Tag: artwork

  • Rare Lawren Harris Pencil Sketch Featured in Consignor Fall Live Auction

    (L to R) Lawren Harris, Lake Superior; Emily Carr, European Street Scene; Mary Pratt, Baking Bread; Michael Snow, Off Minor
    (L to R) Lawren Harris, Lake Superior; Emily Carr, European Scene; Mary Pratt, Baking Bread; Michael Snow, Off Minor

    From Charlottetown to Vancouver, Consignor’s National Travels Yield Notable Works by Emily Carr, Mary Pratt & Alex Colville to be offered on November 23rd

    (Toronto – November 1, 2017) – Behind many masterpieces, there is a sketch that formulates the artist’s ideas and vision. Consignor Canadian Fine Art announces its fall semi-annual auction highlights that will include a rare pencil sketch by Lawren Harris, the preparatory work for of one of his most renowned canvases, Lake Superior, which currently hangs in the Thomson collection in the Art Gallery of Ontario. The sketch, once owned by his wife Bess Harris, carries an auction estimate valued at $20,000 – $30,000; however, its rarity and significance as the precursor to a major canvas could challenge the record for a pencil sketch by the Group of Seven artist. It debuts on the auction block at Consignor’s live auction event taking place Thursday, November 23, 2017at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto.

    “The significance of pencil sketching to Lawren Harris is well known,” says Rob Cowley, President of Consignor. “His pad of paper and pencil were just as important as the oils and brushes he carried on sketching trips. We’re thrilled to have acquired this important piece of narrative in Harris’s creative process, particularly a sketch that is connected to one of his most renowned works. It is a stunning work and we expect lively bidding when it reaches the block on the 23rd.”

    Fellow artist and close friend of Harris, Yvonne McKague Housser quoted the below about the artist’s process in graphite:  “His drawings are a key which open the door to what he was thinking and painting… The drawings were important as an introduction, to clarify his mind before he started a painting.”

    This past summer, Consignor set out on a 10-city Art Roadshow travelling from the Maritimes to Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Winnipeg, Regina and Vancouver, inviting the public to consult with their specialists regarding works of art for valuation. It was during the tour that Consignor discovered some of its most unique offerings and exceptional works including the Lake Superior sketch. Other highlights from the tour, which will be offered at Consignor’s Fall Auction of Important Canadian Art include:

    Featured on the cover of the Consignor fall auction catalogue is a 1958 canvas by Michael Snow titled Off Minor, being offered for the first time at auction with an estimated value of $40,000 – $60,000. The abstract painting, which measures 60” X 36”, was privately owned by Joseph Gladstone, the brother of Toronto artist Gerald Gladstone, and has not been seen at auction until now.

    Live previews are ongoing at the Consignor Canadian Fine Art Gallery located at 326 Dundas Street W. and viewable at consignor.ca. Consignor’s Fall Live Auction of Important Canadian Art event will take place on Thursday, November 23, 7:00pm at the Gardiner Museum located at 111 Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON.

  • Rob Chats with CH Morning Live Regarding Auction Valuation & Recent Maud Lewis Auction Record

  • Carmichael Masterwork Sells for $475,000 During Spring Season

    Records Broken & New Traditions Established for Consignor This Season

    Old Orchard, a major 1940 painting by Franklin Carmichael was sold for $475,000 during the spring auction season, the highest price paid for the painter’s work in eight years and one of the highest values ever achieved for the painter’s work by an auction firm.  The price was just one of the many highlights encountered by Consignor Canadian Fine Art this spring.

    The Spring Live Auction of Important Canadian Art, held May 25th, was an evening of new traditions and continued success for Consignor, the auction establishing strong prices for historical, post-war and contemporary works of quality and rarity.  The auction was held for the first time at Toronto’s Gardiner Museum, the downtown venue filled to capacity with an electric environment of excitement palpable from the drop of the hammer on the first lot sold.  The classy and cozy setting was instantly popular with clients, paddles comfortably waving in the air throughout the night.

