Hockey Melee, 1941
Oil on canvas
36 x 42 in
91.4 x 106.7 cm
91.4 x 106.7 cm
This painting is presently on view at our Toronto gallery
$50,000
Provenance
Estate of the Artist, Detroit
Sotheby's / Ritchies, Important Canadian Art, 31 May 2004, lot 35
Private collection, United States
Heffel Fine Art Auction House, Post-War & Contemporary Art, 25 May 2016, lot 036
Private collection, British Columbia
Heffel Fine Art Auction House, Post-War & Contemporary Art, 06 November 2025, lot 1101Exhibitions
Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto and the Art Association of Montreal, Canadian Group of Painters, February 1942, no. 4.
Windsor, Art Gallery of Windsor, A Retrospective Exhibition of Selected Works by Caven Atkins Spanning Fifty Years of the Artist's Life, September 23 - October 28, 1979, no. 23.Literature
Ted Fraser, A Retrospective Exhibition of Selected Works by Caven Atkins Spanning Fifty Years of the Artist's Life (Windsor: Art Gallery of Windsor, 1975).
This dramatic, stylized painting of 1941 depicts a sequence in a hockey game between the Boston Bruins (white, gold, maroon) and what is likely the New York Americans (blue, white, red). Atkins would be depicting New York Americans player Tommy Anderson (7) and an unidentified teammate attacking the Bruins’ net, while Bruins goaltender Frank Brimsek and players Des Smith (17), Bobby Bauer (8), and Aubrey “Dit” Clapper (5) defend.
Hockey Melee, 1941 is painted in a quasi-mechanicalist style, showcasing Atkins’ training as a graphic artist and featuring elements of the “return to order” movement that emerged post-WWI, particularly the work of Leger and Picasso. It is driven by design over realistic representation; line, space, and colour are simplified, edited, and controlled to transform a chaotic event into a clear, structured visual composition.
Paintings of hockey are commonplace in art today, but few predate Hockey Melee, 1941.
The Boston Bruins were the first American team in National Hockey League, having entered in 1924. The New York Americans joined the NHL in 1925, becoming the second American team in the league and the first in New York. The franchise was renamed the Brooklyn Americans for the 1941-42 season and then ceased operations due to a combination of debt and a depleted war-time roster.
Hockey Melee, 1941 is painted in a quasi-mechanicalist style, showcasing Atkins’ training as a graphic artist and featuring elements of the “return to order” movement that emerged post-WWI, particularly the work of Leger and Picasso. It is driven by design over realistic representation; line, space, and colour are simplified, edited, and controlled to transform a chaotic event into a clear, structured visual composition.
Paintings of hockey are commonplace in art today, but few predate Hockey Melee, 1941.
The Boston Bruins were the first American team in National Hockey League, having entered in 1924. The New York Americans joined the NHL in 1925, becoming the second American team in the league and the first in New York. The franchise was renamed the Brooklyn Americans for the 1941-42 season and then ceased operations due to a combination of debt and a depleted war-time roster.