Emily Carr painting sets auction records
$3.39 million is the most ever paid for piece by a Canadian female artist
TORONTO A record amount paid for a painting by Canadian artist Emily Carr helped the Heffel Fine Art Auction House set a sales record in its fall auction on Nov. 28.
Leading the live auction at the Park Hyatt Hotel was The Crazy Stair, which brought in $3.39 million, the most ever paid at auction for a Carr painting.
The pre-auction estimate for the painting, sold to an anonymous buyer, was $1.2 to $1.6 million. Heffel says it was the highest amount paid for a work by a Canadian female artist and the fourth most valuable piece sold in Canadian art auction history.
The large-format painting from Carr’s mature period is described as “indicative of the artist’s lifelong engagement with First Nations culture.” A native of Victoria, B.C., she died in 1945 at age 74.
In all, eight pieces by Carr were sold, including War Canoes, which fetched $339,300. Heffel has now sold 220 of Carr’s works, totalling $50.6 million.
The sale of The Crazy Stair boosted overall sales at the auction to more than $13.5 million, which Heffel says exceeded pre-sale expectations.
In all, eight pieces by Carr were sold, including War Canoes, which fetched $339,300. Heffel has now sold 220 of Carr’s works, totalling $50.6 million.
Canoe Lake by Tom Thomson was expected to sell for as much as $600,000, but sold well above estimate at nearly $1.7 million. His painting entitled Autumn, Algonquin Park was also sold Thursday for $526,500.
Other highlights included JeanPaul Riopelle’s 1954 work, Sans titre, which sold for $789,750 and his Iceberg IV work fetched $491,400. The five Riopelle pieces brought in $1.8 million.
A 1971 work by William Kurelek called Rink Making more than tripled its pre-auction estimate by selling for $163,800. Ephraim Kelloway’s White Door by artist David Lloyd Blackwood sold for $105,300, more than double the pre-auction estimate.
The auction also included the sale of a painting by Sir Frederick Banting, who is best known as the codiscoverer of insulin. His work entitled French River sold for $58,500.