Property of a Distinguished Montreal Family
Click here to view our Spring 2021 Sale of Modern, Impressionist and 19th Century Art
This is a distinguished Montreal family which built a successful business continuing over three generations and has made numerous generous contributions to their community and beyond. Their success was due to astute business acumen and good judgement in people. In their art collecting they combined the attributes of keen eyes, and the same good judgement in people, those from whom they were purchasing.
The aforementioned serves as a primer for buyers of fine art. The purchasers of these works limited their sources, that is the provenance, to a small number of sellers, all offering a vetted supply of genuinely fine quality works of art. Montreal’s Dominion Gallery, Continental and Walter Klinkhoff Gallery, Toronto’s Laing Galleries and Roberts Gallery are listed as the provenance for those where the evidence exists. One of the Jacksons was likely acquired directly from the artist. The fine J.W. Morrice sketch was in fact a gift from Morrice’s nephew to the first generation collector. David Morrice was a regular guest near their country home in the area of Ste. Agathe in the Laurentians northwest of Montreal. David Morrice was himself a very able artist in his own right and painted extensively in the area. The origin of the Ethel Seath cannot be verified with any accuracy. The family was closely connected to The Study school where Seath spent much of her career as the art teacher. It would not be surprising to discover that this master work, painted from the original school on Seaforth Ave, looking out over the City of Montreal, had been acquired from Seath directly.
Most of the artworks among this remarkable collection have only been available on the market once and were acquired by the family either directly from the artist or from a gallery representing the artist. This is an extraordinary opportunity to acquire artworks unseen in public for decades.
Now as sellers of their collection, we are particularly pleased and honoured too that they have chosen Alan Klinkhoff Gallery in Montreal and Toronto to represent them in the sale of these fine works of art. With the two galleries in Canada’s largest cities and the opportunity afforded by Klinkhoff.ca, open for viewing 24 hours per day to display the works globally and with the transparency of selling prices posted, offering collectors the opportunity to simply buy, we shall place these in the stewardship of a new generation of collector.
We are grateful for the confidence expressed in us and are respectful of their anonymity. In this presentation, we are indebted to Charles Hill, Lucie Dorais, Lisa Christensen and Michèle Grandbois for their academic contributions assisting us in cataloguing and describing properly a selection of the works.
We encourage your purchases.
Alan Klinkhoff