Concrete Contemporary Auctions and Projects Contemporary Art Auction

April 13, 2015

LOT 9

Lot 9

MARION WAGSCHAL, R.C.A.

MARION WAGSCHAL, R.C.A.
Lot 9 Details
MARION WAGSCHAL, R.C.A.

PORTRAIT OF WALTER WATCHING TELEVISION

acrylic on board
signed and titled on the reverse
36 ins x 48 ins; 91.4 cms x 121.9 cms

Estimate $2,000-$3,000

Realised: $2,400
Price Includes Buyer's Premium ?

Lot Report

Provenance:

Charles Bronfman’s Claridge Collection, Montreal

Note:

Sold to benefit Historica Canada.

Marion Wagschal is a painter of subjects whose environments connote the contemporary, often the domestic and banal, but carry through them weight of history, their mortality, the things they’ve seen and been subject to. Wagschal moved from an early-career focus on biblical figures to portraits of friends, family, and lovers. These subjects are not only resistant to idealized or cosmetic treatments; on close inspection, they bear the markings of the Holocaust, AIDS, senility, enfeeblement. But her portraits are generous and full of empathy, even humour.

Wagschal paints in perfect accordance with her anemic or ghostly subjects, her brushwork and palette patchy, sun-bleached – like memory, sharp in places but hazy allover. Portrait of Walter Watching Television demonstrates her focal points, and the corresponding directives she issues to her viewers. A shallow backdrop like a darkened curtain brings her titular subject to the foreground, where a TV-set glow makes all the more apparent his infirmity, the wound near his temple. But he’s enraptured. The wires from the set are highlighted with a reverse-Cloisonné white; so too, the checks jump out from his tie. Wagschal has positioned Walter in abject isolation, in closing darkness, but distracted him with this cheap glow, a moving image. She’s brought small touches of humour to her portrait, small cartoonish marks and gestures that alleviate the portrayal’s more strident hurt.

Marion Wagschal arrived in Canada in 1951 from Port of Spain, Trinidad. She completed her education at Concordia University (Montréal), where she then taught for 37 years. Wagschal has exhibited nationally and internationally. She is an RCA member, and represented in numerous private and public collections, such as the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Musée des beaux-arts (Montréal), and the Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Oshawa, ON). She is represented by Battat Contemporary.

CONDITION DETAILS

For condition information please contact the specialist.

LOT 9
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About Condition Ratings

  • 5 Stars: Excellent - No discernable damage, flaws or imperfections
  • 4 Stars: Very Good - Minor flaws or imperfections visible only under close inspection using specialised instruments or black light
  • 3 Stars: Good - Minor flaws visible upon inspection under standard lighting
  • 2 Stars: Fair - Exhibits flaws or damage that may draw the eye under standard lighting
  • 1 Star: Poor - Flaws or damage immediately apparent under standard lighting (examples: missing components, rips, broken glass, damaged surfaces, etc.)

Note: Condition ratings and condition details are the subjective opinions of our specialists and should be used as a guide only. Waddington’s uses due care when preparing condition details, however, our staff are not professional restorers or conservators. Condition details and reports are not warranties and each lot is sold “as is” in accordance with the buyer’s terms and conditions of sale. In all cases the prospective purchaser is responsible for inspecting the property themselves prior to placing a bid.