A.Y. Jackson Le Boulanger, Baie St. Paul To be offered in the Spring Live Auction of An Important Private Collection of Canadian Art
We extend our gratitude to the collectors, bidders and buyers who ensured that 2022 was our most successful year to date. As we enter our tenth year, we very much look forward to sharing further excitement with you, including the next instalment of rare artworks from a prestigious private collection of Canadian art, to be offered in our Spring Live Auction on June 8th at Toronto’s Globe & Mail Centre.
We are starting the year with a bang, presenting five exclusive online auction sessions. This includes a curated selection of artworks by William Ronald, which we are honoured to handle on behalf of The Estate of William Ronald.
Our other exciting sessions include a variety of artworks, from historical to contemporary, from works on paper to oils, and from diminutively sized works to monumental ones.
To book a preview appointment at the gallery, to request a condition report, or to speak to one of our specialists, contact our office at 416-479-9703 or email info@cowleyabbott.ca. We look forward to hearing from you!
Cowley Abbott’s Two-Session Live Auction of Important Canadian Art Shatters 11 Auction Records
Thank you to all of the collectors, bidders and art lovers that ensured our live auction last evening was a resounding success. Marking the first of three landmark live auctions dedicated to this prestigious private collection of Canadian art, a bidding frenzy helped to break 11 artist records with most artworks in the sale exceeding – and often doubling, tripling or more – presale estimates. Cowley Abbott’s two session live auction event, which also included their Live Auction of Important Canadian Art in the afternoon, achieved a combined $19.6 million.
The highlight of the evening was an Emily Carr masterwork, The Totem of the Bear and the Moon, 1912, selling for $3.12 million, coming close to challenging the current artist record of $3.39 million. Sold for the first time at auction, this rare canvas has been included in important exhibitions for more than a century.
Also offered for public sale for the first time, Tom Thomson’s Petawawa Gorges (1916) doubled the low-end estimate, selling for $2.22 million to excited audience applause. The painting was part of the artist’s family’s collection for over fifty years before being acquired by the collection owners in 1972. Other versions of this composition are in major public collections across Canada.
A second work by the iconic painter, a rare sketch for a known canvas, Evening, Pine Island, also exceeded expectations, selling for $1.68 million.
The auction set a new artist record for Group of Seven artist A.Y. Jackson with the large oil canvas Tadenac, Novemberachieving $936,000, exceeding the previous record of $760,500.
Internationally celebrated artist James Wilson Morrice’s rare canvasNeige, Canada (Snow Canada) (circa 1905) doubled the presale estimate selling for $1.26 million in its auction debut. The accompanying sketch for the painting,Study for “Neige, Canada” sold for six times the estimate at $408,000.
The oldest painting in the collection, a rare canvas by Paul Kane, Ojibwa Camp in the Spider Islands (c. 1845), sold for $1.08 million.
Frances Anne Hopkins achieved a new artist record of $552,000 with her 1867 canvas Voyageurs Encampment (Camp Scene on the Ottawa), tripling the previous record.
David Milne’s Young Cedars (1919), painted during one of the most esteemed periods of his career, sold for $792,000, more than doubling its presale estimate.
Debuting at auction, Lawren Harris’study for a canvas in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, North Shore, Lake Superior, doubled expectations, selling for $1.03 million
Adrien Hébert, The Eaton’s Window, Montreal (1937)sold for $408,000, nine times the previous artist record of $45,600.
Jock Macdonald’sDrying Herring Roesold for $408,000, nearly five times the previous record of $88,750.
Records were also set for L.L. FitzGerald, Ozias Leduc, Antoine Sebastien Plamondon, Henry Sandham, Charlotte Schreiber, P.C. Sheppardand Mary Wrinch. To view the full auction results, please visit: https://cowleyabbott.ca/items/1193
The Cowley Abbott team could not be more excited to present these artworks for sale this evening @globeandmailcentre. It has been a privilege to handle these works of art and share them with collectors, clients and art lovers.
Join us tonight in-person at Toronto’s Globe & Mail Centre or livestream the two auction sessions from home.
🔴 Live Auction of Important Canadian Art (Session 1) at 4:00 pm EST
🔴 Live Auction of An Important Private Collection of Canadian Art (Session 2) at 7:00 pm EST
Of the many regions of Canada painted by the artists associated with the Group of Seven, Algonquin Park remains most intimately associated with Tom Thomson. In this study, and in four others, Thomson has depicted the cliffs rising from the water, framing the narrow gorge. He must have painted them seated in his canoe in the middle of the river.
Join Lydia as she discusses this important painting by Tom Thomson, included in Cowley Abbott’s Live Auction of An Important Private Collection of Canadian Art on Thursday, December 1st at 7:00 pm.
Further details about the artwork can be found here: https://cowleyabbott.ca/artwork/AW41776
Rob Cowley discusses “Ojibwa Camp in the Spider Islands” by Paul Kane, a canvas which spent more than a century in the collection of the artist’s family.
Join Rob as he chats about this rare artwork, making its auction debut with Cowley Abbott this fall. This painting is featured in the Auction of An Important Private Collection of Canadian Art, the second session of the December 1st, 2022 Cowley Abbott Fall Live Auction.
