{"id":9516,"date":"2012-04-20T18:31:48","date_gmt":"2012-04-20T22:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=9516"},"modified":"2012-08-02T15:03:02","modified_gmt":"2012-08-02T19:03:02","slug":"heffels-2012-spring-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=9516","title":{"rendered":"Heffel’s 2012 Spring Auction"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>April 26 \u2013 May 17, 2012<\/strong>
\nMontreal Preview<\/strong>:\u00a0April 26 – 28,\u00a0Galerie Heffel\u00a0Montreal, 1840 Sherbrooke Street West
\nToronto Preview:\u00a0<\/strong>May 3 – 5, Heffel Gallery Toronto,\u00a013 Hazelton Avenue<\/strong>
\nVancouver Preview:\u00a0<\/strong>May 12 – 16, Heffel Gallery\u00a0Vancouver, 2247 Granville Street
\nLive Auction: Thursday, May 17, 2012<\/strong>
\n4:00 pm PST, Canadian Post-War & Contemporary Art
\n7:00 pm PST, Fine Canadian Art<\/p>\n

Heffel\u2019s 2012 Spring Auction will present rare and extraordinary Canadian masterpieces from coast to coast.\u00a0Led by seminal works by Emily Carr, Lawren Harris and Jean Paul Lemieux,\u00a0this auction,\u00a0expected to achieve between $9 and $12 million, also features important\u00a0works from all the\u00a0original members of the Group of Seven up to Contemporary Art.<\/p>\n

Previews to be held in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, in advance of the live auction in Vancouver on May 17, will display works that have not been seen by the public for generations.<\/p>\n

Heffel Fine Art Auction\u00a0House\u00a0is thrilled to announce a spectacular Spring\u00a0collection of Canadian art to be auctioned on May 17 in Vancouver,\u00a0presenting works from across our great nation, many of which have not been\u00a0displayed publicly in decades. With over 30 auctions to date, Heffel is\u00a0the undisputed leader of Canadian art at auction, having sold over a\u00a0quarter of a billion dollars in art. This Spring, the 185 lots are\u00a0expected to achieve between $9 and $12 million, according to conservative\u00a0estimates. If projections hold, the Heffel Spring 2012 auction will place\u00a0within the top 10 grossing auctions of Canadian art of all time, all ten\u00a0of which were conducted by Heffel. The most recent Fall 2011 auction\u00a0surpassed all expectations, totaling $16.8 million in sales.<\/p>\n

West Coast Art at the forefront<\/h5>\n

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It is fitting that this season\u2019s auction takes place in Vancouver given\u00a0the number of noteworthy West Coast-based artists. Leading the way is\u00a0Emily Carr, who, along with Frida Kahlo and Georgia\u00a0O\u2019Keefe, is\u00a0widely considered to be one of North America\u2019s most influential female\u00a0artists. Among the eight works on offer is Eagle\u00a0Totem,\u00a0considered one of the rarest treasures in\u00a0Canadian art given that it is a mature period oil on canvas with First\u00a0Nations subject matter. Heffel is also presenting War Canoes, Alert\u00a0Bay<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>a watercolour that is the basis for her spectacular oil\u00a0of the same name, currently in the Audain collection. Earlier this year,\u00a0Heffel sold a similar Carr watercolour, War Canoe, Alert Bay, for $1.228\u00a0million, making it the most valuable Canadian watercolour ever sold at\u00a0auction. Heffel is no stranger to breaking Emily Carr records, having sold\u00a0eight of the top-ten priced works by this artist.<\/p>\n

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E.J. Hughes, Englewood, <\/em>1951.\u00a0Oil on canvas.\u00a025″ x 32″<\/p>\n

Other West Coast artists of note include E.J. Hughes, whose masterwork\u00a0Englewood\u00a0<\/em>includes a personalized letter from\u00a0the\u00a0artistdated 1989 explaining how he came to paint the work (he was nominated by\u00a0Lawren Harris for an Emily Carr Scholarship). He wrote “I hope that as the\u00a0years go by, you will get much more pleasure from your painting, and that\u00a0you will notice different little things about it every time you see it.”<\/p>\n

Also featured are Receding Tide, Departure<\/em>\u00a0Bay<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0a superb Hughes coastal scene, and The Nanaimo<\/em>
\nBastion<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0based on one of the oldest buildings in British Columbia,\u00a0built by the Hudson\u2019s Bay Company.<\/p>\n

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Bertram Charles (B.C.) Binning, Two Ships Standing Off, <\/em>1948. Oil on board.\u00a014″ x 7 1\/8″<\/p>\n

Bertram Charles (B.C.)\u00a0Binning,\u00a0the pioneer West Coast modernist, was not only an internationally\u00a0recognized painter but also head of the Fine Arts Department at the\u00a0University of British Columbia and an architectural designer. Bold works,\u00a0including Two Ships Standing<\/em>\u00a0Off<\/em>\u00a0and Vacant and Occupied<\/em>\u00a0Squares<\/em><\/a>, will be up for auction.<\/p>\n

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Gordon Smith, White Painting #2, <\/em>1960.\u00a035″ x 48″<\/p>\n

At 92, Gordon Smith is considered British Columbia\u2019s greatest living\u00a0artist, and has nine exceptional paintings in the sale. From his 1960\u00a0masterwork White Painting\u00a0#2\u00a0<\/em>up to the circa
\n1990 Houlgate Creek<\/em>, the works in the auction span his artistic career\u00a0showing his balance between pure abstraction and the depiction of the\u00a0British Columbia landscape through his physical and emotional act of\u00a0painting.<\/p>\n

