Ray John Mead Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Ray John Mead Art Value Price Guide

Jun. 27, 2024
Raymond John Mead (1921-1998), THE MEGARON, 1975
Est: $1,500 - $2,000
Raymond John Mead (1921-1998), Canadian THE MEGARON, 1975 signed and dated "75" lower centre; titled to label verso Estimate: $1,500—2,000 CAD
Waddington's
Jun. 20, 2019
Mead, Raymond John(1921-1998)-Montreal olympiques
Est: $50 - $100
Print on paper, 61/150, signed and dated on lower right 27" x 21 1/2" 68.5 x 54.6 cm
Champagne Auctions
Mar. 15, 2018
RAYMOND JOHN MEAD (1921-1998), SUMMER MADNESS VI, watercolour, 12 ins x 9 ins; 30.5 cms x 22.9 cms
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
RAYMOND JOHN MEAD (1921-1998)SUMMER MADNESS VIwatercoloursigned and dated ‘84 12 ins x 9 ins; 30.5 cms x 22.9 cms Provenance:Waddington & Gorce Inc., MontrealPrivate Collection, WindsorEstimate: $1,000–1,500
Waddington's
Sep. 21, 2017
RAYMOND JOHN MEAD, SUMMER MADNESS III, watercolour on paper, 9 ins x 12 ins; 22.9 cms x 30.5 cms
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
RAYMOND JOHN MEADSUMMER MADNESS IIIwatercolour on paper 9 ins x 12 ins; 22.9 cms x 30.5 cms Provenance:Theo Waddington Inc., MontrealPrivate Collection, QuebecEstimate: $1,000–1,500
Waddington's
Apr. 13, 2017
RAYMOND JOHN MEAD (1921-1998), UNTITLED, acrylic on paper, 32 ins x 39.5 ins; 81.3 cms x 100.3 cms
Est: -
RAYMOND JOHN MEAD (1921-1998)UNTITLEDacrylic on papersigned and dated /89 32 ins x 39.5 ins; 81.3 cms x 100.3 cms Provenance:Private Collection, CalgaryLiterature:Berlin, Mira, “Ray Mead,” in The Canadian Encyclopedia, Accessed 13 March 2017, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ray-mead/One of the founders of the groundbreaking collective Painters Eleven, Ray Mead is best known for combining the influences of the Group of Seven and their landscape paintings with the emotive modern techniques of the Abstract Expressionists. His bold, richly colored canvases are referred to as “paintscapes,” with an energetic yet contemplative character. Mead’s reductive approach developed as a result of his friendship with Hortense Gordon, one of two female Painters Eleven artists. She was a student of American artist Hans Hofmann who is famous for his interest in color and its ability to bring out and dictate form. Gordon encouraged Mead to participate in the Jubilee Year Canadian Art Show, where Mead was “singled out as representing a new direction in Canadian painting.”Estimate: $3,000–5,000
Waddington's
Nov. 21, 2016
RAYMOND JOHN MEAD, UNTITLED, watercolour, 22 ins x 29.75 ins; 54.6 cms x 72.4 cms
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
RAYMOND JOHN MEADUNTITLEDwatercoloursigned and dated ‘52 22 ins x 29.75 ins; 54.6 cms x 72.4 cms Provenance:Private Collection, OntarioPrivate Collection, British Columbia (by descent)Literature:Joan Murray, Ray Mead: The Papers (catalogue), The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, 1988, page 11-12.Note:The body of works on paper to which this work relates is a crucial record of Mead's experimentation. In such works Mead plays with media and its particular effects, with drawing, shape and colour, all with no real pre-conceived notions. Murray refers to the paper works as a "laboratory-like setting for reconstructing the development of one of Canada's major Abstract Expressionists during his formative years."The imagery in this untitled work is ambiguous or, like other works from the period, not explicit. Ray Mead used such works on paper to explore. He did not necessarily view these works as preliminary to a canvas, rather Joan Murray contends that these pictures "are complete works in themselves. Even so," she continues "(Mead) occasionally notices, as much as ten years later, images from his drawings that have flowered into the paintings." Mead trained at the famous Slade School in London before immigrating to Canada. He settled in Hamilton in 1945 where he would meet Hortense Gordon. He became good friends with Alexandra Luke and participated in the abstract painting show she organized in Oshawa prior to the Abstracts at Home exhibit where the idea for the collective first took hold (see lot 100).Estimate: $10,000–15,000
Waddington's
Nov. 24, 2014
RAYMOND JOHN MEAD, IMAGE NO. 10, oil on canvas, 30 ins x 36 ins; 76.2 cms x 91.4 cms
Est: $40,000 - $50,000
RAYMOND JOHN MEADIMAGE NO. 10oil on canvassigned and dated '54; titled on the reverse 30 ins x 36 ins; 76.2 cms x 91.4 cms Provenance:Private Collection, CanadaLiterature:Iris Nowell, Painters Eleven: The Wild Ones of Canadian Art, Douglas & McIntyre, Toronto, 2010, page 234.Note:Ray Mead treated the canvas as a single plane - eliminating any distinction between the background and the subject. Though he resisted the brand of Colour-Field painter, Mead skillfully emphasized the flatness of his paintings. "The shapes and forms on his canvases - zigzagging blocks, small blots and squiggles, assertive arrows, crescents and arches - are rendered in lively hues." Through angles and jagged blocks, pure colour - yellow, terracotta, blue - and deep black, Ray Mead created rhythm in Image No. 10.
