Rita Briansky
(1925)
Previously Sold Works
RITA BRIANSKY
Self Portrait; My Mother; Chess Players; The Poet Ida Massey; Joseph; Downtown
assorted media on paper (6)
“Self Portrait” (charcoal on paper, signed, titled and dated 1957 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 7.25 ins); “My Mother” (ink and coloured pastel on paper, signed, titled and dated 1957 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 7 ins); “Chess Players” (charcoal on paper, charcoal character sketches on reverse, signed, titled and dated 1952 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 6.75 ins); “The Poet Ida Massey” (charcoal and pastel on paper, signed, titled and dated in the 1957 lower margin - 9.25 x 7.25 ins); “Joseph” (charcoal on paper, signed, titled and dated 1962 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 7 ins); “Downtown” (pastel on paper, signed, titled and dated 1947 in the lower margin (9.25 x 6.75 ins); unframed
9.25 x 7.25 ins ( 23.5 x 18.4 cms ) ( largest )
Auction Estimate: $105.00 - $135.00
Price Realized $98.00
Sale date: June 13th 2018
RITA BRIANSKY
Rain; Self Portrait; After Modigliani; Streetcard
assorted media on paper (4)
“Rain” (charcoal on paper, signed, titled and dated 1957 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 7.25 ins); “Self Portrait” (coloured pastel on paper, signed, titled and dated 1962 in the lower margin - 9.5 x 7 ins); “After Modigliani” (charcoal on paper, signed, titled and dated 1960 in the lower margin - 9.5 x 7 ins); “Streetcar” (pastel on paper, signed, titled and dated 1949 in the lower margin - 6.75 x 9.25 ins); unframed
9.25 x 7.25 ins ( 23.5 x 18.4 cms ) ( largest )
Auction Estimate: $135.00 - $165.00
Price Realized $98.00
Sale date: June 13th 2018
RITA BRIANSKY
Reflections; After Picasso; The Split
assorted media on paper (3)
“Reflections” (pastel on paper, signed, titled and dated 1967 in the lower margin - 10.5 x 8 ins); “After Picasso” (charcoal on paper, signed, titled and dated 1969 in the lower margin - 11.75 x 8.75 ins); “The Split” (ink and pastel on paper, signed, titled and dated 1981 in the lower margin - 10.25 x 13.5 ins); sold together with “Harmonica Player” (pencil on paper, signed Joseph Prezament and dated 1965 lower right); all unframed
x ins ( 0 x 0 cms )
Auction Estimate: $90.00 - $120.00
Price Realized $94.00
Sale date: September 12th 2018
RITA BRIANSKY
Study From Henry Moore; Autumn Study; Back Yard; “Anson”
assorted media (4)
”Study from Henry Moore” (watercolour and ink on paper, signed, titled and dated 1961 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 7.25 ins); “Autumn Study” (watercolour on paper, signed, titled, dated 1959 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 7.25 ins); “Back Yard” (oil on paper, signed, titled, dated 1955 lower margin - 7.25 x 9.25 ins); “Anson...” (oil on card, signed in the lower margin, titled indistinctly in the side margin, dated 1940 in the lower margin - 8 x 2.75 ins); unframed
9.25 x 7.25 ins ( 23.5 x 18.4 cms )
Auction Estimate: $150.00 - $200.00
Price Realized $89.00
Sale date: February 21st 2018
RITA BRIANSKY
Veronica Tennant; The Locket; Sorrow; After Degas
assorted media on paper (4)
“Veronica Tennant” (ink on paper, signed, titled and dated 1976 in the lower margin - 11.5 x 7.75 ins); “The Locket” (charcoal on paper, signed, titled and dated 1963 in the lower margin - 10 x 8 ins); “Sorrow” (pastel on paper, signed lower right, titled lower left and dated 1969 lower right - 12 x 8.75 ins); “After Degas” (ink on paper, signed, titled and dated 1980 in the lower margin - 11 x 8 ins); unframed
x ins ( 0 x 0 cms )
Auction Estimate: $90.00 - $120.00
Price Realized $81.00
Sale date: June 13th 2018
RITA BRIANSKY
Joe; Veronica Tennant; After Degas; The Tuning Fork/Wendy; Sleepy Cat
assorted media on paper (5)
“Joe” (ink on paper, signed, titled and dated 1962 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 7.25 ins); “Veronica Tennant” (ink on paper, signed, titled and dated 1976 in the lower margin - 10.5 x 8 ins); “After Degas” (charcoal on paper, signed, titled and dated 1966 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 7 ins); “The Tuning Fork/Wendy” (charcoal on paper, signed, titled and dated 1963 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 7.25 ins); “Sleepy Cat” (charcoal on paper, signed, titled and dated 1966 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 7 ins); unframed
x ins ( 0 x 0 cms )
Auction Estimate: $90.00 - $110.00
Price Realized $75.00
Sale date: July 18th 2018
RITA BRIANSKY
Self Portrait; Sylvie; Karate; Motion; Getting Dressed
assorted media on paper (5)
“Self Portrait” (coloured pencil, titled, and dated “1/4/76” in the lower margin - 13.75 x 10.25 ins); “Sylvie” (pencil on paper, signed, titled and dated 1981 in the lower margin - 11 x 12.75 ins); “Karate” (pastel on paper, signed, titled and dated 1982 in the lower margin - 13.5 x 10 ins); “Motion” (pastel on paper, signed, titled and dated 1981 in the lower margin - 13.5 x 10 ins); “Getting Dressed” (marker on paper, signed, titled and dated 1981 in the lower margin - 13.5 x 10 ins); unframed
