Artwork by Doris Jean McCarthy,  Fishing Village

Doris McCarthy
Fishing Village

double-sided oil on board
signed lower left; an oil sketch depicting a shoreline village with figures and ducks on the reverse
11.5 x 13.5 ins ( 29.2 x 34.3 cms )

Auction Estimate: $10,000.00$8,000.00 - $10,000.00

Price Realized $10,800.00
Sale date: December 6th 2023

Provenance:
Acquired directly from the Artist
By descent to the present Private Collection, Toronto
Literature:
Murray Whyte, ‘Doris McCarthy exhibit speaks to the artist as lover of life’, “Toronto Star”, June 27, 2010
Born in Calgary and raised in Toronto, Doris McCarthy is recognized as one of Canada’s foremost landscape painters. In a 2004 interview with Harold Klunder, the artist remarked: “I was influenced very strongly by the tradition of going out into nature and painting what was there. I bought it. And I still buy it.” Throughout her career Doris McCarthy enjoyed many painting adventures across Canada and abroad. She went on multiple trips to villages in Newfoundland, Quebec and the Arctic to paint its wide-ranging scenery. Here, McCarthy presents a scene of an active fishing village, filled with fishing huts, barrels, boats and docks. On the reverse of the panel is another fishing village scene, likely the same location, and this time with a human and animal presence.

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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.