signed and dated 1956 lower right; signed, titled and dated on the reverse
24 × 36 in (61.0 × 91.4 cm)
Auction Estimate:$8,000 - $10,000
Sale date:November 22, 2016
Price Realized
$9,200
(including Buyer's Premium)
Provenance
Private Collection, Calgary
Literature
Roald Nasgaard, “Abstract Painting in Canada,” Toronto/Vancouver, 2007, page 109
A critical shift in Burton’s work occurred when he and fellow artist, Gordon Rayner, attended William Ronald’s first solo exhibition at Hart House in 1954. The two young visitors were greatly inspired by this show, Burton recounting: “Rayner and I went back to our studio that Sunday and painted our very first non-objective abstract painting and vowed... never to paint representationally again.” Burton’s early commitment to abstraction is evident in dynamic compositions such as musically-titled “Fluyten” (1956). Music was also an important part of Burton’s artistic oeuvre; he was a founding member of Toronto’s pioneering Artists’ Jazz Band, playing the saxophone. In the late 1950s, Burton was employed at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a senior graphic designer while continuing to create complex, captivating paintings that often incorporated elements of collage.
