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Snap No. 17, 1972–73

Abstract painting by Harold Town with a textured background of vertical and horizontal lines overlaid with blue and red circles and a central irregular shape.

Harold Town, Snap No. 17, 1972–73, oil and lucite on canvas, 182.9 x 182.9 cm, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto.

To quote the critic Gary Michael Dault, Town’s Snap series of paintings are “excruciatingly demanding pictures formed an eighth of an inch at a time.” He applied the pigment by stretching a string in front of the canvas, loading it with paint, and then snapping it against the picture surface. Each element in the painting is highly ambiguous, and together they create an illusory, fictional space. The overall concern is with richness of colour and powerful impact: the painting engulfs the viewer and dominates any setting within which it is placed.

Gallery

Abstract painting by Harold Town made of colliding diagonal lines filled with solid areas of colour in mostly red, orange, and green.

Day Neon (detail), 1953

Mixed-media collage by Harold Town featuring materials including peg board, paper labels, and an Oriental fan, with red, blue, and yellow paint dribbled down the composition.

Music Behind, 1958–59

Sparse brush and ink drawing by Harold Town of a panther attacking a naked man who is seen from behind. An empty birdcage is to the left of the figures with the bird hovering above them.

Bacchante Threatened by a Panther, 1959

Abstract painting by Harold Town made up of black, white, blue, and red framing elements around a solid yellow centre.

Inoutscape, 1960

Abstract painting by Harold Town with grey diagonal shapes in front of a dark background filled with a subtle pattern of small circles and dots.

Tyranny of the Corner (Sashay Set), 1962

Abstract painting by Harold Town with a dark background featuring nebulae made up of dashes and waves and a foreground of repeating orange discs and light yellow lines.

Festival, 1965

Abstract painting by Harold Town with a textured background of vertical and horizontal lines overlaid with blue and red circles and a central irregular shape.

Snap No. 17, 1972–73

Painting by Harold Town of a galloping horse made up of abstract geometric shapes that evoke machinery. A solid orange background surrounds the horse.

Toy Horse No. 184, 1979

Abstract painting by Harold Town of a man wearing a bright striped coat sitting at a desk and writing. The desk is on top of a larger dining table, surrounded by tall chairs, and a dog sleeps underneath. An abstract red shape is seen in the background.

Spengler Writing The Decline of the West at His Desk on Top of the Kitchen Table, 1980

Abstract painting by Harold Town made of colliding diagonal lines filled with solid areas of colour in mostly red, orange, and green.

Day Neon (detail), 1953

Mixed-media collage by Harold Town featuring materials including peg board, paper labels, and an Oriental fan, with red, blue, and yellow paint dribbled down the composition.

Music Behind, 1958–59

Sparse brush and ink drawing by Harold Town of a panther attacking a naked man who is seen from behind. An empty birdcage is to the left of the figures with the bird hovering above them.

Bacchante Threatened by a Panther, 1959

Abstract painting by Harold Town made up of black, white, blue, and red framing elements around a solid yellow centre.

Inoutscape, 1960

Abstract painting by Harold Town with grey diagonal shapes in front of a dark background filled with a subtle pattern of small circles and dots.

Tyranny of the Corner (Sashay Set), 1962

Abstract painting by Harold Town with a dark background featuring nebulae made up of dashes and waves and a foreground of repeating orange discs and light yellow lines.

Festival, 1965

Abstract painting by Harold Town with a textured background of vertical and horizontal lines overlaid with blue and red circles and a central irregular shape.

Snap No. 17, 1972–73

Painting by Harold Town of a galloping horse made up of abstract geometric shapes that evoke machinery. A solid orange background surrounds the horse.

Toy Horse No. 184, 1979

Abstract painting by Harold Town of a man wearing a bright striped coat sitting at a desk and writing. The desk is on top of a larger dining table, surrounded by tall chairs, and a dog sleeps underneath. An abstract red shape is seen in the background.

Spengler Writing The Decline of the West at His Desk on Top of the Kitchen Table, 1980

Snap No. 17 - Art Canada