Waddington's
Nov. 06, 2013
RAY MEADUNTITLED, watercolour on paper; signed 14 ins x 19.5 ins; 35.6 cms x 49.5 cms Note: Ray Mead was born in 1921 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. In 1939, Mead served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, and, following
Est: $1,500 - $2,000
RAY MEADUNTITLED, watercolour on paper; signed 14 ins x 19.5 ins; 35.6 cms x 49.5 cms Note: Ray Mead was born in 1921 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. In 1939, Mead served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, and, following an injury, was posted to Hamilton, Ontario, traveling to the United States to train American bomber pilots for war. Mead was exposed to American culture and the New York art scene, which brought a new freedom to his work. Mead returned to Hamilton in 1946, and developed a friendship with the artist, Hortense Gordon, who had trained with Hans Hoffman. Gordon's mentoring further supported his movement into abstract art. Mead eventually moved to Toronto, where he worked as a commercial artist and art director for an advertising agency. In his free time he created abstract and non-objective paintings in watercolors and oils. He had his first public showing of his art at the Art Gallery of Hamilton in 1948, with his second at the Art Gallery of Toronto in 1950. He joined the Ontario Society of Artists, exhibiting with the group in 1950, and developed close relationships with several of the artists, who would eventually form Painters Eleven. Over the next decade, Mead was included in fifteen Painters Eleven exhibitions, their premiere being at the Roberts Gallery in 1954. Mead also held solo shows in New York City (1955); the Isaacs Gallery, Toronto (1957); and at George Loranger's, Ottawa (1957). Mead moved to Montreal in 1958, where he continued with his painting and commercial art work. He took part in several group exhibitions at the National Gallery and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. His work is included in numerous collections, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Mead passed away in 1998.
Waddington's
Jun. 05, 2013
RAY JOHN MEAD
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
CANADIAN, 1921-1998, Space & Form, Graphite drawing, signed & dated '88, 16.5 x 23 in, 42 x 58.5 cm.
Walker's
May. 27, 2011
RAYMOND JOHN MEAD, THE DEWY PATH, acrylic on paper, 40 ins x 26 ins; 100 cms x 65 cms
Est: $2,000 - $2,500
RAYMOND JOHN MEAD, THE DEWY PATH, acrylic on paper; signed and dated /82. 40 ins x 26 ins; 100 cms x 65 cms. Provenance: Theo Waddington Galleries, Toronto.
Waddington's
May. 27, 2011
RAYMOND JOHN MEAD, CHARIOT, acrylic collage on paper, 40 ins x 26 ins; 100 cms x 65 cms
Est: $2,000 - $2,500
RAYMOND JOHN MEAD, CHARIOT, acrylic collage on paper; signed and dated /80. 40 ins x 26 ins; 100 cms x 65 cms. Provenance: Waddington Galleries, Toronto.
Waddington's
May. 17, 2011
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian oil on
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian oil on canvas Objects 28 x 36 inches 71.1 x 91.4 centimeters signed and dated 1952 and on verso signed, titled and inscribed ""9 Hill Heights Court, Toronto / $100"" Provenance:Private Collection, Ontario Objects was acquired directly from the artist - perhaps as an exchange or as a gift - by a gentleman who credited Mead with helping him get his first job in the advertising industry. It has remained in the possession of that man's family ever since. At first glance, one may associate this 1952 painting with a Cubist aesthetic, but Mead was clearly still in the thrall of his Slade School instructor, Patrick Heron, and the other young moderns who formed the nexus of Cornwall's St. Ives School. Here we do not have multiple views but one pared-down view of still life objects: perhaps a ripe melon, a shiny apple and a yellow jug on a dark table, standing on a green carpet. The rich yet controlled colour range, the flattened format and strong curved shapes are more reminiscent of British artists Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth than of Pablo Picasso or Georges Braque.
