No new record for Lawren Harris canvas
A painting by Group of Seven founding member Lawren Harris sold for just over $3 million Wednesday night, in line with presale expectations.
The 1925 oil canvas Mountains East of Maligne Lake had a presale estimate of $2.5 million to $3.5 million, according to the Heffel Fine Art Auction House, and sold for $3,001,250.
The painting was one of eight by Harris among more than 100 that fetched a total of $15 million. Other Harris paintings sold Wednesday include Morin Island, Eclipse Sound, North Baffin Island, Arctic Painting XXXVI, which sold well above the presale estimate at $1.2 million, and Cathedral Mountain from Yoho Valley, Mountain Sketch LXXXVI, which sold for $931,250.
Harris paintings have smashed expectations at recent auctions and Heffel has now sold 336 of his works for more than $90 million.
It was last November that Mountain Forms by the Brantford, Ont.born painter went for over $11.2 million, more than double the previous record set in 2002 for the most expensive Canadian work ever sold.
Heffel had estimated the 1926 oil canvas would fetch between $3 million and $5 million.
Harris’s work received an international boost when American actorcomedian Steve Martin co-curated an exhibit of his paintings, which debuted in 2015 in Los Angeles before heading to Boston and the Art Gallery of Ontario last year.
Also up for auction were three works by Jean-Paul Riopelle, including Composition. The work sold for $481,250, matching the presale estimate of $400,000 to $600,000.
Three canvases by Jack Bushwere sold, including Winged Totem for $601,250, about double the presale estimate. Still and 3 on Purple also exceeded the estimates.
A painting by Group of Seven artist A.J. Casson, Old Lumber Village, was sold for $361,250.
“This has been a huge year for art auctions globally, and this sale was no exception,” said Heffel vice-president Robert Heffel.