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Collecting dust in an old barn in New York state, a 1912 painting of a bear on top of a memorial pole by Canadian icon Emily Carr was snapped up for $50.
It’s soon going to auction at an estimated value of between $100,000 and $200,000. It will first be displayed in four cities across the country, starting in Calgary, before the auction in Toronto on Nov. 20.
Before you think some lucky fool wandered into that barn in the Hamptons and is now about to make out like a bandit with its resale, know that it was a New York art dealer who saw it hanging in the rafters. It bore Emily Carr’s signature but the dealer was unfamiliar with her work. But he knew enough to know it was special. It was only when he contacted Canadian auctioneer Heffel Fine Art Auction House that he realized the true value of the piece.
“What is really interesting about the painting and notable is it’s bold . . . and it uses the post-Impressionist colour palette she learned in France. Her use of bold and modern colours, which were really groundbreaking in Canada,” says Lauren Kratzer, national director of consignments at Heffel Fine Art Auction House.
“Given that it was hanging in a heritage barn for many decades, it’s in surprisingly good shape. When it arrived in Vancouver, it only needed a bit of surface cleaning and TC.”
The painting depicts a bear on top of an Indigenous memorial pole in B.C.’s Haida Gwaii archipelago, where Carr (1871-1945) frequently painted. Kratzer believes it was likely gifted from Carr to her friend Nell Cozier, who lived in Victoria before moving to Long Island. Carr kept detailed journals and she noted a trip to the east in 1930.
“We have this link of Emily Carr going to Long Island, which is an interesting part of the puzzle,” said Kratzer. She noted that Carr wrote detailed journals and remarked on her 1930 visit to her friends who were working as caretakers on a millionaire’s estate.
“It’s an exciting rediscovery and an honour to bring her back to Canadian soil after so many decades on Long Island. It’s truly a homecoming.”
The Carr painting and other Canadian masterpieces will be displayed Oct. 4 to 6 at the Heffel Fall Auction Calgary Preview before they head to auction. Included in the exhibit are four works by Carr, as well as paintings by Lawren Harris, Tom Thomson and Jean-Paul Riopelle.
The Calgary preview will also feature artworks consigned from important Calgary collections, including a painting by Group of Seven member J.E.H. MacDonald — September Snow, depicting Lake O’Hara and painted in 1926. It’s estimated to sell for between $80,000 and $120,000. There is also an oil sketch by A.Y. Jackson — The Ramparts, Tonquin, Jasper Park (1924) — from the same Group of Seven period on display. It’s estimated to sell for $25,000 to $35,000.
Another work by J.E.H. MacDonald was consigned from an important Alberta collection. The Lonely North, a sketch related to a major canvas of the same name, will be on view. Its estimated sales value is between $30,000 and $50,000.
The iconic paintings can be viewed at Heffel Gallery Calgary, Unit 1080, 220 Manning Road N.E., between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