Heffel
Mar. 31, 2011
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian oil on
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian oil on canvas Untitled 8 x 18 inches 20.3 x 45.7 centimeters on verso signed and dated 1982 Provenance:Private Collection, Vancouver
Heffel
Sep. 30, 2010
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian ink on
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian ink on paper Untitled 11 x 10 inches 27.9 x 25.4 centimeters signed Provenance:Acquired directly from the Artist, circa 1958, Montreal By descent to the present Private Estate, Ontario
Heffel
Sep. 30, 2010
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian ink on
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian ink on paper Untitled 12 x 10 inches 30.5 x 25.4 centimeters signed and dated 1958 Provenance:Acquired directly from the Artist in Montreal, circa 1958 By descent to the present Private Estate, Ontario
Heffel
Jun. 02, 2010
RAY JOHN MEAD 1921 - 1998
Est: $9,000 - $12,000
RAY JOHN MEAD 1921 - 1998 FRUCTIFICATION II signed lower right Ray Mead ; titled and dated Fructification II '89 by the artist on the canvas and on a label on the reverse acrylic on canvas 127.0 by 152.4 cm. 50 by 60 in.
Sotheby's
May. 26, 2010
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian oil on
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian oil on canvas Tidal Blue 57 x 66 inches 144.8 x 167.6 centimeters signed and dated 1991 and on verso signed, titled and dated Literature:David Burnett and Marilyn Schiff, Contemporary Canadian Art, 1983, page 50 Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, 2007, page 106 Provenance:Private Collection, Toronto Ray Mead was born and educated in England, and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. He emigrated in 1946, settling in Hamilton, Ontario where he became a commercial artist and art director for an advertising agency. In 1953, he exhibited his work in the now famous Abstracts at Home, the Toronto show from which Painters Eleven came into being. Mead's work exhibited what David Burnett and Marilyn Schiff termed an "explosive energy on the surfaces of [his] paintings." Although his works were largely abstract, the images retained a sense of realism; Roald Nasgaard notes that Mead stated: "Basically, my painting is really landscape." Tidal Blue was painted in 1991, and demonstrates the multitude of influences that developed Mead's style, such as American Abstract Expressionism. The strong sense of composition is evidence of Mead's maturity as an artist, and within the bold, rich blue of the canvas there is a sense of movement upwards towards the dark slashes of colour. The heavy application of paint creates a richly textured and glowing colour field that gives a sense of open space within the work, encouraging our visual exploration.
Heffel
May. 26, 2010
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian oil on
Est: $8,000 - $10,000
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian oil on canvas Dark Center 24 x 20 inches 61 x 50.8 centimeters signed and on verso titled and inscribed ""$150"" Provenance:Acquired directly from the Artist by a Private Collector, Montreal By descent to the present Private Estate, Ontario Exhibited:Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, The Formal Lyricist, January 8 - February 7, 1960, traveling to Galerie de l'étable, Montreal, the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery and Galerie Denyse Delrue, Montreal Ray Mead's early training at the Slade School of Art in London, England, provided an academic foundation which was to be interrupted by World War II, when he served in the Royal Air Force. The war years brought him to Canada to train pilots and led him to settle there, first in Hamilton, Ontario. Encouraged by his great friend Hortense Gordon, and influenced by her admiration of American Hans Hofmann's teaching, Mead's work had its first Canadian exposure at the Art Gallery of Hamilton's annual exhibitions from 1947 to 1951. Exhibiting in group and solo exhibitions throughout the 1950s, including those of Painters Eleven, Mead's successful commercial career took him to the Montreal office of MacLaren Advertising in 1958. His abstract paintings of that period referred, like Hofmann's, to the landscape - in this case, the Montreal suburb of Beaurepaire where he was then living. The energetic, tachist core of Dark Center exemplifies the artist's intent to have the viewer question whether the central form is a heavy weight tethered to the ground, or a barely contained bundle of energy struggling towards the sky.
Heffel
Dec. 03, 2009
RAY JOHN MEAD 1921 - 1998
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
ORIDA signed and dated l.l.: RAY MEAD '79; titled by the artist on the reverse: Orida; titled and dated on a label: Orida 1993
Sotheby's
Nov. 30, 2009
Ray John Mead, CGP, CSGA (Canadian, 1921-1998) Untitled
Est: CAD10,000 - CAD12,000
Untitled signed and dated 'Ray Mead 90' on reverse oil on canvas 162.6 x 213.4cm (64 x 84in).