    Excited bidding participation came through not only in the room, but through spirited telephone and absentee bidding, pushing choice artworks well beyond expectation.  Drawing strong reaction from the room was the sale of Three Black Cats, the small oil painting by Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis fetching a record $36,800 (prices posted include applicable Buyer’s Premium), almost double the previous auction record and five times the presale estimate.  Appreciation for Atlantic Canadian artists continued with David Blackwood’s Fire Down on the Labrador selling for $48,300, doubling its estimate and marking the second highest price ever achieved for the iconic imagery created by the Newfoundlander printmaker.

    Artwork by Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven continued to excited collectors during the spring season, with notable results including: Tom Thomson’s Fallen Timber (Algonquin) selling for $125,000; Edwin Holgate’s Autumn Leaves selling for $75,000; Madawaska, a 20 x 26 inch canvas by A.Y. Jackson fetching $69,000; A.J. Casson’s captivating Old Hotel, Elora selling for $36,800 while Casson’s Byng Inlet fetched $29,900.  Works on paper by the Group saw record prices set with Lawren Harris’ Snow-Covered Trees more than doubling its estimate to reach $50,600 and A.Y. Jackson’s Gulf of St. Lawrence selling for $14,950, both auction records for works on paper by the artists.

    Further historical highlights displayed a love for portraiture from collectors this season with an enchanting Jean Paul Lemieux portrait fetching $48,300; Randolph Hewton’s Portrait of Thomas Archer Esq. selling for $14,950; and Hal Ross Perrigard’s Vere reaching $10,925, each exceeding their pre-sale estimate.

    Post-War and Contemporary Canadian works performed notably during the May 25th live auction with: Ted Harrison’s The Grecian House (Dawson City) selling for $34,500, Sorel Etrog’s “Ferrari red” Sadko fetching $27,600, Paul-Émile Borduas’ Abstract Composition watercolour reaching $21,850 and Rita Letendre’s L’Enchenteur selling for $17,250.

    The May live auction was surrounded by Consignor’s March and June Online Auctions, sales which are carefully catered not only to established collectors looking to supplement their existing collections but also to new collectors who continue to hunt for gems to create an assemblage.  Feverish online bidding led to collectors across Canada and beyond being awarded notable works of art by A.J. Casson, J.W. Beatty, Manly MacDonald, H.S. Palmer, Alan Collier, Yvonne McKague Housser, Goodridge Roberts, Jack Bush, Alex Colville, Norval Morrisseau, David Urban, Angela Leach, and Kim Dorland, among many others.

    We extend our thanks to the consignors, buyers, bidders and clients who helped to ensure another season of success for Consignor Canadian Fine Art.  Preparation has already begun for our fall sales, including the Live Auction of Important Canadian Art (to be held on November 23rd at the Gardiner Museum).  We are currently accepting consignments for the upcoming sales and our team would be delighted to meet with you in our downtown Toronto gallery or during our national travels this summer.  The summer months feature a selling exhibition in the gallery and online, allowing clients the opportunity to consider a variety of work by Canadian artists, available for immediate sale (full listing available here).

  • Rob Chats with Global Morning About the Upcoming Consignor Spring Live Auction

  • Franklin Carmichael Masterpiece Featured in Spring Live Auction

    Franklin Carmichael, Old Orchard (1940)

    (Toronto – May 2, 2017) Two celebrated artworks by Group of Seven painter Franklin Carmichael are the centerpiece to Consignor Canadian Fine Art’s upcoming Spring Live Auction of Important Canadian Art taking place May 25th at the Gardiner Museum, Toronto. A large-scale oil painting, Old Orchard (1940), will make its auction debut having been privately owned by the family of Herbert Laurence Rous, founder of the renown Rous and Mann printing studio where many of the Group of Seven artists began their careers.

