Category: Canadian

  • The New Collector’s Guide to Buying at Auction

    If you are new to art collecting, browsing online auctions is a great place to start. At the click of a button, you may find yourself the proud owner of an artwork by a reputable artist. 

    John Hoyland
    Blues, Reds
    Estimate: $800 – 1,000

    Buy at Auction versus at a Gallery

    Galleries are the primary (retail) market for buying art. Gallery owners spend a lot of time and money choosing which artists they want to represent and building a strong clientele base and marking strategy. Galleries can also set their own prices, since the artwork is usually being sold for the first time. Auctions are the secondary market for buying art, which means that the prices fluctuate according to supply & demand, design trends, and therefore what a buyer is willing to pay. This often means that an artwork at auction will sell for less than at a gallery, because the buyer pays the market price rather than the retail price.

    In recent years, buying art at auction has become incredibly accessible, with online sales being offered every month at auction houses worldwide. Whether you are looking for a contemporary artist specifically or a work by a more obscure artist, do some searching and have a little patience, because chances are it will be come up at auction somewhere! According to The Art Market Report 2023, “online bidding has evolved from a minority alternative to the dominant method of accessing sales.”

    Choose a Work and Gather Information

    Once you discover an artist you enjoy, learn as much as possible about their practice and what type of artwork most appeals to you. A great source of information is Artnet and Artsy, which offer detailed information about artists, artworks and auctions. By doing further research, you will better understand both the artist’s trajectory and why an artwork is being offered at a certain value. However, it is also fun to browse online auction listings by categories that interest you (ex. “Prints & Multiples“, “The Canadian Landscape“, “Art of Quebec“) and discovering new artworks and artists you were not expecting!

    Viewing an artwork in person may not always be possible with online auctions, which is why we suggest requesting a condition report before bidding on a lot. A key aspect that collectors should keep in mind is the condition, since artworks at auction are sold “as is.” While a certain amount of wear and tear is to be expected from an older artwork, you should be (and can be) made fully aware of any past restoration or restoration that needs to be done. For example, a 70-year-old watercolour may have a few creases in the paper and some tiny spots of staining, causing it to be priced lower than if it were in perfect condition. A condition report will enable you to learn about these issues and decide if they affect if or how high you bid on the artwork. Cowley Abbott specialists are also happy to discuss the reports with you on the phone, to help you feel confident in the bidding process.

    Become More Familiar with Buyer’s Terms

    Whenever you buy online from an auction house, there are a few key terms to always keep in mind:

    Estimate

    Each lot receives a low and high estimate, corresponding to the opinion of experts about the range in which the lot might sell at auction. Estimates are based on the condition and on recent auction records of comparable artworks. It usually serves as the basis for establishing the reserve price.

    Reserve

    This is the minimum price that a consignor and an auction house have agreed upon to sell an artwork. Reserves are usually set at or below the low estimate. During Cowley Abbott’s online auctions, the reserve price will be the opening bid, shown as “Next Bid” below the auction estimate.

    Maximum Bid

    When bidding on a lot, you may choose to place a maximum bid representing the highest amount you are willing to pay for an item. The system will then place incremental bids on your behalf based on the bid increments until your maximum bid has been reached. This is so you don’t have to stand by your computer the whole afternoon while the bidding is unfolding, making sure you don’t miss anything (although many bidders prefer this way!)

    Hammer Price

    This is the winning bid for a lot at auction, which does not include the buyer’s premium.

    Buyer’s Premium

    This is the amount above the hammer price that must be paid as part of the total purchase price. All auction houses add a percentage on top of the hammer price. At Cowley Abbott, the buyer’s premium is 20% for online sales.

    As Is

    Property sold at auction is offered “as is,” meaning it is sold with all existing imperfections and faults.

  • Over $16 Million Dollars of Art Sold at Cowley Abbott’s Spring Live Auction

  • Record Breaking Auction of Rare Canadian Art Masterpieces

    Cowley Abbott’s live auction on June 8th marked the second of three landmark live auctions dedicated to a prestigious private collection of Canadian art. A selection of exceptional historical artworks offered in the evening auction saw a bidding frenzy, with most artworks in the sale exceeding – and often doubling, tripling or more – presale estimates. Three masterworks achieved over and above the million-dollar mark, including works by celebrated artists Tom Thomson, Emily Carr and Lawren Harris.