Bonhams
Nov. 26, 2009
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian oil on
Est: $35,000 - $45,000
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian oil on canvas Painting "48 x 70 inches 121.9 x 177.8 centimeters signed and dated 1955 and on verso signed, titled, dated and inscribed """"11 Crown Hill Place, Toronto"""" Provenance:Estate of the Artist Ray Mead was born and educated in England, studying at the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1937 - 1939, before emigrating to Canada in 1946. He settled in Hamilton, Ontario, where he became director of the art department in an advertising firm. Mead and his paintings remain central to the story of modern Canadian art for several reasons. He was one of a small group of painters to show work in the famous Abstracts at Home exhibition at Simpson's department store in Toronto in 1953. This group presentation - designed not only as a way for younger artists to have their work seen, but also as a way to make abstraction less threatening to Canadians - was arranged by William Ronald who, with Mead and nine others working in an abstract diom, then came to form the group Painters Eleven in November of 1953. Until its dissolution in 1960, Painters Eleven offered support for this then-radical style of painting, and promoted it, especially in New York City. Exchanges between members of Painters Eleven and the Abstract Expressionist artists and critics in New York - Hans Hofmann, Barnett Newman, Clement Greenberg and many others - are legendary, and support the tight aesthetic relationship between Toronto and New York in this era. Mead was also well acquainted with Abstract Expressionist practice in the 1950s through his own New York dealer, Charles Egan, whose gallery on 57th Street showed Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Philip Guston and other luminaries. While the New York axis was important as an inspiration for abstraction, Mead's work exemplifies a more complex picture of international abstract painting in the 1950s. He was part of what might best be thought of as trans-Atlantic abstraction, a blending of styles and motivations that pivoted on New York, London, and European modernism. Mead's sensibilities remained close to artists of the St. Ives School (named for the artists' colony in Cornwall founded by Ben Nicolson and Barbara Hepworth). He was at the Slade School of Fine Art with Patrick Heron, one of the most prominent second-generation members of the St. Ives group. From the mid-1950s, Heron and many other British artists were in turn influenced by contemporary American abstraction, thus forming the international circuit of which Mead's work is a part. Like his contemporaries in England, Mead tended to a more subdued and restful palette and to Cubist structure. He acknowledged an enduring affinity for landscape motifs. Painting was done in 1955, in the heyday of Painters Eleven's success in Toronto, and on the eve of their wide recognition in New York. The canvas's interlocking and overlapping forms define a space organized along Cubist principles. While the palette is subdued, vibrantly saturated motifs electrify the surface. These forms can be read in different spatial registers. For example, the dominant orange oval to the left of centre appears as a flat and bounded element in a vertical ladder of shapes. At the same time, we can imagine that we look down on it. The satisfying complexity of Painting emerges slowly; we come to see the considerable range of colours used by Mead, not only the predominant browns and blacks, but also greens, blues and a variety of orange hues. In both its subtlety and boldness, Painting repays repeated looking. We thank Dr. Mark Cheetham, Professor in the Department of Art at the University of Toronto, for contributing the above essay. "
Heffel
Jun. 17, 2009
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian collage and
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian collage and acrylic on board Rising 13 x 27 inches 33 x 68.6 centimeters initialed and dated 1961 - 1962 Provenance:Private Collection, Toronto
Heffel
May. 28, 2009
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian acrylic on
Est: $4,500 - $6,500
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian acrylic on canvas Untitled 22 x 28 inches 55.9 x 71.1 centimeters signed and dated 1994
Heffel
May. 28, 2009
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian acrylic on
Est: $3,500 - $5,500
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian acrylic on canvas Untitled 19 x 36 inches 48.3 x 91.4 centimeters signed and dated 1993
Heffel
May. 25, 2009
Ray John Mead, CGP, CSGA (Canadian, 1921-1998) Squeeze Sun
Est: $10,000 - $12,000
Squeeze Sun signed and dates 'Ray Mead 1964' on the reverse, titled on label on the reverse oil on canvas 165 x 165cm (64 15/16 x 64 15/16in).
Bonhams
Nov. 19, 2008
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian oil on
Est: $9,000 - $12,000
Raymond John Mead 1921 - 1998 Canadian oil on canvas Untitled 50 x 45 inches 127 x 114.3 centimeters signed Literature:Joan Murray, Two Decades: Ray Mead, 1982, pages 4 and 6 Provenance:By descent to the present Private Collection, Montreal Influenced by artists such as Jack Bush, Guido Molinari and Yves Gaucher, Mead is one of Canada's great abstract painters. Mead's Door Series from the early to mid-1960s was a formative point in the artist's career. Untitled is a good example of this series - focusing on circles, lines and what Mead describes as "great fat areas" which govern the canvas. Mead was a master colourist, using colour tones as the main compositional element within his paintings. These paintings give the viewer the illusion of emerging into different spheres of space where similar tones of blue and black are usually complimented by a pop of red or orange. In 1982, Joan Murray held a survey exhibition of the artist's work at The McLaughlin Gallery. She noted that the artist "often lets a single colour - say red - stay pure and undiluted. It will rule the painting. He especially likes colours with some range to them - which extends to almost black." Mead's own description of his works offers an interesting insight into this painting. He stated, "These are not paintings for first look. The viewer has to look and live with them to discover a different sort of life. Then they reveal their secret - a new language of colour and form."
Heffel