Lemieux and the Quebec Automatists dominate<\/h5>\n

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Jean Paul Lemieux will also be represented with an impressive seven\u00a0works\u00a0at the auction this Spring. In the Fall, Heffel made news around the globe\u00a0by auctioning Nineteen Ten Remembered, one of the most iconic images in\u00a0Canadian art, for a record shattering CAD $2.34\u00a0million,\u00a0setting national and worldwide records for post-war and contemporary\u00a0Canadian art sold at auction. For the Spring, Heffel presents La plage\u00a0am\u00e9ricaine<\/em>, another quintessential Lemieux painting featuring his iconic\u00a0characters in mysterious interactions. Other works on auction include Le<\/em>
\nmois de juin<\/em>, a rich rural portrait as\u00a0well as Monseigneur<\/em>, one of his iconic\u00a0religious portraits. Lemieux, now dubbed \u201cCanada\u2019s Latest\u00a0Two-Million-Dollar Man\u201d, continues to command record-breaking prices\u00a0around the globe. Heffel is also presenting captivating works at prices\u00a0accessible to first-time collectors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Paul-\u00c9mile Borduas, Jeunesse, <\/em>1956. Oil on canvas,\u00a020″ x 24″<\/p>\n

Paul-\u00c9mile Borduas, another Quebec legend, has four works on offer,\u00a0including Jeunesse,\u00a0<\/em>which was heralded by a Montreal\u00a0critic in 1957 for its masterful manipulation of white paint. Heffel is\u00a0also offering one of Borduas\u2019s copies of Refus\u00a0global,\u00a0the 1948 manifesto by the Montreal-based Automatist\u00a0artists that many believe helped shape modern Quebec culture (and also\u00a0resulted in Borduas being fired from his teaching position). Other\u00a0Automatist artists on offer at this auction include a spectacularly large\u00a0painting by Marcelle Ferron, several works by Jean-Paul Riopelle, and two\u00a0extremely unique works by Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau.<\/p>\n

Museum quality works by the Group of Seven<\/h5>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lawren Harris, Lake Superior, <\/em>1928. Oil on board,\u00a012″ x 15″<\/p>\n

Lawren Harris continues to dominate at auction, and Heffel is pleased to\u00a0offer ten exceptional works by the artist this Spring. Heffel is most\u00a0excited about the triumphant return to Canada of Harris\u2019 Lake\u00a0Superior<\/em>, a sketch for a canvas in the collection of the\u00a0Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. After visiting the\u00a0blockbuster UK exhibit Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven at London’s\u00a0Dulwich Picture Gallery, the British consignors realized the true
\nsignificance of this valuable work, which had humbly hung in their home\u00a0for many years. Another Harris of note is Building the Ice House,\u00a0Hamilton<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>a reminder that Harris not only excelled at
\npainting the wilderness but also captured the urban landscape of Canada’s\u00a0cities. Along with Harris, a total of 36 works by the original members of\u00a0the Group of Seven are on auction including Franklin Carmichael<\/a>,\u00a0Frank Johnston<\/a>,\u00a0Arthur Lismer<\/a>,\u00a0J.E.H. MacDonald<\/a>,\u00a0and Frederick Varley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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A.Y. Jackson, Morning, Great Bear Lake, <\/em>1938. Oil on canvas,\u00a028″ x 36″<\/p>\n

Among A.Y. Jackson\u2019s ten works is Morning, Great Bear<\/em>\u00a0Lake<\/em>,\u00a0considered to be among his finest. Early Autumn, Montreal River,\u00a0Algoma<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>one of J.E.H. Macdonald\u2019s three works\u00a0on auction, is the Heffel catalogue cover image.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Helen Galloway McNicoll, Easter Lilies, <\/em>1907. Oil on canvas,\u00a021 1\/4″ x 17 1\/8″<\/p>\n

Other Ontario artists of note include Helen Galloway McNicoll, a Canadian\u00a0Impressionist painter who died prematurely and has been the focus of\u00a0multiple recent exhibits. Known for her paintings of children, this is the\u00a0first time that Easter\u00a0Lilies<\/em>, one of the best examples of this\u00a0subject, has ever been offered on the market.<\/p>\n

Christopher Pratt leads strong East Coast representation<\/h5>\n

\"\"<\/a>Christopher Pratt, <\/span>Landing, <\/em>1973. Oil on board,\u00a030″ x 38″<\/span><\/p>\n

Newfoundland\u2019s Christopher Pratt is one of Canada’s most recognized and\u00a0acclaimed living artists. With\u00a0Landing<\/em>, Heffel presents one of his most\u00a0important works that focuses on his passion for architecture. Heffel is\u00a0also presenting some very interesting preliminary sketches by renowned\u00a0East Coast master Alex Colville for some of his important works including\u00a0Study for Woman, Dog &\u00a0Canoe<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and Study for\u00a0Laser<\/a><\/em>. Heffel currently holds the title for the highest value ever achieved in Canada at\u00a0an auction for a work by a living Canadian painter for an Alex Colville\u00a0painting entitled Man on Verandah<\/em>, sold in November 2010 for $1.287\u00a0million.<\/p>\n

Two separate sessions that span the history of Canadian Art<\/h5>\n

The Heffel Spring auction is presented in two separate sessions: Canadian\u00a0Post-War & Contemporary\u00a0Art\u00a0at 4:00 pm, followed by the Fine Canadian\u00a0Art\u00a0session at 7:00 pm. Heffel was the first auction house in Canada to split\u00a0historical and contemporary Canadian art into separate sales and is the\u00a0only one that produces separate catalogues for each session.<\/p>\n

To give interested buyers from across Canada a chance to view these\u00a0extraordinary works, many on display for the first time in generations,\u00a0the collection is being previewed in three cities:<\/p>\n