Two sons curate a father’s passionate collection
Optometrist Marty Osler had a trained eye for art
Canadian art collector Marty Osler (left) at the opening night party for his shop ‘Les Galeries Bigue-Osler’ in Toronto in the 1970s.
In the 1970s and ‘80s, optometrist Dr. Martin (Marty) Osler was Toronto’s ‘optometrist to the stars,’ a moniker he earned fitting actors with special effects contact lenses for film work. His days off saw him travelling the highways and byways of Canada and the U.S. seeking out art, including folk and outsider art (made by self-taught artists). Very soon he developed a reputation as one of Canada’s most revered collectors of the art forms. His younger son Mark calls his father’s decades of collecting “an obsession”. His thrill was in the hunt.
Now 81, Marty has begun a process that many collectors never want to think about: the process of selling more of what he collected. On Oct. 8th, 2022 collectors across North America will watch as Miller & Miller Auctions offers a wide cross-section of Marty Osler’s massive collection in its Canadiana & Folk Art sale. According to Marty’s two adoring sons, Brian and Mark Osler, their father warmly anticipates the prospect.
“It took Dad a few years to come to this,” explains Brian. “But once he found out how thrilled buyers were to have some of his treasures, he was happy.”
Marty collected every artistic object his trained eye led him to, from the brilliance of farmer-cum-lumberjack, cum-prospector, cum-barber, cum-sculptor Ewald Rentz’s erotic carvings to the outsider ‘yard art’ of Quebec’s Edmund Chatigny and the ethereal paintings of Alabama artist Moses Tolliver. Marty’s collection of folk and outsider art is truly world class.
The Osler boys had a front row seat during their father’s passionate collecting journey. While Brian admits that as ‘youngins’ they might have felt “dragged around” on what seemed like an endless pursuit, he and his brother grew to appreciate their father’s passions.
“Dad wanted to collect everything,” laughs Mark, the younger of the two brothers. “How about coming home from school one day and finding 100 carved ducks on the lawn?”
In time, Marty’s collection outgrew his tiny home. “Dad’s treasures were everywhere—room after room, stuffed,” he recounts. However, just as a bathtub finds its level, Marty’s College Street optometry office became the logical safe haven for overflow. “Gradually the office became as full as the home, with Maud Lewis and Maurice Cullen paintings on the walls, Ewald Rentz’s sculptures in the corners, and more of all of it than you could ever imagine”, Mark recalls.
This Coastline Watercolour Portrait by Maurice Galbraith Cullen is offered as Lot 324 in the October 8th sale.
“Cat” by Mose Tolliver is offered as Lot 331 in the October 8th sale.
In managing his father’s optometry office for a number of years, Mark got to see the effect of his collecting on patients. “They told me that if they had an appointment with Marty in the morning, they wouldn’t schedule anything else until later in the afternoon. Some would be in the office visiting with Marty’s collection for three hours,” laughs Mark.
“And it wasn’t that unusual,” he adds “that Dad’s patients would bring a friend along to their appointment so the friend could take a tour while they were waiting.”
“Marty was adored by all,” the brothers concur.
The doctor’s retirement from practice meant even more time for collecting. “In the old days it was travelling from show to show,” offers Brian. “In his later years, of course, it became all online.”
Marty collected everything from pressed steel and cast iron toys to First Nations beadwork and textiles. But collecting was only part of the Osler story.
“Collecting was his life’s passion, but it was just part of his journey,” insists Mark. “Marty wanted to know everything about the artists who had created the pieces he collected. The story behind the artist was as dear to him as the piece itself.”
One example is the work of Beardmore, Ontario sculptor Ewald Rentz. Rentz was a farmer, turned lumberjack, turned prospector, turned camp cook, turned barber whose creations and story fascinated Marty. Twelve of his whimsical creations are featured in Miller & Miller’s Oct. 8th sale.
Sculptor Ewald Rentz loved to sing and play the accordion or ukulele for people, and he created foot activated dancers to accompany his performances. One of these sculptures is offered as lot 266 in the upcoming sale.
‘The Two Dancers’ is featured as lot 266 in the October 8th sale at Miller & Miller.
Marty was far ahead of his time appreciating and collecting outsider art, say the brothers. Quebec outsider artist Edmund Chatigny’s yard art caught their father’s fancy long before it was trendy. One of Chatigny’s extravagant ‘found art’ sculptures is highlighted in the sale.
This ‘Owl Perched on Stake’ by Edmond Chatigny is featured as lot 37 in the October 8th sale.
By 2020, Marty had begun to contemplate paring down his extensive collection. Naturally, the enormous task fell to his two sons. They called on Miller & Miller Auctions, who in collaboration with specialist Peter Baker, launched two exclusive landmark sales featuring The Marty Osler Collection.
While admitting the job could have caused division between them, the Osler brothers indicate the task has brought them closer together. “And it has been a journey of exploration—learning, reading about the artists and of course, talking to Marty about his collection.”
And as the curating began, the brothers discovered art in some forgotten corner, some of which had not seen the light of day for 50 years, Mark recalls.
“We were moving stuff from a room that was jam-packed and what magically appeared at the back was a three-foot-high carving of Big Bird from Sesame Street. I’d never seen that before.”
‘Big Bird’ by Ewald Rentz is featured as lot 270 in the sale.
Far from being melancholy about the dispersal of his passions, Marty has delighted in the response. “We watched the previous two auctions online and spent the whole time texting each other about this piece and that,” recalls Brian. “And I can honestly say that it was the best day of Marty’s collecting life. He was delighted that people were so interested.” And the letters, phone calls and texts that flowed in to him after the sale were only the icing on the cake. Marty was elated that his life of collecting was being so appreciated by other collectors, say his sons.
Thanks to their father, Brian and Mark Osler have their own collections, picking their personal favourites from his collection. Brian points to the exceptional Cree Tribe Beaded Vest (c. 1890). “It is fabulous, a truly outstanding piece of work but I have no place in my own home to display it, and it should be marvelled at by others.” Mark’s favoured treasures are from Marty’s collection of outsider art. “Steve Such, Purvis Young and Mose Tolliver’s works just speak to me,” he says.
By Nancy Silcox
Nancy Silcox, of New Hamburg, is a former teacher and university counsellor. She has written 14 books, most of them historical biographies.
AUCTION DETAILS:
Canadiana & Folk Art
Featuring the Jim Fleming, Susan Murray and Marty Osler Collections
October 8, 2022. 9am EST.
Did you enjoy this story? Feel free to share it using the links below.