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The Ward, Toronto (circa 1910) by Peter Clapham Sheppard

Artwork by Peter Clapham Sheppard, The Ward, Toronto (circa 1910)

P.C. Sheppard
The Ward, Toronto (circa 1910)

oil on board
signed lower left; an autumn landscape on the reverse
10.5 x 8.5 ins ( 26.7 x 21.6 cms )

Auction Estimate: $4,000.00$3,000.00 - $4,000.00

Price Realized $2,150.00
Sale date: May 29th 2014

Provenance:
The Estate of the Artist.
Private Collection, Ontario.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Toronto's “St. John's Ward” was a colourful and dense collection of homes and shelters, the area roughly bound by Yonge Street, University Avenue, Queen Street and College Street. The Ward was commonly settled by immigrants arriving in the city (and frequently, the country) for the first time. The Ward captured the attention (and often the sympathies) of artists based in Toronto, Sheppard and his contemporaries (including Lawren Harris) depicted the character of the region and evoked early and imperishably beautiful images of the life within the slum.

This lot includes a framed copy of a 1925 Toronto Archives photograph of a scene in Toronto’s Ward District.

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Peter Clapham Sheppard
(1882 - 1965) OSA, RCA

Current SalesHighlightsWatch Artist

Peter Clapham Sheppard was born in Toronto on October 21, 1881. He apprenticed at engraving houses such as at Rolph, Clark, Stone Ltd. in Toronto, where he became a highly skilled lithographer. He received his art training at the Central Ontario School of Art and Design and the Ontario College of Art under George Reid, John William Beatty, and William Cruickshank. Between 1912 and 1914, he obtained nine Honours Diplomas for for painting and drawing and was awarded the Sir Edmund Walker Scholarship and the Stone Scholarship (Life Classes).

After 1912, Sheppard travelled extensively throughout Europe and the United States. He was elected a member of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1918 and an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1929. His works were shown in many of the annual R.C.A., O.S.A. and C.N.E. exhibitions, along side works by Tom Thomson, Frederick Varley and J.E.H. MacDonald. His artworks were also included in The British Empire Exhibition, Wembley 1925, L’Exposition D’Art Canadien, Paris 1927, The Exhibition of Contemporary Canadian Painting (Southern Dominions) 1936 and The World’s Fair, New York 1939. Sheppard’s work is held in collections including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Canadian War Museum and the National Gallery of Canada.

In 2010, Sheppard’s works were prominently featured in the “Defiant Spirits” exhibition at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario, curated by noted Canadian author Ross King. Powerful images such as “The Building of the Bloor Street Viaduct (1916)”, “Toronto Gasworks, (1912)” and “The Engine Home, (1919)” attested to Sheppard’s unchronicled contribution to modernism and to the city of Toronto in the formative years of its art history. P.C. Sheppard’s artwork is visible at the thirty-three second mark within this “Group of Seven: Defiant Sprits Exhibition” video - http://goo.gl/FS4C7x

(Source: The Estate of the Artist)