James Wilson Morrice, RCA (1865-1924), Canadian NUDE, CA. 1896 oil on canvas estate stamp verso; inscribed "from the studio of J.W. Morrice" to stretcher; incorrectly titled and dated to gallery and exhibition labels verso Estimate: $40,000—60,000 CAD
James Wilson Morrice (1864/65 - 1924) Oil on Board , Signed, Measures ( 7 x 9 inches ) w/frame ( 10 x 12 inches ) James Morrice is known for Landscape, figure, marine, animal.A Canadian by birth, James Morrice became a self-imposed exile to Paris, France where he pursued impressionism and post-impressionism and took a stand against the prevailing avant-garde movements of Cubism and Fauvism. However, on frequent return trips to Canada, he tried to inject Canadian art with elements of modernism but felt frustrated at these efforts. In retrospect, some art critics regard him as "the finest Canadian artist of his time"
James Wilson Morrice (1864/65 - 1924) Oil on Board , Signed, Measures ( 7 x 9 inches ) w/frame ( 10 x 12 inches ) James Morrice is known for Landscape, figure, marine, animal.A Canadian by birth, James Morrice became a self-imposed exile to Paris, France where he pursued impressionism and post-impressionism and took a stand against the prevailing avant-garde movements of Cubism and Fauvism. However, on frequent return trips to Canada, he tried to inject Canadian art with elements of modernism but felt frustrated at these efforts. In retrospect, some art critics regard him as "the finest Canadian artist of his time"
James Wilson Morrice was born in Montreal in 1865, the son of a wealthy merchant. From 1882 to 1889, he studied in Toronto to become a lawyer. As a student he began to paint landscapes in the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain. He exhibited a painting with the Royal Canadian Academy in 1888, and in 1889, two of his paintings were hung in the spring show of the Montreal Art Association. When he was twenty-four, Morrice abandoned law to become an artist. He travelled to Europe, where he studied art at the Académie Julian with Henri Harpignies and became friends with Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet and other French avant-garde artists. Morrice was wealthy, this gave him the freedom to travel to and paint in Italy, Belgium, Holland, Great Britain, Algeria, Jamaica and Cuba. Twice he travelled with Matisse to paint in Tangier (1912 and 1913). During World War I, he was commissioned to paint the Canadian troops in action in Picardy. After the war his health began to deteriorate, having developed stomach problems due to alcohol abuse. Feeling well again around Christmas 1920, Morrice spent a few weeks in Canada, painting around Quebec City. He spent a few weeks in Trinidad before returning to Paris. In the summer of 1922, he travelled to Algiers, where he painted with Albert Marquet. After this trip his health rapidly deteriorated and he was no longer able to paint.
A collection of James Wilson Morrice, Canadian (1865-1924) lithographic prints. Including the following images: The Market Place-Concarneau, Winter Scene (2), Cutting Ice, The Circus at Concarneau, Lady Sitting, People at the Yard, Figures on a Sidewalk . (unframed)
James Wilson Morrice Canadian (1865-1924) trinidad pencil and watercolour 4 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. (12.4 x 14.9 cm) Provenance: -G. Blair Laing Gallery, Toronto -Private Collection, Toronto -by descent Private Collection, Vancouver Other Notes: -written on back in pencil M 247
James Wilson Morrice Canadian (1865-1924) trinidad pencil and watercolour 4 7/8 x 6 1/2 in. (12.4 x 16.5 cm) Provenance: -G. Blair Laing Gallery, Toronto -Private Collection, Toronto -by descent to Private Collection, Vancouver Other Notes: -on verso written in pencil M 298
J. W. MORRICE (Canadian, 1865-1924) "Entrance to a Village" - Photographic reproduction. Signed in plate lower left, titled verso, unframed. 23 x 31 in.
Born to an affluent Montreal family, Canadian artist James Wilson Morrice was an important Canadian landscape painter who studied with Henri Harpignies, as well at the Académie Julien in Paris, where he lived most of his life. While he exhibited widely in Europe, at the galleries and salons of Paris and London, he kept in close touch with the Canadian art scene, and regularly sent paintings back to Canada for exhibition. During a stop near Quebec City, he painted a study that would lead to the canvas for which he would be best known – ‘The Ferry, Quebec’. In it, he achieves what the critic Henri Marcel noted of Morrice that, “Nomadic Canadian that he is, he wanders from Venice to Brittany, fascinated by the delicate shades of gray on the water at twilight, by the rare colouration sometimes imparted to it by the reflection of a cloud.”
