Tag: P.C. Sheppard

  • Records Broken During Electric Fall Auction Season at Cowley Abbott

    Molly Lamb Bobak, Highland Games, Fredericton
    Price Realized: $100,300 (Auction Record)

    Through the November and December live and online auctions, Cowley Abbott achieved strong results for consignors, with multiple records broken, while connecting collectors at all levels with artwork of quality and rarity.

    The Cowley Abbott Fall Live Auction of Important Canadian Art drew a standing-room only audience to the Gardiner Museum on Tuesday, November 19th, the gallery packed with collectors who drove bidding to record levels in several instances through successful sales of select work by Canada’s celebrated historical, post-war and contemporary artists.

    Jean Paul Lemieux, Basse messe, dimanche
    Price Realized: $330,400

    Jean Paul Lemieux’s Basse messe, dimanche, an expansive and immersive museum-level canvas by the key figure of Canadian modernity, captivated visitors to the Cowley Abbott gallery during the weeks of previewing that led to November evening sale. When bidding concluded, the artwork had fetched $330,400, a solid result for the mature work which was featured on the front cover of the fall auction catalogue.

    From the moment of publication of the auction online, excitement surrounded Molly Lamb Bobak’s Highland Games, Fredericton, a large and energetic canvas, portraying a celebratory and energetic scene, a subject which has proven to be Bobak’s most popular with collectors. When the artwork reached the podium, it did not take long for feverish bidding to push competition well beyond pre-sale expectation. When the gavel finally fell, a new auction record had been established for the painter, the final bid reaching $100,300 (all prices include the 18% Buyer’s Premium), more than tripling the pre-sale estimate.

    William Kurelek, Pioneer Homestead on a Winter’s Evening
    Price Realized: $82,600

    The work of William Kurelek also drew strong attention during the fall live auction season. Two paintings appeared at auction with Cowley Abbott for the first time, consigned by the original Toronto collector, who owned them for almost fifty years. The quality and rarity of the pair of paintings led to Pioneer Homestead on a Winter’s Evening fetching $82,600 (exceeding the high-end of expectation) and Brothers selling for $95,000. The strong results continue Cowley Abbott’s tradition of success in the sale of important work by the Ukrainian-Canadian artist.

    The November live auction witnessed solid prices for a wide range of historical Canadian works of art, including the work of: Cornelius Krieghoff (Hudson Bay Trader fetching $47,200); André Biéler (The Market Stall almost doubling the high-end auction estimate to sell for $29,500); Frederick Banting (Inlet, French River selling for $28,320); Clarence Gagnon (La Mare, Baie St. Paul, a 1920 sketch related to a canvas in the National Gallery of Canada, sold for $23,600); and P.C. Sheppard (St. Lawrence Market fetching $23,600), among many others.

    Jean McEwen, Rose traversant les jaunes
    Price Realized: $88,500

    A variety of Post-War and Contemporary offerings also drew competitive bidding during the fall catalogue sale, notably: Jean McEwen’s Rose traversant les jaunes (the canvas fetching $88,500, more than four times the opening bid); Gordon Smith’s West Coast #2 (exceeding the high-end of expectation, selling for $40,120); Autumn Foothills by Takao Tanabe (selling for $37,760); Sorel Etrog’s Small Chair (Hand) (fetching $28,320), Marcel Barbeau’s 1947 Dents de sable à cran d’acier(in excess of the auction estimate’s upper range, selling for $23,600); and Ronald York Wilson’s Untitled (the large canvas almost doubling the auction estimate, achieving $22,420).

    The success of the November live auction continued in the subsequent November and December online sessions, where bidders across Canada and beyond competing for a wide range of work that catered not only to seasoned collectors, but also to new and intermediate clients, continuing to establish their collections.

    Franklin Arbuckle, True Lover’s Leap, Newfoundland
    Price Realized: $30,680 (Auction Record)

    Franklin Arbuckle’s True Lover’s Leap, Newfoundland inspired great excitement nation-wide when the canvas was added to the Cowley Abbott website. The rare and dramatic east coast landscape by the celebrated painter had remained in the same private collection since 1964, Alfred Upton delighted to receive the painting as a retirement gift from Dominion Life Assurance. Upton loved the painting and requested the painting when given the option to choose a token of appreciation when his time with the firm finished. The painting had been purchased by Dominion Life in 1949 to be featured in their yearly calendar that annually featured the work of a different Canadian artist. The work was chosen, in consultation with A.J. Casson, for its quality and also to commemorate Newfoundland joining confederation. True Lover’s Leap, Newfoundland had been exhibited in the 1949 Royal Canadian Academy showing at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and was not only reproduced in the exhibition’s catalogue, but was also noted in a Gazette article which discussed the annual show. The debut of the canvas at Cowley Abbott once again had the painting drawing media attention, with a two Newfoundland Telegram articles (found here and here) that followed its record-breaking performance during the auction. The artwork sold for $30,680, more than five times its opening bid and more than double the previous auction record for Franklin Arbuckle’s work.

