Marc Barrie "High Country (Bobcat)," 1984 - Origin

Updated September 18, 2026

Lot number	69
Estimate	150.00 - 200.00 USD
Auction	October Art & Collectibles- 2-DAY Auction
Date	October 4, 2026 at 11:00 PM EDT
Auction house	Oakwood Auctions
Location	Stouffville

Marc Barrie, "High Country (Bobcat)," 1984. Original watercolour painting presenting a striking close study of a bobcat against a mist-laden mountain wilderness, signed and dated lower right "© Marc Barrie '84" and retaining its original-style engraved title plaque identifying the composition as "HIGH COUNTRY (BOBCAT) BY MARC BARRIE." Barrie places the animal prominently in the foreground, its alert expression, tufted ears, layered coat and sharply observed facial markings rendered with considerable naturalistic precision, while successive passages of conifer forest and pale, snow-dusted mountain terrain recede atmospherically into the distance. The contrast between the intensely described animal and softly veiled alpine setting gives the composition both immediacy and depth, creating the sense of a fleeting encounter with an elusive North American predator in its high-country habitat. Dated 1984, the painting belongs to an established early period of Barrie's wildlife practice - his drawings and paintings were already being publicly exhibited at Ontario's Kortright Centre in 1983. Particularly significant from a collecting standpoint, Barrie has identified acrylic as his principal painting medium while noting that he worked only occasionally in watercolour, making an original watercolour such as this a less typical example of his production. The title "High Country Bobcat" is additionally documented in limited-edition print form on the secondary market, demonstrating that the subject became part of Barrie's published wildlife imagery and enhancing the interest of the present work as an original painted example rather than a reproduction. Barrie's work continues to appear in the auction market, with multiple recorded auction offerings documented for the artist. A particularly appealing acquisition for collectors of Marc Barrie originals, Canadian and North American wildlife art, bobcat and wild-cat imagery, sporting and natural-history subjects, and late 20th-century realist wildlife painting. Watercolour measures 17" x 22 1/2"; overall framed dimensions 20 1/2" x 25 1/4". Presented under glass in a substantial wood-grain frame with green and gilt inner borders, cream matting, gilt sight edge and engraved identification plaque. The painting itself presents attractively, while the surrounding mat shows scattered age-related spotting, marks and surface discoloration and the frame exhibits minor expected wear. Not examined out of the frame.

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