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, R.C.A.EARLY EVENINGoil on canvaswith the estate stamp on the reverse 9 ins x 13 ins; 22.9 cms x 33 cms Provenance:Collection of the artist’s brother (Robert Morrice)Gift to Florence Pitfield, Montreal By descent in the family, OntarioSotheby’s (Canada), May 2005, Lot 189Private Collection, TorontoA full moon shines brightly over a velvety green landscape, its light reflected by the body of water in the middle distance. The sea in turn is animated by a cluster of bobbing boats. Of these vessels Morrice expert, Lucie Dorais, observes: “Their sails are still set. The fleet has just returned.” While close to us, on a path leading to the water’s edge, a woman waits. Madame Dorais notes that sentimental themes such as this were quite popular at the turn of the 20th century, although somewhat more rare for Morrice. Nonetheless, by leaving the figure of the woman de-emphasized, Morrice draws our attention to his real interest: the sailboats. Madame Dorais writes: “Sailboats had fascinated Morrice since his childhood, and we find them, in a variety of sizes and shapes, in about 10% of his landscapes, from his earliest Maine watercolours to his last Sicilian sketch.” Around 1903-1904,Morrice did a series of the famous Regatta of Saint-Malo which is how this work had been interpreted by Madame Dorais when she first saw it in 2005. At that time she had dated it circa 1898-99. Madame Dorais notes: “Not long after, I found a drawing for that landscape in one of the artist's sketchbooks; no girl and no moon, so the "story" was built later in the studio. That sketchbook was mostly used in Paris and Dieppe, but a few pages are clearly from Cancale, a small town in Brittany not far from Saint-Malo. Morrice did spend part of the 1896 summer there, but this sketchbook dates from 1892-93 (Sketchbook #4, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Dr.1973.27) and does not contain any views of Saint-Malo. It seems, then, that Morrice went only to Cancale.”Madame Dorais further explains: “The drawing related to this painting is found on page 78 of the sketchbook. Morrice’s vantage point here in Cancale is from the "Sentier des Douaniers", clearly visible on the right. He has left the busy town, passed the main jetty and its lighthouse, and gone around the "Pointe du Hock", to look down at the beach of the same name. The tide is high, the boats are idle; very few sails are up, and no specific activity is hinted at. In the painting, the numerous sails revealed by the moonlight hint at some activity. Cancale's fishing boats, the "bisquines", were so famous that regattas were organized every summer for the tourists, but in Saint-Malo, not locally. Therefore, this cannot be a regatta as previously thought because the location is not Saint-Malo. The boats shown here were used to harvest the town's treasure, the flat oysters naturally growing off the coast.To make the harvesting sustainable, it was reduced to a short period of just two weeks, around Easter. Every morning, 200 boats departed with the outgoing tide to drag the natural beds, and returned at night to dump their catch onto the man-made "oyster beds" near the quay. Women and children would sort them at low tide, removing the empty shells. Madame Dorais concludes: “This is more likely what is happening here: the fishing fleet, with the woman’s lover on board, is returning to Cancale under the full moon.The style of the painting, with its small dose of Victorian sentimentality, recalls the English paintings that Morrice had seen in Montreal and in England, where he spent a few months (perhaps to study) in 1891, not long before his visit to Cancale. To find such an accomplished painting so early in Morrice's career is remarkable.“Estimate: $75,000–95,000
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, R.C.A.BOATS ON THE RIVERpencil on paperwith another drawing on the reverse 3.75 ins x 5.75 ins; 9.5 cms x 14.6 cms Provenance:Continental Galleries, MontrealPrivate Collection, TorontoEstimate: $1,000–1,500
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, R.C.A.HOUSE AND GARDEN, CAPRI, C. 1894oil on canvas, mounted to canvas 11 ins x 8 ins; 27.9 cms x 20.3 cms Provenance:F.R. Heaton Estate (1939) Gilles Corbeil, Montreal (1952)Dominion Gallery, Montreal (1954)Property of the Phillips FamilyIn spite of an earlier title locating this work to Algiers, this small canvas by James Wilson Morrice (1865-1924) depicts a house and garden on the idyllic Italian island of Capri, in the Tyrrhenian Sea.Morrice’s trip to Capri is not well-known. Morrice specialist Lucie Dorais notes that his biographer barely mentions it although the National Gallery of Canada also owns Capri works by Morrice. Lucie Dorais suggests: “Since the trip had been forgotten by the early fifties, (these works) were given fantasy titles, mostly North African, like here... Only one painting never lost its Capri connection: Terrace, Capri (collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts), which was kept by Morrice’s companion, Léa Cadoret.” She continues: “Two early Morrice sketchbooks document the artist’s first trip to Italy. According to them, he visited Capri, then Venice...Why Capri? Perhaps Henri Harpignies, the French painter with whom he had taken lessons, had suggested it.”With its wall arched in the middle, it is typical of the island of Capri before the 20th century, as are the shrubs with their pink flowers, which are still abundant. A typical casa colonica, the Italian term for farmhouse, it follows closely this description of Capri vernacular architecture. The dwellings of both countryman and fisherman were based on a minimal modular element, a type of cube made up on the ground floor of a cellar (a sort of larder) and the kitchen, and on the upper floor a room traditionally called the ‘casa’ (house). The two levels were connected by an external staircase. Many walls were arched in the middle, indicating a barrel-vaulted ceiling inside, and everything was, most of the time, thickly whitewashed.”There is no drawing of the house in the Morrice sketchbooks however, which leads Madam Dorais to surmise that this painting was, perhaps, done en plein air. This painting will be included in Lucie Dorais’ forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist.An earlier version of this catalogue entry mistakenly indicates that Lucie Dorais had identified the building depicted here as “the Torre Materita, a medieval house hidden among trees on the road to the lighthouse.” In fact, she has identified the Torre Materita in the "Capri" canvas and its study, both owned by the National Gallery of Canada.Estimate: $20,000–25,000
