Sports Art, Curling, Montreal, Canada, Denis Wreford, 1957

Denis Wreford (1905-1988)
Curling, 1780
Montreal [?]: c. 1957
Screen print on canvas-textured paper
Signed in pencil lower right: “Denis Wreford”
Initialed in print lower right: “D. W.”
15.75 x 22 inches, printed border
16.5 x 23 inches, overall
$550

Sporting print of a late 18th century curling match (known as a bonspiel) at the foot of a snow-covered white castle — presumably a festival ice castle in Montreal, Quebec. The players, dressed in every day overcoats and top hats, curling on a simple makeshift iced over irregular surface. In the background, a brigade of redcoat soldiers is stationed, and onlookers enjoy festival amusements in the background. A bonspiel is a curling tournament, consisting of several games, often held on a weekend. Until the 20th century most bonspiels were held outdoors, on a frozen freshwater pond or loch. Today almost all bonspiels are held indoors on specially prepared artificial ice. The players slide flat-bottomed stones  toward concentric circle targets, guided by a player sweeping the ice with a broom before the stone to adjust speed. This print was issued in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Royal Montreal Curling Club in 1957. It was the first curling club — indeed the first athletic organization of any kind — established in North America.

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