x ins ( 0 x 0 cms )
Auction Estimate: $90.00 - $120.00
Price Realized $77.00
Sale date: December 12th 2018
RITA BRIANSKY
After Egyptian Art; Esther; David; Shirley
assorted media on paper (4 works)
“After Egyptian Art” (ink on paper, signed, titled and dated 1962 in the lower margin - 14 x 10.75 ins); “Esther” (charcoal on paper, signed, titled and dated 1969 in the lower margin - 13.5 x 10.5 ins); “David” (ink on paper, signed, titled and dated 1968 in the lower margin - 13.5 x 10 ins); “Shirley” (pastel on paper, signed, titled and dated 1969 in the lower margin - 11.75 x 8.5 ins); unframed
x ins ( 0 x 0 cms )
Auction Estimate: $90.00 - $120.00
Price Realized $65.00
Sale date: September 12th 2018
RITA BRIANSKY
Dress Rehearsal; Time Out; Wendy Playing the Recorder; Carl Sandberg
assorted media on paper (4)
“Dress Rehearsal” (ink on paper, signed, titled and dated 1976 in the lower margin - 8 x 10.5 ins); “Time Out” (ink on paper, signed, titled and dated 1976 lower margin - 10.5 x 8 ins); “Wendy Playing the Recorder” -(charcoal on paper, signed, titled and dated 1965 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 7 ins); “Carl Sandberg” (charcoal on paper, signed, titled and dated 1963 in the lower margin - 9.25 x 7 ins); unframed
x ins ( 0 x 0 cms )
Auction Estimate: $90.00 - $120.00
Price Realized $65.00
Sale date: September 12th 2018
RITA BRIANSKY
Green Apples; Laurentian Landscape
watercolours on paper (2)
“Green Apples” (signed, titled, dated 1959 in the lower margin - 7.25 x 9.25 ins); “Laurentian Landscape” (signed, titled, dated 1945 in the lower margin - 10.5 x 13.5 ins); unframed
7.25 x 9.25 ins ( 18.4 x 23.5 cms )
Auction Estimate: $75.00 - $90.00
Price Realized $59.00
Sale date: February 21st 2018
RITA BRIANSKY
The Studio; Mountain Lake
assorted media (2)
two artworks: “The Studio” (chalk and ink on paper, signed, titled and dated 1960 lower right - 9.25 x 7.25 ins); “Mountain Lake” (watercolour on paper, signed, titled and dated 1983 in the lower margin - 11.75 x 9 ins); both unframed
x ins ( 0 x 0 cms )
Auction Estimate: $75.00 - $90.00
Price Realized $58.00
Sale date: March 14th 2018
RITA BRIANSKY
Skating (Mount Royal, Beaver Lake)
oil on canvas
signed lower right
28 x 40 ins ( 71.1 x 101.6 cms )
Auction Estimate: $900.00 - $1,200.00
Price Realized $630.00
Sale date: January 31st 2023
Rita Briansky Biography
(1925)
Born in Poland, she came to Canada in 1929 and as a child was very interested in art. She studied under Alexander Bercovitch at the Y.W.H.A., 1941-2; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts under Jacques de Tonnancour, 1942-4; the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Montreal, under M. Carpentier, 1944-46; and the Art Students’ League, New York under Jan Carbino, Louis Bosa, H. Sternberg and V. Vytlacil, 1946-8.
On her Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibit of engravings in 1962, the Montreal Gazette made these comments, “Rita Briansky is particularly successful in her interpretation of childhood’s dreamy moods. All her works contain elements of tenderness and poetic sensitivity, whether her subjects embrace children, women, men, flowers and objects, or even a puppy dog . . . her work projects a quality of velvety softness due to her knowledge of degrees of light and shade.” She has sketched many of her friends and especially her daughters. She prefers to paint people she knows very well in order to interpret what lies within them.
Her media includes oils, conte, pastel and copper plate etching. Her oils are mostly in smoothly applied thin colour except where there are rugged features in the landscape. Her prints and drawings are perhaps better known. She has illustrated an anthology of children’s short stories for the Gage Publishing Company called “Rubaboo 4”. She had held one person shows at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Gallery XII, 1957, 1962; Upstairs Gallery, Toronto, 1960; Elca London Studio, Montreal, 1963, 1965; Gallery Pascal, Toronto, 1964, 1966; Artlenders, Montreal, 1964; Glenhyrst Arts Council, Brantford, Ont., 1965; West End Art Gallery, Montreal, 1966. Her group shows have included the Second International Biennial Exhibition of Prints, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, 1960-1 and the United Nations, N.Y.; Nov.-Dec., 1965. Her works are in the collection of the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Vancouver Art Gallery, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, SK; and many others.
She is a member of the Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers Society, and the Canadian Society of Graphic Art. She made the presentation print for the 50th Anniversary of the C.P.E., 1966, and her etching exhibited at the U.N. was reproduced in the 1996 UNICEF engagement calendar. She is married to J. Prezament who is a commercial artist. They live in Montreal.
Source: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume I: A-F", compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1977
