Description:

Ronald Langley Bloore (1925-2009), Canadian
UNTITLED (X ON WHITE), 1988

oil on hardboard
dated verso
48 x 35.75 in — 121.9 x 90.8 cm

Estimate: $7,000—9,000 CAD

  • Provenance: Moore Gallery Ltd., Hamilton, ON
    Private Collection, Toronto, ON
  • Dimensions: 48 x 35.75 in — 121.9 x 90.8 cm
  • Medium: oil on hardboard
  • Notes: In 1962, Bloore received a Canada Council Senior Arts Fellowship Grant, allowing him to live and work abroad for a year. He travelled to Greece, Turkey, and Egypt, encountering numerous archaeological vestiges and remains. The shock was deep, and upon his return in 1963 Bloore disposed of his earlier works. Only a few of his paintings made before this date are extant, preserved in the National Gallery of Art in Ottawa. Bloore turned to a visual language shaped by the geometric forms and spiritual resonance of ancient architecture. His compositions are often expressed through delicate variations of white blend rhythmic textures with sculptural lines, creating a balanced and contemplative visual space.[1]

    David Burnett wrote on Ronald Langley Bloore and his works: “[He] set rigorous parameters within which to work: a surely constructed abstraction limited in colour – white, blue, red, but above all, white and using with it a simple range of geometric forms. Many of his paintings comprise only linear forms; others include stars, circles, arches, or triangles, forms he has described as “symbol-like elements,” not because he proposes specific meaning by them but because they are forms deeply embedded in the history of art. In structural terms, he has been greatly influenced by architectural forms, particularly those of ancient civilizations, whose currency has never been devalued.”[2]

    Untitled (X On White), 1988, comes from the artist’s period of full artistic maturity. The restricted white colour palette is combined with the symbolic X partially repeated on the left part of the canvas. This large work, kept in private collections since its purchase, was probably shown at the Moore Gallery, Hamilton, in 1988 in the exhibition Ronald Bloore, Recent Paintings.

    [1] National Gallery of Art, Canada, accessed April 8th, https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/ronald-bloore
    [2] David Burnett, Masterpieces of Canadian Art from the National Gallery of Canada, p. 162.
  • Condition: Good overall condition.
    Very minor areas of paint loss throughout.

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28 May 2026 17:00 EDT
Toronto, ON, CA

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Bid Increments
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CA$0 CA$199 CA$10
CA$200 CA$499 CA$20
CA$500 CA$999 CA$50
CA$1,000 CA$1,999 CA$100
CA$2,000 CA$4,999 CA$200
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