Gregory Richard Curnoe, Homage to Sam Langford, ten lithographs on Arches paper, 1970

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Homage to Sam Langford, 1970

ten lithographs on Arches paper

Ten lithographs: one three-colour lithograph, with hand-stamped fourth colour, on Arches paper (cover page); two seven-colour, five six-colour, and two five-colour lithographs on Arches paper each lithograph with a stamped signature, numbered “15/50” and inscribed “NS109” through “NS112” on the reverse; presented within “The Maple Leaf Foolscap Tablet” cover which is titled and dated “Feb 1/70” lower centre; unframed Collaborating Printer: Robert Rogers

12.75 × 7.75 in (32.4 × 19.7 cm) (sheet)

Auction Estimate:$1,500 - $2,000

Sale date:October 24 - November 7, 2023

Price Realized

$1,920

(including Buyer's Premium)

Provenance

NSCAD Lithography Workshop, NSCAD University, Halifax

Literature

Jayne Wark, "Conceptual Lithography at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design", Journal of Canadian Art History, 2009, page 64 Garry Neill Kennedy, “The Last Art College: Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 1968-1978”, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax/The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England, 2012, page 40 ; illustrated page 40

"As Eric Cameron has noted, by emulating this Tamarind ideal, the NSCAD Lithography Workshop produced spectacular technical achievements during its first two years. These included a print by Toronto artist Gordon Rayner involving the application of twelve colours in fifteen bands at a different angle on each of four plates, as well as a print by Washington artist Gene Davis with the unprecedented number of twenty-two colours. Another complex project was made by Greg Curnoe, the London, Ontario artist who, despite having harshly criticized NSCAD as an outpost of American art, came to Halifax in February 1970 and produced a highly innovative suite of ten lithographs imitating a writing pad with typed notes recounting his visit."