Auction Report Fall 2022

After being forced online by the pandemic, it was exciting to note the return of in-person action at recent art auctions. But online platforms continued to play a prominent role in the season’s sales. What stood out was that collectors were selecting works based on quality – not just the name of the artist – paying high values for incredible works, while passing on lesser ones. In all, it was positive news for Canadian art, which is generally undervalued.

Levis: Calgary

This online sale at Levis featured a cross section of Canadian art, from historical to contemporary. Despite active online bidding, collectors were choosing carefully, displaying a tempered attitude with many works. Interestingly, my favourites were by Western artists – a positive note for Calgary’s scene.

They include Tavern, by Maxwell Bates, sold for $7,500. This simple moody painting seems to tell a story.

H.G. Glyde’s Mount Lougheed, Canmore, Alberta sold for $11,000. Full of colour, light and rhythm, it captures a perfect day.

Ted Godwin’s Fall - Kananaskis and Beaver Pond - Kananaskis sold for $7,000 and $8,500, respectively. Both are excellent small panels that Godwin painted in the mid- to late-1970s.

Illingworth Kerr’s Foothill Road, Winter Night sold for $12,000. This perfect nocturne, one of Kerr’s most sought-after subjects, was well-loved by a wonderful Calgary collector.

Dinosaur Park, by Toronto artist Doris McCarthy, sold for $2,200. It was an astute buy, as it is one of the best paintings from her adventures in the Alberta Badlands. McCarthy was born in Calgary.

W.J. Phillips’ The Stream in Winter, a stunning work on paper, sold for $22,000. His Mount Rundle, a woodcut print, sold for $11,000.

For further results, visit the Levis website.

Heffel: Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal

Heffel’s post-war and contemporary art sale got off to a brisk start and continued to get better.

William Perehudoff’s Zephrus #2 sold for $157,250, a well-deserved record price for him. It is a classic from 1967 with strong floating colours. It’s interesting that this painting followed the sale of a brilliant minimal Jack Bush, Blue, Red #4, from 1969, which sold for $481,250. 

Quebec artist Marcelle Ferron’s 1962 Sans titre sold for $1.8 million, a record for her. Heffel called the large canvas a “showstopper” and cited its “museum quality.” The painting was immaculately maintained by a loving private collector for many years. Its scale and energy are stunning. A brilliant buy.

Andy Warhol’s Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom sold for $1.1 million – a record for an editioned print by the American artist. The portrait is from his original Reigning Queens portfolio of 16 prints – four images of each of four female monarchs who were at the helm in 1985. The coveted print of Queen Elizabeth is decorated with diamond dust, adding to its value. This print, along with the three other Warhol silkscreens of the British monarch, were shown at a 2012 exhibition at Windsor Castle titled The Queen: Portraits of a Monarch. 

The sale included a selection of other fine contemporary works by artists such as Rita Letendre, Jean McEwen, Ozias Leduc, Joe Fafard and Jean Paul Riopelle.

The Canadian impressionist and modern art on offer included David Milne’s 1914 Gay Fabric, which sold for $181,250. It’s a fabulous watercolour of his wife, Patsy. Bold and brilliant for the time, it came a year after his debut at the Armory Show in New York City.

Regina Seiden, a member  of the Beaver Hall group in Montreal, was married to fellow painter Eric Goldberg. Her Marketplace sold for $115,250, a well-deserved record sale. Both she and Goldberg merit more recognition.

House in the Ward, Winter, City Painting No. 1, by Lawren Harris, fetched more than $2.5 million. This large, bold winter scene sold in 1994 at Sotheby’s Canada for $107,250, clear evidence his work has seen a strong upswing, especially for major paintings. Meanwhile, his Arctic Sketch XV sold for a little over $2 million. This, as well as his From Berg Lake Evening, came from the same private collection. They are truly stunning . That said, my preference is for his on-site sketches and paintings – immediate moments captured at incredible places – rather than over-developed studio paintings. I also admire his 1931 work, At St. John’s, Newfoundland, which sold for $103,250.

Tom Thomson’s Moccasin Flower or Orchids, Algonquin Park sold for $1.5 million. Art historian Joan Murray has called it “an icon of Canadian art, a national treasure.”

Other standouts included works by J.W. Morrice, Frederick Varley and Helen McNicoll.

Heffel had a lively room of collectors, plus phone and digital bids, which led to positive returns.

Two days later, Heffel presented eight online sessions that were individually titled and closed at different times. Taken together they comprised a large sale with notable passes.

At the Canadian winter sale portion, T. Harold Beament’s wonderful Elderly Iceberg sold for $16,250. Snow in the Hills, Turner Valley No. 2, a 1977 painting by Illingworth Kerr, sold for $1,875. The buyer bought a wonderful work for a good price, not always the case with Kerr. Western Canadian secondary markets have seen values of $5,000 to $10,000 for his strong paintings from the 1970s.

