Contemporary Canadian Art (Signed First Edition)

Title: Contemporary Canadian Art (The Baron of Craighall Multi-Signed Registry Copy)

BURNETT, David & SCHIFF, Marilyn
Contemporary Canadian Art.
Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, in co-operation with the Art Gallery of Ontario, 1983. First Edition. Square Quarto (10″ x 9.5″). 300pp. Bound in original publisher’s black cloth boards, spine lettered in silver. Housed in the original, unclipped pictorial dust jacket featuring Alex Colville’s landmark 1978 painting, Dog and Priest. [Lindsay Library, No. 119]

PROVENANCE & HISTORIC REGISTRY STATUS

The Personal Registry Copy of the Estate of Roger Alexander Lindsay, Baron of Craighall (Inventory No. 119). “Sourced directly from the official estate liquidation of the late Hon. Roger Lindsay, FRHSC (1941–2023) via public dispersal at Luke’s Auctions (St. Catharines, Ontario), this copy bears his distinct, private library inventory ink stamp and index mark on the rear flyleaf.—this copy bears his distinct, private library inventory ink stamp and index mark (No. 119) on the rear flyleaf.

Rather than a simple commercial monograph, this copy served as an official, tracked registry volume present at a major 1983 launch event or Art Gallery of Ontario gala. Over three monumental title pages, it aggregates close to 48 original, authenticated hand-signatures from the absolute titans of post-war Canadian realism, abstraction, and the historic Painters Eleven.

THE THREE-PAGE AUTOGRAPH REGISTER

Page Ⅰ: The Avant-Garde Opening Leaf (17 Signatures)
An exceptional gathering of seventeen period-authentic autographs. Notable artist selections from this opening registry include:

Christopher Pratt (Upper-left quadrant) – One of Canada’s most celebrated, iconic painters and printmakers; renowned for his precise, starkly geometric Atlantic realism.
Milly Ristvedt (Lower-right quadrant) – An elite Canadian abstract painter and major voice in the post-painterly color-field movement, heavily collected by public institutions.
Florence Vale (Center-right quadrant) – A crucial figure in the mid-century Toronto avant-garde, legendary for her pioneering role at the historic co-operative Artists’ Workshop.
Paul Sloggett (Lower-right corner) – Acclaimed Toronto abstract artist and long-time OCAD professor, celebrated for his architectural, structural canvas works.
Rae Johnson (Middle-left quadrant) – Pivotal figure in Canada’s 1980s figurative painting revival and co-founder of the influential Neo-Expressionist collective Chromazone.
Juan Geuer (Upper-right corner) – Highly influential Dutch-Canadian pioneer of conceptual art and science-art installations, heavily held by the National Gallery of Canada.
Brian Burnett (Middle-left quadrant) – Prominent Toronto post-modern painter highly active in the vibrant 1980s Queen Street West art movement.
Chris Broadhurst (Lower-left corner) – Respected Ontario contemporary abstract painter whose dense, color-driven works are celebrated in major public archives.

Page 2: The Title Page Register (20 Signatures)
An exceptional gathering of twenty period-authentic autographs. Notable artist selections from this opening registry include:

David Burnett
- - Location: Upper-left corner, signed in crisp blue ink directly beneath his printed author credit.
  - Historical Significance: Prominent art historian, author, and curator; served as a key curator of contemporary Canadian art at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) during the book’s launch era.
Marilyn Schiff
- - Location: Upper-right corner, signed in blue ink directly beneath her printed author credit.
  - Historical Significance: Noted art historian, educator, and co-author of this seminal monograph tracking the evolution of post-war Canadian fine art.
Wanda Koop
- - Location: Center-left quadrant, featuring a massive, iconic signature wrapped in her signature loose abstract framing line.
  - Historical Significance: One of Canada’s most internationally lauded living contemporary painters; a Winnipeg-based master of monumental, color-driven, and structurally minimalist landscapes.
Sorel Etrog
- - Location: Bottom-left corner, signed beautifully in his characteristic lowercase cursive hand with a dramatic, trailing baseline loop.
  - Historical Significance: Arguably the most famous modern sculptor in Canadian history; represented Canada at the 1966 Venice Biennale and famously designed Canada’s premier film honor, the bronze “Genie” (originally named the “Etrog”) Award statuette.
Charles Pachter
- - Location: Bottom-right corner, signed clearly by last name as “Pachter” in fluent blue ink.
  - Historical Significance: A world-renowned contemporary pop art icon, painter, and sculptor; legendary for his irreverent, highly sought-after Canadian commentary series (such as The Queen on a Moose).
Mary F. Pratt
- - Location: Center-left region, signed in crisp, elegant black fountain ink.
  - Historical Significance: A towering figure in Canadian art history; celebrated for her flawless, hyper-realistic, light-filled domestic oil paintings and print works.
Carol Sutton
- - Location: Upper-middle center, displaying a sweeping, fluid cursive layout with wide loops.
  - Historical Significance: Acclaimed contemporary abstract painter highly celebrated within the international color-field and post-painterly lyrical abstraction movements.
Takao Tanabe
- - Location: Lower-left quadrant, written in an elegant, flowing script directly below the typography blocks.
  - Historical Significance: A legendary, Order of Canada-winning master of West Coast landscape minimalism and geometric abstraction, held by every major national institution.
Pierre Théberge
- Location: Lower-center quadrant, signed in thin, running blue script.
- Historical Significance: Elite institutional art royalty; served as a historic contemporary curator at the AGO before becoming the Director of both the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the National Gallery of Canada.

Page Ⅲ: The Gala Closing Leaf (13 Signatures)

- - Carol Sutton
    - - Location: Upper-middle section, displaying a vibrant pink ink signature sweeping elegantly across the top loop.
      - Historical Significance: Acclaimed contemporary abstract painter highly celebrated within the international color-field and post-painterly lyrical abstraction movements.
  - Rita Letendre
    - - Location: Center-left region, signed in bold blue ink as “R Letendre” with her iconic, long horizontal accent underlines spanning the middle.
      - Historical Significance: An absolute giant of Canadian post-war abstraction; a member of the legendary Automatistes group in Quebec, an Order of Canada recipient, and renowned globally for her powerful, hard-edge geometric murals and light-filled canvases.
  - Alex Cameron
    - - Location: Lower-center quadrant, signed in fluid blue ink with long, expressive looping ascenders.
      - Historical Significance: A crucial Toronto painter heavily championed by the legendary collector Clement Greenberg; celebrated for his thick, vibrant, and wildly expressive neo-expressionist landscapes and abstract compositions.
  - Judith Schwarz
    - Location: Middle-left quadrant, signed cleanly as “J Schwarz” in a fluent, elegant grey pencil script.
    - Historical Significance: A highly distinguished Canadian contemporary sculptor and long-time York University professor; renowned for her large-scale, prize-winning public installations and structural steel works.

Notable selections from this final closing registry include these celebrated masters of Canadian abstraction and sculpture. The remaining fields on this leaf contain 9 additional authentic signature marks and multi-signed event notations, bringing the physical grand total inside this monumental volume to 50 verified hand-signatures from the 1983 AGO launch circle.

PRICE & INQUIRIES
Gallery Retail Price: $3,500.00 CAD
Offered exclusively by Nash Gallery. Full provenance documentation, including matching estate lot authentication records, will accompany the transfer of ownership.