    Cowley Abbott’s two-session live auction event realized incredible results, featuring artworks by international artists Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Joan Mitchell. Nine new auction records were attained for Canadian artists, cementing the sale as a tremendous evening for Canadian art.

    Following our record breaking results this season, Cowley Abbott is now accepting consignments for our fall auction, including our major Fall Live Auction at The Globe & Mail Centre on December 6th. Please contact our experienced team of specialists for a complimentary and confidential art valuation.

  • Rita Letendre “Rencontre enflammée” – Spring Live Auction of Important Canadian & International Art (June 8th)

    Beginning as an Automatiste painter in the 1950s, Rita Letendre was influenced by Paul-Émile Borduas’ revolutionary gestural abstract paintings of the period. Although the Automatistes were instrumental in the evolution of her style, Letendre developed a singular vision in her body of work that resulted in a unique style that pushed boundaries of colour, light and space. After being exposed to the major figures of the Plasticiens movement in the mid-1950s, Letendre began experimenting with more structured and geometric compositions. However, by the end of the decade, she returned to a gestural approach, inspired by the Abstract Expressionists in New York‒particularly the black and white paintings of Franz Kline. Her production began to increase, winning first prize in the Concours de la Jeune Peinture in 1959 and the Prix Rodolphe-de-Repentigny in 1960. This prize and the additional sales that followed would allow Letendre to dedicate herself to painting full-time. Always experimenting, she worked in all media while regarding representation in art as “a crutch”.

    Rita Letendre Rencontre enflammée

    “Rencontre enflammée”, dating to 1962, was completed during this pivotal period of growth in Letendre’s career. As she became better equipped with painting materials and more time to work, she began creating larger canvases with explosions of colour. Letendre had recently won second prize in the painting category in the 1961 Concours artistiques du Québec. Her compositions grew to be very personal and carefully planned, and she began anchoring masses with carefully visualized gestures, amid fields of thick impasto. Dramatic and evocative, Rencontre enflammée is composed of three vertically stacked black organic forms with small, loose strokes of blue and white painted over them. Behind these black masses is a striking ground of yellow and red thrashes that are reminiscent of flames, recalling Letendre’s title which translates to “fiery encounter”. On her use of colour and light, the artist claimed: “Light and colour, and sometimes the absence of colour, have always been the key elements in my painting. With its different values, colour reflects the shades of life. But light, from the first shock of birth to the last breath of life‒light is life.” In this canvas, Letendre plays with this relationship between light, colour and the absence of colour: the three black forms create haunting voids that are encompassed by the mesmerizing light of flames.

    Although the title Letendre chose for “Rencontre enflammée” makes reference to a representational subject, her paintings of this time were very much still based in Automatism rather than on a particular subject. She stated, “My thoughts, my attitudes are automatist, which means that I have no set formula. My paintings are completely emotional, full of hair-trigger intensity. Through them, I challenge space and time. I paint freedom, escape from the here and now, from the mundane…The world isn’t only what we see or what we experience.”

    The 1960s was a decade of well-deserved recognition for Letendre’s work, beginning with a solo exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1961. In 1962, when “Rencontre enflammée” was completed, Letendre received a Canada Council Grant, and travelled with Ulysse Comtois to Europe, visiting Paris, Rome and then Israel.

    As the Automatiste group and its affiliates began to abandon their commitment to spontaneity in favour of a more controlled and deliberate structure, Letendre chose to maintain the impulsive and expressive brushstrokes in her work. Letendre kept a fairly consistent palette of dramatic colours, often with large masses of black, until the mid-1960s when she took a decisive shift into geometric compositions once again.

  • Rob Cowley Visits CP24 Breakfast to Discuss the Cowley Abbott Spring Live Auction

    Rob Cowley chats with CP24 Breakfast’s Nick Dixon and Jennifer Hsiung ahead of the June 8th Cowley Abbott Spring Live Auction. They discuss masterpiece work by Lawren Harris, Emily Carr, Andy Warhol, Tom Thomson and David Bowie, each on offer during the upcoming sale.