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, R.C.A.HOUSE AND GARDEN, CAPRI, C. 1894oil on canvas, mounted to canvas11 ins x 8 ins; 27.9 cms x 20.3 cmsProvenance:F.R. Heaton Estate (1939) Gilles Corbeil, Montreal (1952)Dominion Gallery, Montreal (1954)Property of the Phillips FamilyNote:In spite of an earlier title locating this work to Algiers, this small canvas by James Wilson Morrice (1865-1924) depicts a house and garden on the idyllic Italian island of Capri, in the Tyrrhenian Sea.Morrice’s trip to Capri is not well-known. Morrice specialist Lucie Dorais notes that his biographer barely mentions it although the National Gallery of Canada also owns Capri works by Morrice. Lucie Dorais suggests: “Since the trip had been forgotten by the early fifties, (these works) were given fantasy titles, mostly North African, like here... Only one painting never lost its Capri connection: Terrace, Capri (collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts), which was kept by Morrice’s companion, Léa Cadoret.” She continues: “Two early Morrice sketchbooks document the artist’s first trip to Italy. According to them, he visited Capri, then Venice...Why Capri? Perhaps Henri Harpignies, the French painter with whom he had taken lessons, had suggested it.”With its wall arched in the middle, it is typical of the island of Capri before the 20th century, as are the shrubs with their pink flowers, which are still abundant. A typical casa colonica, the Italian term for farmhouse, it follows closely this description of Capri vernacular architecture. The dwellings of both countryman and fisherman were based on a minimal modular element, a type of cube made up on the ground floor of a cellar (a sort of larder) and the kitchen, and on the upper floor a room traditionally called the ‘casa’ (house). The two levels were connected by an external staircase. Many walls were arched in the middle, indicating a barrel-vaulted ceiling inside, and everything was, most of the time, thickly whitewashed.”There is no drawing of the house in the Morrice sketchbooks however, which leads Madam Dorais to surmise that this painting was, perhaps, done en plein air. This painting will be included in Lucie Dorais’ forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist.An earlier version of this catalogue entry mistakenly indicates that Lucie Dorais had identified the building depicted here as “the Torre Materita, a medieval house hidden among trees on the road to the lighthouse.” In fact, she has identified the Torre Materita in the "Capri" canvas and its study, both owned by the National Gallery of Canada.Estimate: $30,000—40,000
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, R.C.A.THE CROSSINGoil on panelwith the studio stamp on the reverse 5.25 ins x 6.75 ins; 13.3 cms x 17.1 cms Provenance:Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., MontrealPrivate Collection, TorontoLiterature:Lucie Dorais, Morrice, (Canadian Artist Series, No. 8,) National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1985, pages 17 and 58.Charles C. Hill, Gift to the Nation: G. Blair Laing Collection of Paintings by James Wilson Morrice, National Gallery of Canada, 1992, page 16.Dennis Reid, A Concise History of Canadian Painting (3rd edition), Oxford University Press, Don Mills, 2012, page 138.A.K. Prakash, Impressionism in Canada: A Journey of Discovery, Arnoldsche Art Publisher, Stuttgart, 2015, pages 335, 342, 347, 359, 364 and page 368, reproduced in colour as The Crossing, ca. 1912.Note:Dennis Reid writes: “Morrice’s importance to the development of Canadian Art is incalculable.” His impact on painters was profound and multigenerational. Artists as distinct as Kathleen Morris and Jean Paul Riopelle affirmed their admiration for him.Dennis Reid notes: “... Cullen, Brymner, (Curtis) Williamson and (Edmund) Morris valued his friendship; Gagnon, A.Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris and countless other young painters sought out his work.” Further, Morrice’s circle of friends included writers and both Arnold Bennett and Somerset Maugham drew on the artist for characters in their books. Today, as in his own lifetime, astute collectors consider Morrice to be the most gifted Canadian painter of his generation. Morrice was also critically acclaimed in his lifetime and as A.K. Prakash writes: “By 1909 Louis Vauxcelles, the prominent French critic... declared that, since the death of Whistler, ‘Morrice is unquestionably the American (sic) painter ...who has achieved, in France and at Paris... the most notable and well-merited place in the world of art’.” Lucie Dorais concurs by noting that “In the course of time, he was elected to every important art society in Paris.” The Crossing shares affinities with one of Morrice’s masterworks, The Ferry, Quebec, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Though undoubtedly not a Canadian subject, The Crossing evokes a strong sense of nostalgia for the ex-patriot’s homeland. Morrice had left Canada in 1889 and while he would visit Canada periodically, he was never again to reside in this country. Both works are linked as much by mood as subject. Certainly peripatetic travel, quest and longing were woven into the very fabric of the man, governing his living arrangements and manifesting itself in the choice of certain subjects, often revisited. A.K. Prakash quotes Matisse describing his wandering friend as “a little like a migrating bird but without any fixed landing place.” Like the ferries he sailed whether across the St. Lawrence or the Strait of Gibraltar, or from Dieppe to Southampton, Morrice travelled back and forth between Europe and Canada, France and North Africa, Venice, Trinidad and Cuba, stopping but not remaining for long and certainly never settling down. Examples of Morrice's best work have become increasingly difficult to acquire. Last autumn, a group of 50 works by Morrice was gifted to the National Gallery of Canada by collector and author A.K. Prakash. This augments the renowned Laing Collection which included 15 canvases and over sixty oil sketches or pochades, gifted to the National Gallery of Canada by art dealer G. Blair Laing in March 1989. A further group of Morrice sketches was donated by the late Kenneth Thomson (Lord Thomson of Fleet) to the Art Gallery of Ontario. As a result, few oil sketches of this calibre remain on the open market. Estimate: $100,000–150,000
