4.75 × 2 × 2 in (12.1 × 5.1 × 5.1 cm) (overall, each)
(including Buyer's Premium)
Estates of Frances Loring and Florence Wyle
"First Annual Exhibition of Canadian Art", Manoir Richelieu, Murray Bay, Quebec, 1930 "Loring and Wyle: Sculptor’s Legacy", Art Gallery of Ontario, 24 July - 18 October, 1987, no. 38, as "Small owl book-end"
In the summer of 1927, anthropologist Marius Barbeau asked Florence Wyle to travel to the West Coast (Hazelton, Kispiox, Katwanga, Hagwigel) to model totem poles, which would be shown at the National Gallery’s "Exhibition of Canadian West Coast Art: Native and Modern" (November-December 1927). Wyle didn’t want to travel on her own and invited friend, Anne Savage, with her to paint. Wyle and Savage’s sketchbooks from the trip are held at the NGC. Wyle exhibited six plaster models, but in correspondence with Barbeau stated that she also intended to send two pairs of iron book ends to the Gallery. On November 30, 1927, Barbeau responded, “The iron book ends are very nice indeed and we like them very much. I think they should be very popular in souvenir stores.”
