Lawren Harris, Tom Thomson, Alex Colville and Jean-Paul Riopelle drove Heffel’s Fall auction to new records for artists and Canadian art. Here are some bullet points from Heffel’s post-sale release. (All figures are in Canadian dollars.)
- The leading lot in the fall sale was the extraordinary Lawren Harris canvas Mountain and Glacier, which outperformed its estimate of $1,000,000 to 1,500,000 and sold for a record $4,602,000.
- Three outstanding works by Lawren Harris sold for a combined total of $9,499,000. Winter Landscape sold for an incredible $3,658,000 (est. $1,200,000 – 1,600,000) and Winter in the Ward for $1,121,000 (est. $500,000 – 700,000).
- Spirited bidding drove Alex Colville’s Harbour past the million dollar mark to realize a final price of $1,888,000, exceeding its estimate and setting a new record for a Colville work at auction (est. $500,000 – 700,000).
- Works by Jean Paul Riopelle saw major interest from bidders in the room and on the phones. The highly sought-after 1950s canvas Sans titre surpassed its presale estimate and achieved $1,239,000 (est. $500,000 – 700,000). Jour de fêtes also bested its estimate and sold for a noteworthy $531,000 (est. 150,000 – 250,000).
- Tom Thomson’s historically significant After the Storm, believed by experts to be the last work he produced before his mysterious death, achieved $1,298,000 (est. $500,000 – 700,000).
- Roy Lichtenstein’s Modern Room sold for a notable $141,600 (est. $60,000 – 80,000), setting a new world record for this print at auction and Barbara Hepworth’s sculpture, Three Forms (Three Horizontal Curves) sold for $342,000 (est. $200,000 – 300,000). Proceeds from the sale of the sculpture will benefit the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation.
- A vibrant work by Guido Molinari from the artist’s estate, Mutation rythmique rouge-orange, sold for $247,800, setting a new auction record for a Molinari work (est. $100,000 – 150,000).
- Libellules égarées by Paul-Émile Borduas, founding member of the Automatist movement, sold for a notable $507,400. The canvas was painted during Borduas’s sought-after New York period (est. $200,000 – 300,000).
- A total of 13 artist records were broken in the fall auction including the sale of Our Carolers in Western Canada by William Kurelek for $383,500 (est. $90,000 – 120,000), Ivan Eyre’s Red Rough for $354,000 (est. $60,000 – 80,000) and Alfred Pellan’s La tour de Babel for $118,000 (est. $90,000 – 120,000).
