Maud Lewis, "Black Truck," 1967, oil on board, 11" x 13", (courtesy Miller and Miller Auctions)
A Maud Lewis painting, Black Truck, once traded for some grilled cheese sandwiches, has set a new auction record for the Nova Scotia folk artist.
The 1967 painting, which shows a truck driving through cheery countryside, sold this month for $418,000, including the buyer's premium
The previous auction record for her work was $67,250, including the premium, a fee paid to the auction house for its services. That painting, Train Station in Winter, was sold in 2021.
The sellers, Irene and Tony Demas, ran a restaurant in London, Ont. in the 1970s. They acquired the work, which measures 11 inches by 13 inches, when two regular customers, John Kinnear, a painter, and his wife, Audrey, traded the painting for lunch.
Kinnear was handling Ontario sales for Lewis, who otherwise sold her paintings for $10 by the roadside near her tiny cottage in the village of Marshalltown, outside Digby, N.S. Lewis, who lived in poverty and struggled with debilitating rheumatoid arthritis, died in 1970.
Ethan Miller, who heads Ontario-based Miller and Miller Auctions Ltd., attributes the record price to the painting's endearing story, as well as the 2016 movie Maudie, which brought wider attention to the artist's heartrending story.
As well, a touring exhibition curated by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ont., on view this summer at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, has boosted interest in Lewis.
The buyer was not identified. The story has garnered international attention, including an account in the British newspaper, The Guardian.