James (Jock) W. G. MacDonald was born in Thurso, Scotland in 1867. He studied at Edinburgh College of Art, and later worked as a fabric designer. He taught at Lincoln School of Art; Vancouver School of Art; School of Decorative and Applied Arts, Vancouver; Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, Calgary; and at Ontario College of Art after 1947. MacDonald was a member of Canadian Group of Painters and Painters Eleven. He died in Toronto in 1960. The artist was conducting independent experiments in Vancouver while the others worked in Winnipeg and Toronto. He had painted 'automatics' by 1934 and completely abstract or non-objective works by 1935 or 1936. (Painting in Canada: A History. Harper J. Russel. U of Toronto Press, 1977. P 327) Jock MacDonald was one of Canada's first painters to explore the relationship between abstraction and landscape. What MacDonald did is take the formal qualities of his subjects and isolate or abstract them form the landscape. (The History of Painting in Canada. Barry Lord. Toronto: NC Press, 1974. P 205-7)
Dimensions
23.5 X 33.5 cm
Size Overall
45 X 52.5 cm
Medium
watercolor
Condition
Slight cockling of surface.
Primary Support
paper
Secondary Support
mat, plexiglass, backing board; frame - wood and plaster with gild
Takao Tanabe was born in 1926 in Prince Rupert, B.C. He studied at Winnipeg School of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, and Tokyo University of Fine Arts. Taught at Vancouver School of Art from 1961 to 1968, and Banff School of Fine Arts in 1973. Takao Tanabe was one of the promoters of 'abstract landscape' painting in Canada, together with Jack Shadbolt, Gordon Smith, and Toni Onley. (A Concise History of Canadian Painting. Dennis Reid. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1973. P. 207, 428)
Yellow stain in TR corner of mat. Light yellow discoloration running down the complete left edge of the picture, alongside the mat edge. Very light discoloration (apparent graphite mark) along top horizontal register.
Accretion marks in BM and BR corner. Black transfer marks in areas RM, LM and TL. Color transfer mark to area LM, although it may be inherent to picture.
Residue of tape in area CB of glass. Frame has small abrasion marks on top arm.
Primary Support
paper
Secondary Support
mat, plexiglass, backing board; frame- wood
Inscriptions
Note attached to back: Cecil E. James came to Canada in 1914 from Manchester, England. He started studies in art at the University of Saskatchewan in 1928, and is now operating an art gallery in Saskatoon. He has painted Canadian scenes from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, but most of his work is of the Canadian Prairies. One could safely say that his paintings are in private collections in almost every country of the world. To name a few principals possessing a James painting: The Archbishop of Canterbury; His Excellency, Governor-General Roland Michener; John Diefenbaker, former Prime Minister of Canada; The Canadian Embassy in Berlin; Mr. H.W. Sturdy, British Government representative; Saskatchewan Wheat Pool; Saskatchewan House, London; Dairy Pool; Colonel Sanders of Kentucky; Pioneer Grain Co.; The Hon. Jean Lesage; Saskatchewan Power Corporation; Saskatchewan Arts Board.
There are creases along the right side. A piece of the surface of the paper is peeled off along the top edge. Also, there are various smudges all over, including multiple pencil marks in the bottom horizontal register, which are most likely not inherent
Several splashes of brown paint across bottom half most probably inherent to image. TL corner of paper is creased. Top edge has some surface paper peeled off.
