Joyce Wieland
Joyce Wieland
1931 - 1998
OC RCA
Joyce Wieland is widely regarded as one of Canada’s most important female artists of the twentieth century. A self-described “cultural-activist,” Wieland addressed issues of feminism and Canadian identity through her experimental use of film and mixed media.

Born in Toronto in 1931, Wieland's parents died before her tenth birthday and she was raised mainly by her older siblings. During high school, Wieland studied commercial art and graphic design, and worked as a graphic designer and film cartoonist. Wieland married artist Michael Snow in 1956. Her first solo show was held in 1958, and by 1960 she was represented by Isaacs Gallery. Wieland's early work was predominantly paintings, which reflected Abstract Expressionist influences. Her use of bold, colourful shapes, such as in the Time Machine Series (1961), has been interpreted as both pure abstraction and as alluding to female genitalia.

In 1962, Snow and Wieland moved to New York City. Influenced by the Greenwich Village’s underground film community, Wieland soon began producing her own experimental films. Her work from these years showed her interest in Pop Art and Conceptual Art. While living abroad, Wieland became increasingly disenchanted with America's political system, particularly in its treatment of the environment and its involvement in Vietnam. Wieland reflected on Canada as distinct from, and fundamentally more progressive than, the United States. In the mid-1960s, Wieland began to express her understanding of what it meant to be Canadian in her art and films. Confedspread (1967), a colourful quilt, was created in the year of Canada's centennial, and incorporated the newly inaugurated Canadian flag. In 1967, Wieland traveled across Western Canada, collecting images of the land for her first full-length film, Reason Over Passion (1968). The film, whose title is derived from a Prime Minister Elliott Trudeau speech, celebrates Canada's vast landscape, while delving into issues of bilingualism and nationalism.

In 1971, the National Gallery’s retrospective True Patriot Love became the gallery's first major exhibition devoted to the work of a living female artist. The show contained a wide variety of media - from bronze sculpture that alluded to political monuments to needlework, quilting and cake decoration. By including materials typically associated with the domestic arts and crafts, Wieland sought to challenge the traditional hierarchies of the fine art world – “I wanted to elevate and honour craft, to join women together and make them proud of what they had done,” she stated. Wieland received wide recognition for True Patriot Love, and soon after this show, Wieland and Snow returned to live in Toronto. Wieland was awarded multiple public commissions in the years following, including: a 1972 Canada Post stamp; Defend the Earth / Défendez la terre, a quilted wall mural for the National Science Library, Ottawa (1972 - 1973); Barren Ground Caribou, the quilted cloth assemblage for the Toronto Spadina Subway stop, (1977 - 1978); and The Ocean of Love, for Via Rail's Transcontinental train (1990).

In 1987, the Art Gallery of Ontario held a major traveling retrospective exhibition of Wieland's works. Wieland received the Order of Canada in 1982.
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The Battery by Joyce Wieland sold for $55,250
Joyce Wieland
The Battery
32 x 24 in, 81.3 x 61 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000 CDN
Sold for: $55,250 CDN (premium included)
Spring 2017 - 1st Session on Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Heartbreak by Joyce Wieland sold for $37,250
Joyce Wieland
Heartbreak
26 1/8 x 20 1/8 in, 66.4 x 51.1 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CDN
Sold for: $37,250 CDN (premium included)
Post-War & Contemporary Art on Wednesday, November 20, 2019
(Parade) On Lower BWY by Joyce Wieland sold for $34,250
Joyce Wieland
(Parade) On Lower BWY
40 x 30 in, 101.6 x 76.2 cm
1963
mixed media collage on canvas
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CDN
Sold for: $34,250 CDN (premium included)
Post-War & Contemporary Art on Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Plane Untitled, New York by Joyce Wieland sold for $18,880
Joyce Wieland
Plane Untitled, New York
10 1/8 x 12 in, 25.7 x 30.5 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $8,000 - $10,000 CDN
Sold for: $18,880 CDN (premium included)
Spring 2014 - 1st Session on Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Disaster in Moonlight by Joyce Wieland sold for $17,700
Joyce Wieland
Disaster in Moonlight
9 x 9 in, 22.9 x 22.9 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $12,000 - $16,000 CDN
Sold for: $17,700 CDN (premium included)
Fall 2014 - 1st Session on Thursday, November 27, 2014
Oyster Bay, Home of Teddy Roosevelt by Joyce Wieland sold for $11,800
Joyce Wieland
Oyster Bay, Home of Teddy Roosevelt
9 x 36 in, 22.9 x 91.4 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $8,000 - $12,000 CDN
Sold for: $11,800 CDN (premium included)
March 2016 - 2nd session on Thursday, March 31, 2016
Untitled by Joyce Wieland sold for $5,625
Joyce Wieland
Untitled
16 x 16 in, 40.6 x 40.6 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 CDN
Sold for: $5,625 CDN (premium included)
Made in Ontario featuring Painters Eleven on Thursday, March 25, 2021
Joyce Wieland
"Conversation Piece" with a Short on Sailing
16 x 12 in, 40.6 x 30.5 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $3,000 - $4,000 CDN
Sold for: $5,463 CDN (premium included)
September 2007 - 1st Session on Saturday, September 29, 2007
The White Snow Goose of Canada by Joyce Wieland sold for $5,000
Joyce Wieland
The White Snow Goose of Canada
5 1/2 x 4 1/4 in, 14 x 10.8 cm
machine embroidery
Estimate: $1,500 - $2,500 CDN
Sold for: $5,000 CDN (premium included)
Post-War & Contemporary Art on Thursday, September 28, 2023
Squid Jiggin' Grounds (Newfoundland Song) by Joyce Wieland sold for $5,000
Joyce Wieland
Squid Jiggin' Grounds (Newfoundland Song)
20 7/8 x 29 1/2 in, 53 x 75 cm
lithograph on paper
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 CDN
Sold for: $5,000 CDN (premium included)
Editions & Multiples on Thursday, March 27, 2025