Meanwhile, the Alex Colville portion included historical serigraphs and sketches for major paintings. His Study for Night Walk sold for $32,500. This incredible full-colour piece, a precursor for one of his best mysterious paintings, was a worthwhile purchase for an astute collector.

For more results, visit Heffel’s website.

BYDealers: Montreal

It’s always interesting to watch the BYDealers auction in Montreal. As usual, it included a selection of Quebec abstract painters not always seen at other sales. Although bidders showed interest in many works, I noted several sale values below the low estimate and at least 20 passed lots.

Marcella Maltais’ Untitled sold for $27,600. A large painting with great colour and contrast, it came from a private Montreal collection.

Marcelle Ferron’s 1956 Untitled sold for $96,000. Paintings by Ferron, a leader within Montreal’s  women automatistes, did well this season. This small bold painting was worthy of the attention and came with one-owner provenance from a private collection.

An untitled 1980 painting by Alex Janvier sold for $87,000. This large lyrical work came from the personal collection of Walter and Martha Moos, who ran the Moos Gallery in Toronto, the first dealer in Central Canada to believe in Janvier’s work. Walter had a good eye and chose excellent pieces by Janvier. 

Conceal Honestly No. 4, by Ron Martin, sold for $150,000 – well over the estimate of $60,000 to $80,000. This large and layered black painting had excellent provenance from the former Carmen Lamanna Gallery in Toronto, which exhibited many of Martin’s works in the 1970s. Lamanna always presented cutting-edge contemporary art. This was a beauty. 

For further results, visit the BYDealers website.

Hodgins: Calgary

Hodgins’ online sale offered some interesting paintings, including a few outstanding rare pieces. The sale did well, with only 19 passed works from the list of 246 pieces.

Illingworth Kerr’s Aldersyde, Winter Night sold for $9,360. This small 1972 nocturne, painted when Kerr was in his most prolific period, was a perfect purchase.

Janet Mitchell’s Lively City Scene sold for $6,435. It was nice to see this full-sheet watercolour imbued with the best of her imagination sell so well.

The Chinook, by Henry Glyde, sold for $12,870. This was one of Glyde’s wonderful allegorical images with figures floating with the chinook winds to create a rare and beautiful painting. Another Glyde painting, Mountain Forms, sold for $15,210. This larger canvas was likely developed in Canmore, Alta., and features the engine bridge from Canmore Mines. An astute collector made a good purchase.

Dale Auger’s Smoke sold for $7,020. Auger was a brilliant Indigenous artist who died too young. His haunting image of perfect size and colour caught my eye.

As always, it was good to see fine works by Saskatchewan artists Dorothy Knowles and Wynona Mulcaster sell well. Overall, I was impressed with the results and the consignments.

For further results, visit the Hodgins website.

Cowley Abbott: Toronto

This live sale with online and phone bidding had two parts. The first consisted of consignments of historical, modern and contemporary works from various collections.

J.E.H. MacDonald’s Stormy Weather, Georgian Bay sold for $55,200. This tiny stunning 1912 panel, painted from Toronto ophthalmologist James MacCallum’s island in Go Home Bay, is full of emotion. MacCallum, of course, was one of the most important patrons of the Group of Seven. It went for $40,000 over the high estimate.

James W. Morrice’s undated Study for ‘Neige, Canada’ sold for $408,000. The painting was consigned by a Manitoba collector at what proved to be the perfect time. The small panel sold well above the high estimate of $70,000, setting the tone for an incredible auction.

Terre feconde by Rita Letendre sold for $264,000. The brilliant canvas was originally sold in Toronto by the former Dorothy Cameron Gallery. Cameron was a visionary who challenged staid Toronto collectors, and even the morality police, with modern art.

Marcelle Ferron’s Sans titre – this one from 1960 – sold for almost $1.3 million. The large canvas was originally acquired by the Peter Stuyvesant collection in Amsterdam. It returned to Canada in 2010, selling for $485,500 at Sotheby’s.

Although some passes occurred throughout the sale – including a beautiful Mary Pratt –  fine results were achieved for choice works, notably three by Maud Lewis.

The second part of the Cowley Abbott sale featured an important – and stunning – private collection by a couple who started collecting in the early 1960s. It included a range of pieces, from early historical works to the Group of Seven. More of the collection is coming to market later this year.

Arthur Lismer’s Lake Superior - Pic Island sold for $312,000. Charles Hill, former curator of Canadian art at the National Gallery of Canada, wrote excellent essays for the catalogue, placing many works in context.

Frederick Varley’s Snow in the Mountains, Garibaldi Park sold for $144,000. It is a stunning small panel that is full of life.

Petawawa Gorges, by Tom Thomson, sold for $2.2 million. With these three lots, it was clear the sale was attracting significant attention from collectors in the live audience, as well as phone and online bidders.

Lionel Fitzgerald’s Still Life with Plant sold for $168,000 – a record for the artist.

Adrien Hebert’s The Eaton’s Window, Montreal sold for $408,000. This incredible urban Christmas scene set a record for him.

