TRULY A THOMSON
‘Gag’ gift sells for $481,250
A previously unknown Tom Thomson painting that turned up in Vernon sold for $400,000 at a Heffel auction in Toronto on Wednesday. After the commission was added, the final sale price was $481,250.
Not bad, considering that owner Glenna Gardiner of Edmonton had no idea it was real until she sent the painting to her friend, Marit Mayne, as a gag 70th-birthday present. Gardiner’s dad Jack was a bit of a joker, so she didn’t believe him when he talked about his Thomson painting. But when Mayne contacted the Heffel Gallery they found it was a sketch done for a canvas that is now in the National Gallery, Lake in Algonquin Park.
“She never believed her father,” said auctioneer Robert Heffel after the painting sold. “Now she believes him.”
There was plenty of drama in the auction, which saw many paintings shatter their estimates.
The beautiful 1927 Lawren Harris sketch Morning, Lake Superior was estimated at $100,000-$150,000 because it had some “condition issues.” It looked like it was going to sell for $325,000, then took off, eventually selling for a “hammer” price of $950,000, or $1,141,250 after commission. (From now on the commission is added.)
Quebec artist Paul-Emile Borduas’ 1956 abstract Figures schematiques set a record for the artist by selling for $3,601,250. Jean Paul Lemieux’s Le Cavalier dans la neige (1968) sold for $841,250, Jack Bush’s Strawberry (1970) went for $691,250 and A.J. Casson’s Farmhouse Near Wingle (1960) sold for $541,250.
A small but important watercolour Emily Carr did of her Squamish Nation friend Sophie Frank in 1914 sold for $277,250, four times the estimate of $50,000$70,000.
Works by B.C. artists did well in the auction. An E.J. Hughes painting of Ashcroft sold for $205,250, while Oxfordshire Oak, Swalcliffe by Rodney Graham sold for $175,250.