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, R.C.A.PLOUGHING, BRITTANYoil on panelstamped with the studio stamp on the reverse 9.25 ins x 13 ins; 23.5 cms x 33 cms Provenance:Canadian Fine Arts, TorontoPrivate Collection, TorontoNote:James Wilson Morrice was one of the few Canadian painters of his generation to achieve international recognition. Born into an affluent family in Montreal, Morrice studied law in Toronto, but soon after being called to the bar in 1889, he left Canada to pursue his interest in painting, arriving in Paris in 1891. Although he would return to Canada periodically to visit his parents until 1914, Paris became Morrice’s home and it was there that he met many international artists (Henri, Whistler, Matisse, et. al.) whose work would influence his own. He was an inveterate traveller and exhibited widely, sending work to the French Salon d’Automne (1905-13), the Société Nouvelle (1908-13) and exhibitions in Britain, the United States and Canada. He made several trips to Brittany, located in the north-west region of the country. It was already a favourite destination for artists, including the Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), who sought an authentic form of representation in more remote places considered free of the corrupting influences of industrialism and capitalism. Morrice was no doubt drawn to the effects of light and colour in the region.Morrice spent the summers of 1906 and 1907 in Brittany, travelling between Le Pouldu and Concarneau, and visited again in the spring and autumn of 1909 and spring of 1910. In Ploughing, Brittany, Morrice is clearly responding to Post-Impressionism in the decorative patchwork of fields. The underlying structure of the composition, roughly delineated in pencil, shows through in areas such as the band of trees along the horizon and around individual patches of green. Morrice has applied the paint loosely and broadly, making few concessions to detail. His interest in the effects of light is evident in the shadow cast on the ploughed earth in the foreground by a passing cloud.Morrice was known as a consummate colourist. The palette of Ploughing, Brittany consists of closely related colour values, with darker tones (the horse, patch of green in the middle ground, and line of trees on the horizon) providing contrast. As the final touch, Morrice has placed a daub of dusty pink against a green shrub to signify the farmer’s shirt, which is echoed in a lower note in the horse’s yoke. A small detail, it heightens the visual impact of the scene.
JAMES W. MORRICE (CANADIAN, 1865-1924) LANDSCAPE, TRINIDADHAND PULLED SILKSCREEN - LIMITED EDITION OF 100, PULBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA (Image, 21" x 26")Estimate: $80-100
JAMES W. MORRICE (CANADIAN, 1865-1924) LANDSCAPE, TRINIDADHAND PULLED SILKSCREEN - LIMITED EDITION OF 100, PULBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA (Image, 21" x 26")Estimate: $100-150
JAMES W. MORRICE (CANADIAN, 1865-1924) LANDSCAPE, TRINIDAD; HAND PULLED SILKSCREEN - LIMITED EDITION OF 100, PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA (Image, 21" x 26")
JAMES W. MORRICE (CANADIAN, 1865-1924) FIGURES BY PALM TREE; HAND PULLED SILKSCREEN - LIMITED EDITION OF 100, PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA (Image, 19.5" x 24")
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, R.C.A.LANDSCAPE, oil on canvas; signed and dated '91 20 ins x 25.25 ins; 50 cms x 63.1 cms Provenance: W. Scott & Sons, Montreal.Sir William Van Horne (purchased from the artist through W. Scott & Sons, Montreal, in 1891). By descent to the present owner, Ontario.Exhibited: Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by James W. Morrice, R.C.A., Art Association of Montreal, 16 January - 15 February, 1925, no.105 Exhibition : A Selection from the Collection of Paintings of the Late Sir William Van Horne, K.C.M.G., 1943-1915, Art Association of Montreal, Montreal, 16 October - 5 November, 1933, no.171.Literature: Robert J. Wickenden, "Catalogue of Paintings in Oil and Water-colours, Drawings, Etchings, Etc., in the Collection of the Late Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, K.C.M.G. at 513 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal - Alphabetical with Addenda", 1927 (manuscript).Van Horne Family Fonds, Series 13: Wickenden catalogues, Box 35, S.64.11/01/07: No. "V.H. 350 / Landscape", with note "Purchased from the artist" (Art Gallery of Ontario, E.P. Taylor Research Library and Archives).Donald W. Buchanan, "James Wilson Morrice: A Biography", Toronto, 1936, pages 7-8.Note: In his seminal Morrice biography, Buchanan narrates how Sir William Van Horne, President of the CPR, purchased a "sketch" from Montreal dealers Scott & Sons; impressed, he "was soon telling David Morrice that his son would never be happy in the law. Let him go to Paris, was the advice..."; stuff for legend, until now. If a 1887 watercolour with the same provenance is a more probable "sketch", could the present painting have been a commission? Its large dimensions, absolutely unique in Morrice's early corpus, could indicate that; or an exhibition painting... but the price tag besides Morrice's entry in the 1891 AAM Spring Salon, "Afternoon" (oil), and the summertime depicted in "Landscape" makes it unlikely. As Morrice's first major oil, purchased, perhaps even commissioned, by celebrated collector Van Horne, this painting is extremely important for the history of Canadian art, especially for the Montreal art milieu.The subject, treated as pure landscape, is typical of the artist's early work in Europe; but is it French or English? Although Morrice sailed to Liverpool just before Christmas 1899, and was living in London in April 1891, he had already spent some time in France, and the tall poplars over low hills evoke region north-west of Paris. If the technique is a bit crude, let's not forget that Morrice, who was just starting his career, had never painted anything that big. But the future artist is already there, as Wickenden saw in 1927: "A dreamy mystery pervades the canvas, the realistic details being suppressed in favour of an agreeable general effect." ("Catalogue") And flowers similar to the lower left poppies will dot the foregrounds of "Promenade, Dieppe and Morocco Buildings" (ca. 1910 and 1920 respectively, both paintings in the Thomson Collection at the AGO). We would like to Lucie Dorais, who is preparing the Catalogue Raissone of Morrice's work, for contributing the foregoing cataloguing details and essay.