J.W.G. (Jock) Macdonald’s Drying Herring Roe, also sold for $408,000. A stunning perspective view of a Mowachaht village at Nootka on the West Coast, it set yet another record for his work.

David Milne’s Young Cedars sold for $792,000.

James W. Morrice’s Neige, Canada (Snow, Canada), circa 1905, sold for almost $1.3 million – a well-deserved record for Morrice. The study for this painting sold earlier in the day for $408,000.

Emily Carr’s The Totem of the Bear and the Moon, 1912, sold for $3.1 million. Painted in Kispiox, a Gitxsan village north of Hazelton, B.C., this colourful vertical painting was astounding.

Edith Schreiber with her Sleigh by Charlotte Mount Brock Schreiber sold for $138,000. This charming early Canadian subject, originally sold by G. Blair Laing, a former dealer in Toronto, achieved a well-deserved record price.

Paul Kane’s Ojibwa Camp in the Spider Islands sold for more than $1 million. This incredible piece of Canada’s history was owned by Kane’s family until 1980. It was painted from sketches made during a self-directed canoe trip.

A.Y. Jackson’s Tadenac, November sold for $936,000 – a record for his work.

Indeed, 12 records were set and one more was matched. Throughout the sale the bidding was active and adventurous, ably handled by auctioneer Robert Cowley. What a night!

For more, visit the Cowley Abbott website.

Waddington’s: Toronto

Waddington’s broke their online-only auction into four sections, including a Canadian fine art section that included Paul Peel’s Portrait of a Woman, which sold for $36,000. This small delicate 1885 painting is a perfect example of Peel’s talent. Light and colour are sensitively revealed.

Granada, Spain, by Frederick Banting, sold for $28,800. The collector who bought this oil sketch obviously had an eye for bold colour. It is well done but not a typical image for an artist who associated with the Group of Seven and other Canadian landscape painters.

Peter Clapham Sheppard’s Horticultural Building, Canadian National Exhibition sold for $33,600. His art, not of great interest a decade ago, has shown steadily rising values. This small detailed panel is a perfect example of why he deserves attention.

Louis De Niverville’s Le roi s'amuse, a large diptych full of fascinating imagery, sold for $10,260. 

Harold Klunder’s Bell Krater sold for $11,400 – well below the low estimate. I hope this large, exciting painting by the brilliant painter finds a perfect home. 

Noticeable throughout the sale were passed lots that obviously failed to catch the attention of collectors. Other important paintings sold below estimate. This may have been due to the abundance of fine paintings on the market. 

For more, visit Waddington’s website.

First Arts: Toronto

With live, online and phone bidding, First Arts offered works collected by John and Joyce Price. The Seattle couple began buying Inuit prints in the 1970s and moved on to early carvings and more. Some rare and beautiful pieces were on offer.

Marion Tuu’luq’s beautiful 1973 Trumpeter Swans tapestry sold for $102,000. 

The Enchanted Owl, a stonecut by Kenojuak Ashevak, sold for $138,000. This incredible print continues to enchant collectors.

Jessie Oonark’s stone rubbing, Women’s Tattooed Faces, an incredible rare image, sold for $21,600. 

Christian White’s Eagle Clan Ancestress Model Totem Pole sold for $72,000. This stunning contemporary argillite carving is enhanced by many beautiful details.

Tim Pitsiulak’s drawing, Kinngait Town, a stunning  nocturne, sold for $16,800, doubling the estimate. His brilliant drawings are one of a kind. 

Chilkat Robe was made by an unidentified artist around 1880 to 1900. A weaving with mountain goat wool and cedar bark, it sold for $72,000. A rare historical piece, it is in good condition and belongs in a public collection to be enjoyed by all. 

A second sale offered consignments from various collections. 

Shaman, a carving by Karoo Ashevak, sold for $102,000. It’s unbelievable how the whalebone was carved and detailed.

Norval Morrisseau’s The History of Mankind sold for $22,800. With reputable provenance, this was a good piece to collect. Morrisseau, who abandoned an Expo 67 commission because of censorship questions, connected with Herbert Schwarz, a writer and art dealer who acted as a consultant for the Expo pavilion. Schwarz invited Morrisseau to illustrate eight Anishinaabe legends, which he published in 1968 as Windigo and Other Tales of the Ojibways. The following year Schwarz organized a solo exhibition for which this piece was executed. It travelled to the United States and southern France, where Schwarz presented Morrisseau as a Picasso of the North. 

Elizabeth Nutaraaluk Aulatjut’s raw but fascinating Self Portrait sold for $26,400, a record for her work. 

Beaver Echo Mask, a Mungo Martin wood carving, sold for $31,200. It’s rare to see a mask of this quality and history on the market. Martin, an important figure, helped change public attitudes toward Northwest Coast art in the 1950s.

First Arts set 31 auction records with a staggering sales total of more than $2.1 million.

For further results, visit the FirstArts website. ■

All prices include the buyer’s premium unless otherwise noted. Images are courtesy of the respective auction houses.

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