    Rita Letendre, Antares Glows
    Price Realized: $28,320

    Rita Letendre’s Antares Glows also excited collectors during the online sessions to end the year, the dramatic 1969 canvas selling for $28,320 (exceeding the high end of expectation). Online bidding was furious through the two auctions, leading to stellar prices for artist across the many periods, schools and associations through Canadian history, with results of note including the work of: F.M. Bell-Smith, Frank Armington, A.J. Casson; Frederick Loveroff; Mary Wrinch; Manly MacDonald; Stanley Turner; M.A. Fortin; Malcolm Rains; Jean Paul Riopelle; Art McKay; David Urban; Ron Bloore; Doug Morton; Ken Lochhead; Ted Harrison; Chris Pratt; Maud Lewis; Allen Sapp; and Joe Fafard.

    We extend our thanks to the clients, bidders and buyers who helped to ensure that 2019 was another very successful year for Cowley Abbott. We are already preparing a very exciting schedule of sales for 2020 and look forward to sharing it with you.

  • Museum-Quality Canvas by Quebec Master Jean Paul Lemieux Debuts at Cowley Abbott Fall Auction

    Jean Paul Lemieux, Basse messe, dimanche

    Basse messe, dimanche by Quebec Master, Lemieux is among historical and post-war auction highlights from Consignor Canadian Fine Art, now Cowley Abbott

    October 23, 2019 (Toronto, ON) – An exceptional opportunity to own a major canvas by one of Canada’s most celebrated painters is up for auction from Cowley Abbott (formerly Consignor Canadian Fine Art) as part of its semi-annual Fall Live Auction of Important Canadian Art, taking place Tuesday, November 19 at Toronto’s Gardiner Museum. Presenting key work by Canada’s preeminent historical and post-war artists, many of which will be going under the hammer for the first time, the newly minted Cowley Abbott will also be celebrating the rebrand of the auction house under the monikers of its principals, Canadian auction industry veterans Rob Cowley and Lydia Abbott.

    Jean Paul Lemieux’s Basse messe, dimanche (Low Mass, Sunday), painted in the classic style for which the artist is most celebrated, will make its auction debut with an estimate of $300,000 – $500,000. Basse messe, dimanche is a stunning canvas that depicts a group of parishioners exiting a church in the early morning, exposed to the winter cold under the harsh light of a white moon. Measuring nearly eight feet wide, the painting is one of the largest of the period by a key figure in Canadian modernity. Imbued with themes of Nordic sensibility and melancholy, Lemieux drew inspiration from memories of a bygone era in which Quebec traditions, customs, and popular religious beliefs gave life and structure to the artist’s community.

    “It is our privilege to introduce Basse messe, dimanche to the public for the first time at auction,” said Rob Cowley, President, Cowley Abbott. “This commanding, stunning canvas provides Jean Paul Lemieux’s classic view of Quebec and Canadian culture, effectively capturing themes of community, faith and isolation across an expansive winter landscape. The rich colour and larger-than-life characters that occupy the spectacular composition have stopped collectors in their tracks during early previews of this important painting by one of our country’s most renowned painters.”

    The fall auction also provides a chance to own a piece of Canadian history, with a rare work on offer by Canadian scientist, physician, painter and Nobel Prize recipient Sir Frederick Banting. European Landscape (1925) was painted during his trip to Europe where he accepted the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his involvement in the discovery of insulin; and the work provides a rare glimpse from Banting at the point of receiving the highest honour in his field. As the then youngest laureate and first Canadian to receive the prestigious prize, Banting was also named Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” on the cover of its August 1923 issue, making him a renowned figure of scientific progress around the world. The painting has a distinguished provenance that includes being privately owned by members of the Banting family, and is accompanied by a letter from Banting’s son detailing the piece’s history and the trip during which the painting was created. European Landscape has a pre-auction estimate of $20,000 – $30,000, which Cowley Abbott anticipates could exceed expectations.