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, R.C.A.CUSHING'S ISLAND, MAINE, watercolour; signed and inscribed "Yours truly, J.W. Morrice, Montreal" 5 ins x 3.25 ins; 12.5 cms x 8.1 cms Provenance: Drawn by the artist in the autograph book of Doreen Grant, Ontario.Private Collection, Ontario.Literature: Irene Szylinger, "A Brief Analysis of the Watercolours", "James Wilson Morrice, 1865-1924", Nicole Cloutier (ed), Montreal, 1985, pages, 79-80 and 88.Irene Szylinger, "The Watercolours of James Wilson Morrice (1865-1924)", University of Toronto, Toronto, 1983, pages 18-19 (conversation with the former owner of this artwork, September, 1981).Note: Szylinger (1985) notes that "[o]f the thirteen watercolours done in North America [by Morrice], six represent views of the Maine coastline...along with a page from an autograph book..." Painted in 1882, this work is believed to be the first known watercolour by the artist. Aged 16 or 17 at the time (Morrice was born in August), the painter depicts Cushing's Island in Maine, where the Morrice family spent many summers. The large white building visible higher up on the hill is the Ottawa House Hotel. The hotel would be replaced by a larger building in 1888. In her thesis, "The Watercolours of James Wilson Morrice 1865-1924", Irene Szylinger mentions that "Miss Grant has stated to the present owner of the watercolour that the drawings reflect scenes from the general area where the Grants and Morrices vacationed in Maine. It is Miss Grant's recollection that their families vacationed together and that Morrice was seventeen years old when he dedicated these drawings to her."We would like to thank Morrice scholar, Lucie Dorais, for assistance in researching and cataloguing this artwork.
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, R.C.A.QUAI DE LA SEINE; PARISIENNE, both graphite drawings each 4 ins x 6 ins; 10 cms x 15 cms $1,500-2,000Provenance: The Right Honourable Vincent Massey.Walter Klinkhoff Gallery, Montreal.Private Collection, Montreal.
James Wilson Morrice 1865 - 1924 Canadian oil on board Brittany 4 7/8 x 6 1/8 inches 12.4 x 15.6 centimeters on verso initialed W.J.M. and stamped Studio J.W. Morrice Provenance:W. Scott & Sons, Montreal Dr. Francis J. Shepherd MD, LLD, FRCS By descent to the present Private Collection, Ontario Typical of the small pochades James Wilson Morrice is so famous for, this panel stands apart for its simple composition and tour-de-force harmony of three colours; the fourth, the warm shade of the wall, is the bare wood, delicately tinted by green paint rubbed in the grooves. The stones are light grey passages and the street is toned down, underlining the vivid trio of white, black and emerald green, applied straight from the tube. The use of only three colours and the rubbing technique relates this work to the sketches that Morrice painted in Montreal and Quebec City in early 1906. It was a technique that he used because the extreme cold froze his paints. He tried to quicken the process by using just black, white and a third colour - either ultramarine, dark red or yellow. The use of bright paint to define the forms could also owe something to the 1905 Salon d'Automne in Paris, which revealed the work of the Fauves, in particular Matisse, to the world. Morrice exhibited four sketches in an adjacent room at the same exhibition. We know that Morrice traveled to Normandy and Brittany in 1906, and the corresponding drawing was found in Morrice's Sketchbook #16 (Dr.1973.39, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, page 42). Careful study of the subjects of this sketchbook, in which we follow Morrice from Venice to Canada via Normandy and Brittany, suggest a trip to Brittany from mid-July to mid-September 1906. The panel is inscribed with the initials W.J.M., perhaps denoting William James Morrice, the artist's elder brother. Dr. Francis J. Shepherd, the famous Montreal doctor and art collector who owned this painting, was known to be the Morrice family physician. It is possible that this work was exhibited in the Art Association of Montreal's 1925 exhibition entitled Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by the late James W. Morrice, RCA and also its Memorial Exhibition of Paintings and Bronzes from the Collection of the Late Francis J. Shepherd MD, LLD, FRCS in 1929. We thank Lucie Dorais for contributing the above essay and for her assistance in cataloguing this work. Dorais is currently compiling a catalogue raisonné on the artist's work.
