dr. Stanley Minto Campbell, Toronto By descent to the present Private Collection, Ontario LITERATURE: A.Y. Jackson, A Painter s Country: The Autobiography of A.Y. Jackson, 1958, page 132 It was a fateful moment for A.Y. Jackson on a late September day in 1913, when Dr. James MacCallum docked his motorboat on the shore near the cabin Jackson frequented in Georgian Bay. Dr. MacCallum asked what his plans were for the impending winter, and quickly offered him a year s expenses and a free studio in the artist s space he was building with Lawren Harris in Toronto. This turn of events led Jackson on a path very few Canadian painters would have the privilege of experiencing. From coast to coast, Jackson painted with vigour and sentiment the very heart of our Canadian landscape. He journeyed from the Arctic passageways to the shores of Lake Superior, Algoma, Georgian Bay and throughout Quebec. There was a vast amount of territory to depict, and he captured its grandness, beauty and scale in both his panels and oil canvases. What Dr. MacCallum did for Jackson and the Group of Seven was extremely important. Not only did he financially support these artists, he also sought to help these talented men establish a base of collectors who would support them well into their careers. One such gentleman and colleague was Dr. Stanley Campbell, the first head of Anesthesia at the Toronto General Hospital and a graduating classmate of Dr. Frederick Banting at the University of Toronto. Dr. Campbell s interest in art was sparked by patrons of the Group of Seven and also by Jackson directly. The artist was a patient at Dr. Campbell s general practice in North Toronto. Jackson gave two small oil panels to his doctor for medical services rendered in the early 1930s. Dr. Campbell and his wife Jean were so taken with these charming works that they collected numerous canvases throughout the next decade. North Shore, Quebec was the first of these subsequent acquisitions and was a favourite of Dr. Campbell s wife. In this classic Jackson Quebec winter scene, the turquoise blue and white snow tinged with ribbons of pink and the pool of melted water point to an early day in March, when a first thaw hints of spring s renewal. A family member recalls Jean Campbell entering Jackson s studio and gravitating to this canvas on the wall. One can imagine such a scene in Jackson s studio, where, as Jackson describes, there was a big easel which was supposed to have belonged to Tom Thomson. A pair of West Coast snowshoes, an Indian mask and prints of paintings by Paul Cézanne and Vincent Van Gogh served as decorations. It was a small network of doctors who would become some of the first mainstream collectors of the Group of Seven. They supported the artists and fostered the idea of national identity and the distinctiveness of Canadian landscape through their collecting. Dr. Campbell acquired this work directly from the artist, after which it passed by descent through the family ~ thus it is the first time it has been offered for sale since it left the artist s studio. ESTIMATE: $100,000 ~ 150,000

12 HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE CORNELIUS DAVID KRIEGHOFF 1815 ~ 1872 The Artist and His Friends oil on canvas, signed and dated indistinctly x 14 in, 30.5 x 35.6 cm Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal Private Collection, Montreal Private Collection, Vancouver LITERATURE: J. Russell Harper, Krieghoff, 1979, similar oil on canvas entitled The Game of Cards reproduced page 33 When Cornelius Krieghoff painted this charming scene in 1849, he had firmly established himself in Montreal. At this stage in his career he was producing interior scenes of remarkable charm and character. He had 138 mastered the play of light in a darkened room and was able to concentrate on the humorous interplay between characters. A similar work from 1848, A Game of Cards, is in the collection of the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa. The reason for the popularity of these paintings both at the time and today can be explained by the deft touch with which Krieghoff was able to add authentic details in the clothing, furnishings and accoutrements which are portrayed. Krieghoff was creating a fascinating record of life in French Canada. However, this rare painting is not just a record of any group of habitants. By using his friends as subjects and adding himself into the scene, Krieghoff has made a truly historic painting. In studying this work it is worthwhile to view a near~contemporary photograph, C. Krieghoff & Friends, 1856, in the Notman Photographic Archives at the McCord Museum of Canadian History in Montreal. It shows how, despite the appearance of caricature, Krieghoff has actually captured remarkable likenesses. ESTIMATE: $60,000 ~ 80,000