Lot 115: OSCAR CAHÉN 1916 - 1956

OSCAR CAHÉN 1916 - 1956 UNTITLED signed in pencil lower right Oscar Cahén; numbered WC 130-4 and titled on a label on the reverse black ink and watercolour on paper 66.0 by 101.6 cm 26 by 40 in.

Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, Toronto, 2007, p. 98

Iris Nowell, Painters Eleven, The Wild Ones of Canadian Art, Toronto, 2010, p. 143

Drabinsky Gallery, Toronto

Gallery Moos, Toronto

Cahén arrived from Europe in 1947, bringing with him a knowledge of avant-garde art movements there. Through his close friendship with Harold Town particularly, he came to influence and stimulate the artists in Toronto who became Painters Eleven. Roald Nasgaard noted that Cahén was considered to be not only the most sophisticated but also the most experienced of the members of Painters Eleven, having exhibited in Europe since 1934. His premature death in 1956 in a car accident (a coincidental parallel to Jackson Pollock) was a devastating blow to the budding artistic community.

Cahén's art rarely appears at auction. His crucial importance, as the studies of his generation of artists is revisited, is now being recognized more fully, and his strong and compelling work has now drawn a large following among collectors, curators and critics.