James Wilson Morrice 1865 - 1924 Canadian oil on canvas on board Figure and Landscape, Capri 11 1/2 x 7 inches 29.2 x 17.8 centimeters on verso titled as Figure and Landscape, France on a label, inscribed ""4146"" and ""#B105"" and stamped with the F.R. Heaton estate stamp Provenance:F.R. Heaton Estate, Montreal Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal By descent to a Private Collection, Montreal Private Collection, Vancouver In this figure study - a rare subject for James Wilson Morrice, who preferred to express himself through atmospheric landscapes - a clothed figure is sitting in a relaxed position, the head looking away from us, with the background almost abstract. A simple image it would seem, but not so easy to decipher. What is she looking at? And what about the grey form behind the figure - is it a small building, or perhaps a painting on an easel? The related drawing, which is in The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Sketchbook #12, Dr. 1973.35, on page 24, is almost as challenging to interpret; if the figure is the same, the background is slightly different, and no easier to understand. It is only by perusing the sketchbook that we realize we are, surprisingly, on the sunny island of Capri in the Bay of Naples. The figure is probably a hatless woman sitting on a low stone wall, and we can now read the grey block behind her as a small building, for storage usage rather than a dwelling. A few leaves at the right border belong to one of the many small trees that border the trails of Capri. Morrice had brought two sketchbooks on this Italian trip: Sketchbook #12 deals mostly with Capri, with a few Venice subjects near the end, while another sketchbook - now dispersed and impossible to put back in order - appears to deal mostly with Venice, with some Capri sheets; the concordance of subjects in both sketchbooks prove that they were used together. We do not know when Morrice visited the extremely popular tourist spot, but the style of his Capri drawings is very similar to that of some sketchbooks used around 1894. Using the sketchbooks and a few paintings as a travelogue, we learn that the artist stayed in the town of Anacapri, high above the sea; we can follow him in the streets of the village, down to the harbour and along some of the picturesque trails radiating from the town center. Everything, it seems, catches his interest: the white buildings with pergolas, the small boats and the fishermen, the little girls solemnly posing and the lovely myrtle trees bordering the trails. One particular building, a crenelated tower (medieval Torre Materita?) held a special attraction for him, appearing in no less than four drawings and one small painting, The Black Goat (Capri), in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, gift of G. Blair Laing. Our figure study seems to have been painted closer to Anacapri, on the road that overlooks the northern plunging slope before leading down to the village of Capri and its landing port, Marina Grande; the curve of the shore is very similar, especially when it is partly obscured by the morning mist, which would also veil the whitewashed houses down below. The woman's clothing, a brown blouse and a blue skirt, coupled with the absence of a hat, could identify her as a local woman, were it not for the presence, in at least five pages from the two Capri-Venice sketchbooks, of a mysterious woman. She is always shown, as here, with her face turned away, and in other works, wearing a cape and a flowered hat, whether she visits Venice or sits overlooking the harbour in Capri; a tourist, not a local woman. Only once do we see her full profile, but alas, only in silhouette. However, when she takes her hat off on a boat in Venice (from a loose sheet, in a private collection), we can see some resemblance in both hairdo and the shape of the face with our painting's model. If she is indeed the same woman, she was probably Morrice's companion on his Italian trip; his insistence in hiding her face could suggest a close relationship, which would make this painting a rare window into the artist's private life. Its early date, however, means that she is not his longtime companion Léa Cadoret. Whatever memories this trip held for Morrice, he never returned to Capri, while his long-lasting love for Venice was kindled during the same voyage. Perhaps the nostalgic northern city was more in tune with his Anglo-Saxon moods than the quasi-oriental, whitewashed southern paradise of Capri. We thank Lucie Dorais for her assistance in researching this lot and for contributing the above essay. Dorais is currently compiling a catalogue raisonné on the artist's work.
James Wilson Morrice 1865 - 1924 Canadian oil on canvas on board Boats by a Promenade 9 x 12 1/2 inches 22.9 x 31.7 centimeters signed and on verso inscribed ""8533"" Provenance:Ernest E. Poole, Edmonton By descent to the present Private Collection, Vancouver One of Canada's finest Impressionist painters, James Wilson Morrice lived abroad for most of his life, principally in France. Consequently, he was internationally well known, exhibiting in the Paris Salons and throughout Europe and England, participating in over 140 exhibitions between 1888 and 1923. While Paris was his main centre, he loved the Brittany coast and often sketched in small seaside towns such as Dinard, Concarneau, Le Pouldu and Saint-Malo. Morrice was drawn to scenes of beaches with people at leisure, sailing regattas and boat harbours, and depicted their atmospheres with great sensitivity, as he did here in Boats by a Promenade, with its reflection of the row of boats rippling in the water. Morrice's Impressionist vision of colour and light is depicted here with a fluid and unified approach in his brush-strokes, with details such as the onlooker on the promenade with a parasol adding to the mood of leisurely contemplation of this delightful harbour scene. We thank Lucie Dorais for her assistance in researching this lot. Dorais is currently compiling a catalogue raisonné on the artist's work.
