MYSTERY SCULPTURE

On April 19 2009, I quoted from the Hamilton Spectator:

Is it or isn't it?

The buzz around this Saturday's 39th annual Dundas Valley School of Art auction, or at least one of the buzzes, is whether a certain unsigned painting, dated "1921 Canada," might actually be by Lawren Harris, of Group of Seven fame. The painting has the look, and DVSA executive director Arthur Greenblatt says, "Some people believe it's a Harris."He's not saying whether he's one of them.And, of course, there are skeptics, too.But, adds Greenblatt, "There's no way to know for sure."

I went on from there, followed by another piece in the paper after the auction ended, giving the results.

This year, they said I’d never do it again but they were wrong. We have the Mystery Sculpture for sale tomorrow night at our 40th Annual Art Auction.

Here’s the story:

In the mid-1950's, Canadian sculptor William McElcheran joined a Toronto Architectural firm as a Liturgical Designer. As an artist of remarkable inventiveness, his influence bears heavily on the work of this period in both the building and furniture design. McElcheran's influence continued into the early sixties when he left the firm to devote himself full-time to sculpture.In addition to the many churches, McElcheran's influence was quite evident in the McMaster Divinity College and Chapel (1958). His work there is generally highly regarded and may have been instrumental in bringing the firm work at Mount Allison University in the sixties.

This beautiful, Mid-century piece, believed to be "St. Francis of Assisi and Other Saints" was brought into a Hamilton repair shop in the late 80’s in need of a new head for the Saint.
The head was not completed until 2009 (by DVSA), and the piece was never called for by the original customer.

It was said at the time it was left for repair, to be church work done by McElcheran. The artist’s name and the title were written on the back of the piece at that time by the repair shop.

It has been sitting in storage since the late 1980’s. It has been in my office since 2005.

I have shown the piece to the architectural firm in Toronto where he worked, and they do not recognize the piece as theirs, but said it was surly possible that he had done it.

It doesn’t look like the work we know he did as a sculptor, which is mostly portly bronze businessmen on downtown street corners in Calgary, Montreal, and even one at the Hamilton International Airport.

I spoke with the Toronto Gallery that handles the work of his estate, and while they didn’t recognize the style as his, the title was a real giveaway fro them, because, it was said, “Before Bill became a Buddhist; he was really into Saint Francis!” "Quite possibly he could have done it, the style is clearly the late 50's and early 60's".

Clearly a great Mid-century style, this wooden relief piece, with the repaired head, is our Mystery Sculpture.