Robert Tait McKenzie
Blighty , 1916 (Executed)
Lot #62 |
2011-05-26 |
Sotheby's, Toronto
Canadian Art
Category:
Sculpture
Estimate:
CAD 10,000 - 15,000 (currency of sale)
USD 10,226 - 15,339 (approx.)
Price Sold:
Auction Details
Auction house: Sotheby's
Auction number: T00138
Auction name: Canadian Art
Auction type: Fine Art
Location: Toronto
Start date: 2011-05-26
Currency: CAD
Source:
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Lot Description
Details
Genre: Sculpture
Department: Sculpture & 3D Art
Medium: Login to view
Dimensions: 27.9 by 19.1 by 39.4 cm. 11 by 7 ½ by 15 ½ in.
Item measurements:
Height In Centimeters:
39.4
Width In Centimeters:
27.9
Depth In Centimeters:
19.1
Height In Inches:
15.512
Width In Inches:
10.984
Depth In Inches:
7.48
Markings: Login to view
Signed: Login to view
Year notes: Executed in 1916.
Provenance
Freeman's Auctioneers, Philadelphia, June 22, 2008, lot 71 Private Collection, Montreal
Literature
Christopher Hussey, Tait McKenzie, A Sculptor of Youth, 1930, p. 56, plates 48 and 49, for Blighty, reproduced Catalogue Note McKenzie, a medical doctor,  was known for his bronzes of athletic males. Blighty , a "soldier home on leave",  was modelled from life in 1915 when McKenzie saw a group of Seaforth Highlanders on leave enjoying a smoke. Christopher Hessey comments on a clay maquette of Blighty : ...the figure embodies the spirit which carried England through the early winters of the war, the spirit melodized in those wistful comic songs about "Home Fires Burning" Blighty is a maquette for The Volunteer, 1923, an 8 foot bronze at the Rosamond War Memorial, Almonte, Canada, commemorating Alec R. Rosamond, head of the Rosamond Woolen Mills, who had volunteered in 1914 and was killed at Courcellette. A related figure of Blighty is in the Queen's Collection at Balmoral.
Catalog summary
Robert Tait McKenzie Blighty 1916 signed © R. Tait McKenzie , dated and inscribed ROMAN BRONZE WORKS IN N.Y. on the base bronze 27.9 by 19.1 by 39.4 cm. 11 by 7 ½ by 15 ½ in. Provenance Freeman's Auctioneers, Philadelphia, June 22, 2008, lot 71 Private Collection, Montreal Literature Christopher Hussey, Tait McKenzie, A Sculptor of Youth, 1930, p. 56, plates 48 and 49, for Blighty, reproduced Catalogue Note McKenzie, a medical doctor,  was known for his bronzes of athletic males. Blighty , a "soldier home on leave",  was modelled from life in 1915 when McKenzie saw a group of Seaforth Highlanders on leave enjoying a smoke. Christopher Hessey comments on a clay maquette of Blighty : ...the figure embodies the spirit which carried England through the early winters of the war, the spirit melodized in those wistful comic songs about "Home Fires Burning" Blighty is a maquette for The Volunteer, 1923, an 8 foot bronze at the Rosamond War Memorial, Almonte, Canada, commemorating Alec R. Rosamond, head of the Rosamond Woolen Mills, who had volunteered in 1914 and was killed at Courcellette. A related figure of Blighty is in the Queen's Collection at Balmoral.