James Wilson Morrice 1865 - 1924 Canadian graphite on paper Venise 4 1/4 x 6 1/2 inches 10.8 x 16.5 centimeters on verso titled on the gallery label Provenance:The Right Honourable Vincent Massey Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal Private Collection, Montreal
James Wilson Morrice 1865 - 1924 Canadian graphite on paper Jeune Parisienne 6 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches 16.5 x 10.8 centimeters on verso titled on the gallery label Provenance:The Right Honourable Vincent Massey Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal Private Collection, Montreal
James Wilson Morrice 1865 - 1924 Canadian graphite on paper Jeune fille 6 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches 16.5 x 10.8 centimeters on verso titled on the gallery label Provenance:The Right Honourable Vincent Massey Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal Private Collection, Montreal
James Wilson Morrice 1865 - 1924 Canadian oil on panel Café, Tangiers at Night 4 7/8 x 5 7/8 inches 12.4 x 14.9 centimeters Provenance:W. Scott & Sons, Montreal Kastel Gallery Inc., Montreal A Prominent Montreal Collector Sold sale of Canadian Art, An Outstanding Collection, The Property of a Prominent Montreal Collector, Fraser Bros., Montreal, Thursday, October 23, 1986, lot #68 Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal A Prominent Montreal Collection In 1890, James Wilson Morrice moved from Montreal to Paris for "the love of paint"; he loved to travel, but soon got addicted to his daily drink. Not surprisingly, many of his sketches are painted from café tables, but never, it seems, "under the influence" - Morrice painted first and drank later. That is certainly the case for this carefully composed, but rapidly painted, panel. The Arab garb links it to Morrice's Tangiers sojourns of 1912 - 1913; Henri Matisse stayed at the same hotel, and his bright colours are echoed in Morrice's sketches of the nearby market. But Morrice's drinking was by then so heavy (according to painter Charles Camoin, who was also there), that it is hard to explain a 'nocturne' painting. The riddle is solved by a circa 1904 drawing of three people at a café in Marseille or Avignon (sketchbook #18, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts); the figures and the tree are exactly the same, but the right background element (here a calèche) is an advertising column; the style of the present sketch, still recalling Whistler, corresponds to this period. Why Morrice, with a few pencil marks and brush-strokes, transformed it into a North African scene, and when, is just another mystery that adds to his legend. We thank Lucie Dorais for her assistance in researching this lot and for contributing the above essay. Dorais is currently compiling a catalogue raisonné on the work of James Wilson Morrice.
James Wilson Morrice 1865 - 1924 Canadian oil on panel Boats in the Harbour 6 x 5 inches 15.2 x 12.7 centimeters signed and on verso titled on the Dominion Gallery label, inscribed with the Dominion Gallery inventory #B4216 and stamped Studio J.W. Morrice and with the Dominion Gallery stamp Provenance: Private Collection, Montreal Dominion Gallery, Montreal, January 29, 1970 Collection of Mrs. François Dupré, March 12, 1970 James Wilson Morrice was Canada's master Impressionist. He spent most of his life abroad, principally in France, receiving a great deal of international exposure for his work. He participated in more than 140 exhibitions between 1888 and 1923, including the Salon d'Automne in 1905. Based in Paris, he painted its street scenes, also traveling to seaside towns in Brittany and the south, capturing the essence of a period dominated by the Impressionists' perceptions of light and colour. Part of Paris's artistic and intellectual milieu, he knew Somerset Maugham (who based his poet Cronshaw in Of Human Bondage on Morrice), and painted with Henri Matisse after meeting him in 1908. In 1896 Morrice began to use small wood panels of these dimensions for his oil sketches or pochades, painted en plein air, such as in this richly pigmented work. Renowned for his sensitivity to atmosphere, here Morrice captured the brilliant light of the sunwashed harbour, defining form and reflection with assured brush-strokes. We thank Lucie Dorais for her assistance in researching this lot. Dorais is currently compiling a catalogue raisonné on the work of James Wilson Morrice.
James Wilson Morrice 1865 - 1924 Canadian oil on canvas Régates à Saint-Malo 20 x 24 1/4 inches 50.8 x 61.6 centimeters signed Literature:"Show of Morrice Paintings on View", The Gazette, Montreal, April 6, 1932, mentioned in a list of works for the W. Scott & Sons exhibition Donald W. Buchanan, James Wilson Morrice, A Biography, 1936, titled as The Regatta at Cancale (dimensions listed are incorrect), listed page 161 Reynald, "Le Canada d'hier et d'aujourd'hui", La Presse, Montreal, May 23, 1936, review of W. Scott & Sons exhibition John Lyman, Saturday Night, Toronto, March 6, 1937, reproduced page 10 Robert Ayre, "A Distinguished Exhibition Affirms the Genius of James Wilson Morrice", The Gazette, Montreal, February 27, 1937, listed "Works by Morrice Gain High Prices", The Gazette, Montreal, April 11, 1938, re: sale of W. Scott & Sons works at Fraser Bros. and sale of Régates à Saint-Malo for $1,200 William R. Watson, Retrospective, 1974, mentions that he has it in his gallery's inventory in early 1947, page 65 Provenance:André Schoeller, Paris, before 1924 W. Scott & Sons, Montreal Fraser Bros., sale of works from W. Scott & Sons, Montreal, April 9, 1938, titled as Regatta at Cancale, lot #280 Estate of F.R. Heaton Watson Art Galleries, Montreal Collection of Mr. François Dupré, February 20, 1947 Exhibited:Grand Palais, Paris, Salon d'Automne, 1924, special section for recently deceased members, including 14 canvases from Paris Private