    The iconic image depicting a neighbour’s orchard, painted from the view of his studio in present-day North York, Ontario, was used as the catalogue cover for Carmichael’s memorial exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the AGO) and the Summer 1947 issue of Canadian Art Magazine, following his death. This will be the first time Old Orchard will be on the auction block (estimated between $500,000 – $700,000); however, given its significance, quality and rarity, the artwork is expected to challenge the current record for a Carmichael painting (Frood Lake sold at auction in December, 2002, for $915,000 including buyer’s premium).

    As the youngest original member of the Group of Seven, Carmichael is also considered one of Canada’s most renowned watercolourists of the twentieth century. Consignor’s auction also includes a stunning watercolour, The Bay of Islands (1929) estimated at $150,000 – $200,000, a sister version of Carmichael’s Bay of Islands that is part of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s permanent collection.

    “Franklin Carmichael’s accomplishments in oil and watercolour are recognized as some of the greatest work produced by the Group of Seven. Both Old Orchard and The Bay of Islands illustrate Carmichael’s mastery of the two media, setting him apart as one of Canada’s preeminent painters,” says Rob Cowley, President of Consignor Canadian Fine Art. “Old Orchard has stood as an example of Carmichael’s best work through its exhibition history over the past 80 years, and we are very excited to be hosting this major work at auction for the first time.”

    Consignor’s Spring auction will also offer two important works by Tom Thomson painted in his early career. A modestly-sized oil on canvas, Road Near Leith (1908), estimated between $100,000 to $150,000, was painted at the start of the decade which would see his transformation into one of Canada’s greatest painters; and Fallen Timber (Algonquin) (1912), estimated at $150,000 – $200,000, was painted the first year that Thomson visited Algonquin Park where his most iconic works would be created, and ironically the site of his untimely death in 1917, exactly 100 years ago this July.

    “It’s an incredible time for Canadian art as we celebrate our country’s sesquicentennial, alongside unprecedented growth and global attention for painters such as Tom Thomson, Lawren Harris and the Group of Seven and now a feature film about Maud Lewis’s life — combining to reinvigorate the public’s fascination and appreciation for Canadian artists,” says Lydia Abbott, Vice President, Consignor Canadian Fine Art. “The Spring auction features artwork that spans the entire 150 years of Canada’s history and presents a rich narrative of our cultural fabric.”

    Other notable Canadian works of art that will be highlighted in Consignor’s live Spring auction include:

    • A.Y. Jackson, Madawaska, 20” x 26” oil on canvas (auction estimate $60,000-$80,000)
    • David Blackwood, Fire Down on the Labrador, the artist’s most popular print (auction estimate $25,000-$30,000)
    • Lawren Harris, Snow-Covered Trees, 1929 gouache (auction estimate $15,000-$18,000)
    • Edwin Holgate, Autumn Leaves, 17” x 21” oil on canvas (auction estimate $90,000-120,000)

    Live Previews are currently taking place at the Consignor Canadian Fine Art Gallery located at 326 Dundas Street West and viewable at Consignor.ca.  Consignor’s Spring Live Auction of Important Canadian Art will take place on Thursday, May 25th, 2017 at the Gardiner Museum located at 111 Queen’s Park, Toronto.

    Since its inception in 2013, Consignor’s live and online auctions have included headline-grabbing works such as a rare 100-year-old Tom Thomson portrait (Daydreaming, sold for $172,500), an undiscovered William Kurelek (Ukrainian Proverb, sold for $41,400), and Jack Bush’s Summer Lake broke online auction records in May 2014 for the most expensive painting by a Canadian artist to be sold at an online auction ($310,500). Most recently, Consignor’s inaugural live auction event in May 2016 set the record for the highest-selling Algoma sketch by Lawren Harris, fetching $977,500; tripling the previous auction record.

    Consignor Canadian Fine Art is currently accepting consignments for its upcoming auctions, including the June Online Auction of Canadian and International Artwork, with bidding open at consignor.ca from June 7-14, 2017. Consignor offers all-inclusive selling commissions and the lowest buyer’s premium in the industry. Those interested in consignment can arrange a complimentary and confidential consultation by contacting Consignor’s specialists at 1-866-931-8415 or info@cowleyabbott.ca.