    Multiple key works by William Kurelek will be featured in Cowley Abbott’s fall live auction including Pioneer Homestead on a Winter’s Evening (1971). Housed in a custom frame made by Kurelek, the painting depicts a Ukrainian woman drawing water from a well on the Canadian prairie in winter, and is an exemplary showcase of the artist’s characteristic themes and subject matter related to immigration, farming on the Prairies, Ukrainian heritage, and the harsh beauty of the Western Canadian landscape. The painting comes from the private collection of a Ukrainian-Canadian family in Toronto with an auction estimate of $50,000 – $70,000.

    From the same collection comes Brothers, a larger winter farming painting by William Kurelek that has an auction estimate of $100,000 – $150,000. Commissioned by the family following their purchase of Pioneer Homestead on a Winter’s Evening, the composition presents two brothers walking together on a vast Prairie landscape, distantly following their father upon a horse-drawn sleigh.

    “Our Fall Auction of Important Canadian Art features striking and rare examples by our country’s illustrious painters, sculptors and print-makers. Entrusted to our firm from Canadian and International private and corporate collections, it is a pleasure for our team to present these fantastic works to the collecting public, in many cases for the first time.” – Lydia Abbott, Vice-President, Cowley Abbott

    Other notable artworks featured in Cowley Abbott’s Fall Live Auction include:

    • A 1936 painting by Emily Carr depicting the Strait of Juan de Fuca, is a richly coloured work alive with the movement of the ruggedly beautiful British Columbia landscape. The painting comes from a United States private collection, available at auction for the first time with an estimate of $125,000 – $175,000
    • Two rare canvasses by 19th century master Cornelius Krieghoff, bothfrom a private collection: Indian Encampment by a River Autumn (1849) is being offered with a pre-sale estimate of $60,000 -$80,000 and Hudson Bay Trader (1845-47) at $40,000 – $60,000
    • La Mare, Baie St. Paul, a 1920 oil on panel by Quebec painter Clarence Gagnon. This panel, a sketch for The Pond in October housed in the National Gallery of Canada’s permanent collection, is being offered with an estimate of $15,000 – $20,000
    • A trailblazer for women in the arts in Canada, Molly Lamb Bobak’s Highland Games, Fredericton is expected to excite collectors with its colourful and heavily populated setting during the city’s Highland Games Festival. This large 40” x 48” canvas is likely to exceed its pre-sale estimate of $30,000 – $50,000
    • One of Canada’s earliest and most renowned champions of abstraction, Bertram Brooker’s Autumn Bouquet makes its first appearance at auction, subject to a $20,000-30,000 estimate. Cowley Abbott set an auction record for a work by Brooker in the fall of 2018, Delta Ice House more than tripling its opening bid to fetch $82,600

    Historical offerings in the auction also include the workof the Group of Seven, Sybil Andrews, J.W. Beatty, André Biéler, J.W. Morrice, P.C. Sheppard, M.A. Suzor-Coté, Robert Pilot and Frederick Verner.

    Post-War Contemporary and Abstraction artists are also strongly represented in the sale with works by David Blackwood, Jack Bush, Greg Curnoe, Sorel Etrog, Paterson Ewen, Joe Fafard, Betty Goodwin, Ted Harrison, Gershon Iskowitz, Maud Lewis, John Little, Jean McEwen, Norval Morrisseau, Kazuo Nakamura, William Perehudoff, Bill Reid, Goodridge Roberts, Otto Rogers, Gordon Smith and Takao Tanabe.

    Live previews will take place at the Cowley Abbott Gallery located at 326 Dundas Street West (located across the street from the Art Gallery of Ontario) beginning the weekend of Art Toronto – Friday, October 25. Cowley Abbott’s Fall Live Auction of Important Canadian Art will take place on Tuesday, November 19 at 7 p.m. EST at the Gardiner Museum located at 111 Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON.

    Since its inception in 2013, Cowley Abbott’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), a celebrated depiction of Kensington Market by William Kurelek (Hot Day in Kensingon Market, sold for $472,000), and Jack Bush’s Summer Lake, which broke online auction records in May 2014 for the most expensive painting by a Canadian artist to be sold in an online auction ($310,500). Their 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.

    Cowley Abbott is currently accepting consignments for its upcoming auctions. Cowley Abbott 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 Cowley Abbott’s specialists at 1-866-931-8415 or mail@cowleyabbott.ca.