ARTIST AND SHAMAN BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, NORVAL MORRISSEAU
THE WELCOME MAN, EMILY CARR
We could say the same of Norval Morrisseau’s epic 2.8-metre-wide Artist and Shaman between Two Worlds and of several gallery-held paintings by Carr, including The Welcome Man, that would likely smash — who knows by how much? — the $3.4-million auction record for the artist, set with Heffel’s 2013 sale of The Crazy Stair.
The list we’re left with includes NGC artworks by such renowned figures as van Gogh, Monet and Matisse — no first names required. And, no surprise, works by such renowned European painters are always hot commodities in the international art market. But two Canadian artists’ canvases are featured here, too, as well as two American abstract masters whose paintings generated major controversies when they were acquired by the National Gallery — each for a mere $1.8 million — within a few years of each other about a quarter-century ago.
There are also paintings by Gustav Klimt and Rembrandt (no last name required), plus a way, way, way larger-thanlife artwork by a French sculptress that you can see without going inside the downtown gallery.
All in all, we could call it Ottawa’s “$10-Million Club,” though several would certainly sell for much more than that — the forbidden windfall from our unthinkable auction.
But if the Chagall saga makes anything clear, it’s that such masterworks are best seen as untouchable treasures permanently safeguarded from sale and thus far beyond any truly knowable price.