Artwork by Doris Jean McCarthy,  Bishop’s Harbour, Newfoundland

Doris McCarthy
Bishop’s Harbour, Newfoundland

oil on canvas
signed lower right; titled and dated “920705” (July 5, 1992) on the reverse
30 x 24 ins ( 76.2 x 61 cms )

Auction Estimate: $18,000.00$14,000.00 - $18,000.00

Price Realized $16,800.00
Sale date: November 22nd 2021

Provenance:
Wynick/Tuck Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Ontario
Newfoundland’s beautiful landscape of rocky shorelines, lush green hills, sparkling ocean, and charming architecture offered Doris McCarthy a veritable playground of artistic opportunity. The bright red and crisp white coastal buildings of Bishop’s Harbour pepper the landscape. Set against the chartreuse ground cover, light radiates from the canvas with the artist’s acute sense of colour and form.

McCarthy’s affection for the Newfoundland countryside provided a plethora of subject matter for the artist. Inspiration from the views overlooking the water had a profound impact on the artist and depictions of the shoreline communities have come to represent some of the artist’s most celebrated works.

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Doris Jean McCarthy
(1910 - 2010) RCA, OSA

Born in Calgary, Alberta, McCarthy attended the Ontario College of Art from 1926–1930 where she was awarded various scholarships and prizes. She became a teacher shortly thereafter and taught most frequently at Central Technical School in downtown Toronto from 1932 until she retired in 1972. She spent most of her life living and working in Scarborough, Ontario though she travelled abroad extensively and painted the landscapes of various countries including: Costa Rica, Spain, Italy, Japan, India, England and Ireland. McCarthy was probably best-known for her Canadian landscapes and her depictions of Arctic icebergs.

McCarthy's work has been exhibited and collected extensively in Canada and abroad, in both public and private art galleries including: The National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, and The Doris McCarthy Art Gallery. McCarthy also penned three autobiographies chronicling the various stages of her life: A Fool in Paradise (Toronto: MacFarlane, Walter & Ross, 1990), The Good Wine (Toronto: MacFarlane, Walter & Ross, 1991), and Ninety Years Wise (Toronto: Second Story Press, 2004). She was also the recipient of the Order of Ontario, the Order of Canada; honorary degrees from the University of Calgary, the University of Toronto, Trent University, the University of Alberta, and Nipissing University; and an honorary fellowship from the Ontario College of Art and Design. She died on November 25, 2010.