Heffel’s Spring auction made $17.2 million on presale estimates of $9 million to $12 million (all prices are in Canadian dollars and include an 18 per cent buyer’s premium). Here are some of the noteworthy sales provided by the auctioneer’s publicity department:
- Lawren Harris’s Laurentian Landscape, sold for $2,183,000 (est. $1,200,000 – 1,600,000).
- E.J. Hughes’s 1949 post-war canvas The Post Office at Courtenay, BC outperformed its presale estimate and sold for $1,593,000 (est. $600,000 – 800,000).
- Two works by Alex Colville produced significant results, Swimming Dog and Canoe far surpassed its presale estimate of $300,000 to $500,000 and sold for $1,180,000 and the 1950s portrait Racer sold for $560,500 (est. $500,000 – 600,000).
- Guido Molinari’s commanding large-scale work Sans titre shattered the artist record and sold for $354,000 (est. $100,000 – 150,000) while the celebrated 1955 canvas, Composition by Jean Paul Riopelle brought in $649,000 (est. $400,000 – 600,000).
- Two Lawren Harris oil on board sketches from the Group of Seven period outshined their estimates at the auction.Coldwell, Lake Superior, Lake Superior Sketch XXII sold for $649,000 (est. $450,000 – 550,000) and Mount Sampson, Maligne Lake for $413,000 (est. $250,000 – 300,000).
- The sale included notable works by all original members of the Group of Seven. Farm at St. Tite des Caps, a quintessential snow scene canvas by A.Y. Jackson, achieved $354,000 (est. $300,000 – 500,000).
