A canvas by Marc-Aurèle Fortin sold for a record $807,500 Monday during the annual fall sale of important Canadian art held by Sotheby's in association with Ritchies.
Les Grands Arbres sold for more than three times its estimated price of $250,000 and broke a record for the Quebec artist set in May 2005, when Near St. Simeon, Quebec sold for $462,500.
The Tom Thomson oil sketch Algonquin Park was discovered in a private collection in Vermont.
(Sotheby's/Ritchies)
Fortin, who was born in 1888 and died in 1970, is famous for landscapes of the Laurentian lowlands, the Montreal suburbs, the Charlevoix region and the Gaspé Peninsula.
Two sketches by J.E.H. MacDonald also sold well above their pre-sale estimates.
Algoma Waterfall, a sketch for the canvas owned by the Art Gallery of Ontario, sold for $485,500, a record for a sketch by the Group of Seven artist, and Solemn Land sold for $462,500.
The sale Monday brought in a total of $10.5 million, up from estimates of $6.1 to $8.5 million, with 276 lots sold.
A touted Tom Thomson oil that was discovered behind an easy chair in a Vermont farmhouse sold for $635,000, including buyer's premium.
Algonquin Park, a small but vibrant oil sketch of fall colours, was among a treasure trove of Canadian works discovered in a Vermont farmhouse after the death of collector Michael Dunn, a former Montrealer.
Other pieces from Dunn's vast collection included impressive works by the women of the Beaver Hall art collective, some of which also fetched record prices.
Among the other highlights of the sale:
- In the Nuns' Garden by Sarah Robertson, which was exhibited in the inaugural Canadian Group of Painters exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto in 1933, sold for a record $51,000.
- St. Roch's Market by Kathleen Morris of the Beaver Hall group sold for $209,500, and her oil on panel McGill Cab Stand, Montreal, sold for $129,000.
- Winter Walk by Ethel Seath of Beaver Hall sold for $175,000.
- Lorne Crescent by Marion Scott sold for a record $198,000, nearly ten times the low end of its estimate.
- The Slough, a self-portrait by Pegi Nicol MacLeod, sold for a record $51,000, and her Still Life sold for $21,600.
Another Group of Seven painting, A.Y. Jackson's Ontario Mining Town, Cobalt sold for $520,000, well above its pre-sale estimate of $125,000 to $175,000.
Jackson's La Malbaie sold for $94,500.
Another notable sale was David Milne's Grey Village, which sold for $400,000. The oil painting had been given a pre-sale estimate with a high end of $275,000.
The Canadian fall auction season continues with sales by auction houses Joyner Waddington and Heffel later this week.
With files from the Canadian PressRelated
Internal Links
More Art & Design Headlines »
- No insurance on stolen Picasso, Portinari Brazilian museum reveals
- Brazil's premiere modern art museum has revealed that it had no insurance on paintings by Pablo Picasso and one of Brazil's best known artists, Candido Portinari, that were stolen Thursday.
- Precious da Vinci papers infested with mould
- The Codex Atlanticus, the largest collection of drawings and writings by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, is riddled with mould, according to Italian authorities.
- Joan Miro painting sold for record $16.6M
- A painting by Spanish artist Joan Miro has fetched $16.6 million US at an auction in Paris, breaking the record for a work by the artist.
- Quebec City museum gets $37.5 million from Ottawa
- Ottawa has come up with $37.5 million for Quebec City's Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
- Critics paint over Banksy Bethlehem murals
- Though his intention was to shed light on the plight of Bethlehem residents, British graffiti artist Banksy has received a poor review of some of the artworks he has stencilled around the West Bank town.
More Arts Headlines »
- Canadian jazz great Oscar Peterson dies
- The jazz odyssey is over for Oscar Peterson: the Canadian known globally as one of the most spectacularly talented musicians ever to play jazz piano has died at age 82.
- Queen Elizabeth launches Royal Channel on YouTube
- Queen Elizabeth has set up her own channel on the video-sharing website YouTube and will be posting her annual Christmas Day message on the site this year.
- Jay-Z to depart Def Jam's executive suite
- Influential rap mogul Jay-Z is leaving his post as president of Def Jam Records, Universal Music Group announced Monday.
- Dr. McDreamy Dempsey named Star of the Year by People magazine
- It's a McDreamy year for actor Patrick Dempsey, anointed People magazine's "Star of the Year."
- Acclaimed French writer Julien Gracq dies
- Julien Gracq, who was considered one of France's leading writers of the 20th century and was known for his surrealist style, has died at 97.
Arts Features
Blog Watch
Most Blogged about CBC.ca Articles
Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - link will open in new window