Gary Peter Slipper Head Study Drawing

Updated August 7, 2026

Lot number	113
Auction	Art Auction Tuesday August 11th
Date	August 11, 2026 at 6:59 PM EDT
Auction house	Erin Auctions
Location	Erin, ON

Artist: Gary Peter Slipper, RCA (Canadian, 1934–2019) Title: Untitled Medium: Original Pen & Ink Drawing on Paper Signature: Signed lower left "Slipper" Sight Size: 10.5 x 7.5 in. Frame Size: 18.5 x 15 in. An expressive original pen and ink portrait by celebrated Canadian surrealist Gary Peter Slipper. Executed with energetic, gestural line work and confident cross-hatching, the drawing captures a contemplative female figure through a masterful economy of line. The unfinished shoulders and freely sketched hair contrast with the carefully modelled facial features, demonstrating Slipper's exceptional draftsmanship and sensitivity to form. Studies such as this reveal the artist's strong academic training while reflecting the expressive approach that became characteristic of his mature work. Artist Biography: Gary Peter Slipper, RCA (1934–2019) was born in Calgary, Alberta, and became one of Canada's distinguished twentieth-century figurative and surrealist painters. He studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts, the Vancouver School of Art, the American Academy of Art in Chicago, the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, and continued his studies in Florence, Italy. His work draws inspiration from Renaissance and Flemish painting while incorporating surrealist imagery and psychological portraiture. Slipper exhibited extensively across Canada beginning in the late 1950s and was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) in 1977. His work is represented in numerous important public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, the McCord Museum, and several other Canadian museums and institutional collections.

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