Sold for: $49,250

PROVENANCE
Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal
Private Estate, Montreal
Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, Thursday, November 25, 2021, lot #309

Joe Fafard often created portraits of people he admired, including friends, family members, politicians, and fellow artists, working from memory (for those he was most familiar with) or photographs to create evocative portraits and caricatures. The artists he chose to depict were ones who he felt an affinity towards, those who would influence or share his particular aesthetic methods, or who he simply admired. For Emily Carr, Fafard’s interest is likely twofold: for one, her significant contribution to the history of Canadian Art, and more succinctly, her affinity for animals. As a frequent animal portraitist, Fafard surely sympathised with this second point. Carr was an avid animal lover, and over the course of her life had a variable menagerie of creatures: dogs, parrots, rats and a monkey, to name a few. While running a boarding house in Victoria, BC, she raised and sold puppies in order to bring in additional income. Fafard has chosen to depict the artist in this context. Sitting on an abbreviated set of stairs, Carr holds in her lap a small dog, which strains against her arm. The painter is wearing furred shoes and a worn coat against the cold, and her skin is rendered in rosy, lifelike tones. She comforts the dog and holds it close while it looks (maybe a little apprehensively) out at the world. The overall impression is one of warm familiarity, as Fafard renders the artist at her most personable. Fafard’s interest in Carr was enduring, and he produced several portraits of her over the course of his life - nearly all of which would feature the painter’s myriad pets as well.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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