Lot 171: Frederick Horsman Varley 1881 - 1969 Canadian oil

Frederick Horsman Varley 1881 - 1969 Canadian oil on canvas board Rough Waters, Kootenay Lake 12 x 16 inches 30.5 x 40.6 centimeters signed and on verso titled on a label and stamped with the Varley Inventory #292 Literature:Katerina Atanassova, F.H. Varley: Portraits into the Light / Mise en lumière des portraits, 2007, page 103 Provenance:Roberts Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Vancouver Island Frederick Varley's skill with colour enabled him to command a brilliantly saturated palette, work with unusual combinations of complementary tones and to infuse his warm colours with gold. Not one to take his colour cues from what he saw, he instead sought to give his work the essence of the emotional charge he felt when painting. In this lively, bright depiction of Kootenay Lake, Varley has used a preponderance of white, lightening all his colours to their palest, most silvery hues. It is a work of blinding light, with a unique Varley-esque force conveyed through subtle blends and fine colour harmonies. Katerina Atanassova writes, "Varley insisted on seeing the true nature of colour, searching out the exact value and hue instead of resorting to formulas. In that respect he had a less structured approach than the academic painters, who used to lay colours over carefully executed drawings. Once he had defined the largest areas of colour, he made sure that the colours worked together. He never viewed colours separately, because his goal was always a harmonious blend."