Lot 224
OTTO DONALD ROGERS
Note:
Painted in 1961.
According to the artist, “This painting is very rich in colour and texture with a dramatic sense of light. It is one of my best works, likely the very best, from the early 1960’s. As can be seen by the work a strong influence at the time was Paul-Emile Borduas, and to a lesser extent Jean Paul Riopelle. The painting is of some historical interest because it was among the first works that the New York critic Clement Greenberg saw on his first visit to Western Canada. He told me at the time, and stated the same in Canadian Art magazine, that I was an artist of real ability combined with the ambition to create important work. He said that such work deserves an international reputation. He also said that because of this strength I didn’t need to be over-influenced by the New York abstract expressionists which at the time he saw in my work. As pointed out above the stronger influence was Canadian in origin, and this work today seems very fresh, influenced yes, but more original than derivative.”