Collections, five from André Schoeller, titled as Régates a Honfleur, catalogue #2511 London and French Galleries, British and Foreign Artists, with a Special Selection of the Work of the Late James W. Morrice, April 1925, all works from W. Scott & Sons, Morrice's executors W. Scott & Sons, Montreal, James Wilson Morrice, Exhibition of Paintings, April 1932, titled as The Regatta, traveling to The Art Gallery of Toronto, May 1932, catalogue #25 W. Scott & Sons, Montreal, Panorama du Canada d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, 1936 W. Scott & Sons, Montreal, Exhibition of Paintings by J.W. Morrice, March 1937, titled as The Regatta at Cancale, catalogue #5 Literature continued: G. Blair Laing, Morrice, A Great Canadian Artist Rediscovered, 1984, a similar, but slightly earlier, composition, probably the model for this work, circa 1902, entitled Yachting Near St. Malo reproduced page 177 The vogue of nautical sport, which first started in England, was already well established in France by the middle of the nineteenth century. Argenteuil on the Seine River near Paris was known for its regattas. The Cercle de la Voile de Paris, established at Argenteuil, also organized competitions on the beaches of Brittany and Normandy, and the regattas of Saint-Malo were well known. The Impressionists were attracted to this subject matter. Work was never a subject that held a great interest for them; they painted people at leisure - in a café, at a restaurant, on the beach, strolling in a park - almost never at work. A regatta was a perfect subject in that sense. You could be participating in it like Gustave Caillebotte, who won a competition at Saint-Malo in 1893, or you could just watch it from the bank of a river or the seashore. Caillebotte shared his enthusiasm for sailing with his friends, including, among others, Paul Signac. Claude Monet, who lived in Argenteuil, was often a witness of the regattas on the Seine nearby. His Régates à Argenteuil, circa 1872, in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, is famous. He even encouraged Auguste Renoir to paint the same subject, and the National Gallery in London has in its collection Régates à Argenteuil, painted by Renoir in 1874. J.W. Morrice loved the seashore and visited such places as Dinard, Le Pouldu, Dieppe and, of course, Saint-Malo. The real challenge for him in dealing with this theme was not the novelty of the subject, but to find a new angle, a new point of view on the scene, in order not to simply repeat what his predecessors had done. That is what he succeeded in doing here in this marvelous painting from the François Dupré collection, which was exhibited at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montreal. Saint-Malo is famous for its ramparts, which were also often painted by Morrice. Beneath the Ramparts, St. Malo, circa 1898 - 1900, in the collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, is a good example of this subject. One can see in this painting an opening giving onto a balcony in one of the towers on the right. It is probably from there that Morrice saw from the top of the ramparts the small group of people we see in the bottom left of his picture. They are all looking intensely at the regatta, and we are invited to participate in their pleasure, since they turn their backs to us and occupy in the front of the scene practically the same position we have in front of the painting. This is a very unusual framing of the scene, probably inconceivable before photography. The painter is above and has a transcendent view of the whole scene: the sea with the sailboats, the strong wind, the sky with clouds and this small group of onlookers. For that reason also, he is less interested than Monet was, for instance, in the squally conditions of the water, which broke the reflection of the boats on the surface of the Seine and gave him the idea of the "fragmented touch" which was so typical of Impressionism. Morrice's touch is more fluid, more unified and creates a rather subtle effect on the surface. It takes what Lucie Dorais calls an obligatory "meditation-time" in front of the picture, if one wants to appreciate all its subtlety. Needless to say, the appearance of a Morrice painting of this quality on the market is a rare occurrence. We thank François-Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay. We thank Lucie Dorais for her assistance in researching this lot. Dorais is currently compiling a catalogue raisonné on the work of James Wilson Morrice.
JAMES WILSON MORRICE 1865 - 1924 TWO LANDSCAPES FROM AN AUTOGRAPH BOOK; MORRICE BY G. BLAIR LAING, A LIMITED EDITION BOOK, 8/42, WITH AN ORIGINAL DRAWING BY MORRICE, A FIGURE, VENICE two works on paper, the first signed and inscribed Yours truly, J.W. Morrice, Montreal; the second is titled on a label on the reverse watercolour; pencil on paper mounted on card 12.7 by 7.7 cm; 9.3 by 11cm 5 by 3 1/8 in.; 4 ½ by 3 5/8 in.
JAMES WILSON MORRICE 1865 - 1924 HORSE AND CART AT SIDE OF THE RIVER signed lower left J.W. Morrice; stamped with the Morrice studio stamp and inscribed From J.W. Morrice's studio, Guaranteed by W. Scott and Sons and the number M360 on the reverse oil on canvas laid down on board 21.6 by 29.2 cm. 8 ½ by 11 ½ in.
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, R.C.A.DIEPPE HARBOUR, LOW TIDE, oil on panel, mounted on a linen liner, with the studio stamp on the reverse5 ins x 6 ins; 12.5 cms x 15 cms
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, R.C.A.SAILING OFF BRITTANY, oil on panel, mounted on a linen liner, with the studio stamp on the reverse5 ins x 6 ins; 12.5 cms x 15 cms
JAMES WILSON MORRICE, R.C.A.ALONG THE TOW PATH, oil on canvas, laid down on board8 3/4 ins x 12 ins; 21.9 cms x 30 cmsPainted circa 1895.Provenance: Studio of the artist. F.R. Heaton Estate, Montreal. Laing Galleries, Toronto. Private Collection, Toronto.
