Artwork by Doris Jean McCarthy,  Inuit House Against the Sunlit Distance

Doris McCarthy
Inuit House Against the Sunlit Distance

watercolour
signed lower right
22 x 30 ins ( 55.9 x 76.2 cms )

Auction Estimate: $4,000.00$3,000.00 - $4,000.00

Price Realized $3,220.00
Sale date: May 28th 2015

Provenance:
Aggregation Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, British Columbia
Literature:
Stuart Reid, “Island Sketches: Thoughts on the Watercolour Paintings of Doris McCarthy”, “Celebrating Life: The Art of Doris McCarthy”, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, 1999, page 15 (chronology) and page 212
Doris McCarthy was born in Calgary, Alberta on July 7, 1910 and travelled Canada with her family from a young age. She studied at the OCA from 1926 until 1930, and was hired by Group of Seven member, Arthur Lismer, for a teaching job at the Toronto Art Gallery.

McCarthy became well-known for her mastery of watercolours. “[Her] watercolours are straightforward works, simple and direct, in a medium that cannot conceal overworking or tentativeness...watercolour is an inherently honest medium.”

She took two year-long trips through Europe and Asia, from which she applied new-found skills and perspectives into her paintings of Canadian landscapes.



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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.