Please note our offices will be closed from Friday March 29 through Monday April 1 for Easter. Local pick-ups will start on Tuesday April 2.
ONLINE AUCTION
Canadian Prints
4th session

June 01 - June 29, 2023

LOT DETAILS
         
         
         
         

This session is closed for bidding.
Current bid: $3,000 CAD
Bidding History
Paddle # Date Amount

21384 29-Jun-2023 04:02:37 PM $3,000 AutoBid

10173 29-Jun-2023 04:02:37 PM $2,750

21384 29-Jun-2023 04:01:16 PM $2,500 AutoBid

10173 29-Jun-2023 04:01:16 PM $2,250

21384 29-Jun-2023 11:47:34 AM $2,000 AutoBid

29732 29-Jun-2023 11:47:34 AM $1,900

21384 29-Jun-2023 11:47:21 AM $1,800 AutoBid

29732 29-Jun-2023 11:47:21 AM $1,700

21384 29-Jun-2023 11:47:03 AM $1,600 AutoBid

29732 29-Jun-2023 11:47:03 AM $1,500

21384 27-Jun-2023 04:46:06 PM $1,400 AutoBid

29732 12-Jun-2023 03:16:00 PM $1,300

16760 10-Jun-2023 12:26:55 AM $1,200

872005 09-Jun-2023 12:27:17 AM $1,100

29732 04-Jun-2023 06:17:32 AM $1,000

The bidding history list updated on: Thursday, March 28, 2024 08:43:44

LOT 313

ASA CPE CSPWC RCA
1884 - 1963
Canadian

The Waterfront, Alert Bay, British Columbia
colour woodcut on Goyu paper, 1928
signed and editioned 149
6 1/4 x 9 in, 15.9 x 22.9 cm

Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 CAD

Sold for: $3,750

Preview at:

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Victoria

LITERATURE
Roger Boulet, The Tranquility and the Turbulence, 1981, same image reproduced page 98
Roger Boulet, Walter J. Phillips: The Complete Graphic Works, 1981, quote page 294, same image reproduced page 295


This woodcut was produced in an edition of 300, printed on Goyu paper from six cherry-wood blocks.

"From a technical standpoint, this print is the nearest approach to the pure tradition of Nippon, I have made as yet. Here is an outline for everthing but the distances. The clouds crept across the further hillside whilst the sketch was being made. Before they were introduced, the composition lacked balance and that particular hillside lacked interest. Such clouds are common. They were the delight and the bane of my stay in that neighbourhood. Their restlessness now disclosed unsuspected distances, now obliterated them wholly or in part, thus shifting the scene every few moments. The humidity of the air produced wonderful tones of blue in every background and a range of soft chromatic harmonies that never occur on the prairies or in the mountains.

No wonder the long and tenuous water-front of Alert Bay makes the tourist goggle-eyed. It is compact of exotic life and of strange monuments, redolent of romance. Almost next door to the cannery, which divides the Indian Village from the rest, stood the tall totem-pole house, like an engaged column in European architecture, and the spreading wings of the thunder-bird were painted on the façade. The bird's lower jaw was pivoted to open and shut: open, it disclosed an aperture through which, not so long ago, prisoners were forced to crawl, to receive a lethal blow when their heads appeared within the building. An artistic variant of walking the plank.

The board walk fronts many community houses, each with totems; between it and the sea are a few shacks, a few stores; but it is mostly open and separated only by a beach of rounded pebbles. The beach is littered with logs - white, grey and flesh-coloured - and amongst them are a few painted canoes, most graceful craft.

This is a view from the board-walk in the white quarter, looking over Johnstone Strait. The few shacks which are roofed with cedar "shakes", and the wharf, belong to an affable Chinese merchant named Jim King."


All prices are in Canadian Dollars


Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.