Peel, Hewton works sold at Joyner art auction

Coveted paintings by Canadian artists Paul Peel, Randolph Stanley Hewton and Jack Bush took the spotlight at the Joyner Canadian Fine Art auction in Toronto Monday night.

Peel's Orchestra Chairs, an 1892 work that was one of the Ontario-born artist's final large canvases, fetched $413,000 (all prices include 18 per cent auction house premium).

An unnamed U.K. bidder successfully nabbed the Peel painting, an example of the artist's well-known depictions of children. Orchestra Chairs had carried a pre-sale estimate of $400,000-$500,000, making it the priciest lot of Joyner's fall sale.

The Monday night auction set a record for Quebec-born painter Hewton, whose Semi-Draped Nude in the Artist's Studio featured on the cover of the Joyner fall auction catalogue sold for $153,400.

The price paid for the painting a striking semi-nude figure that the artist had proudly hung above the fireplace in his own home was nearly quadruple the low-end estimate of $40,000.

Other notable sales included:

• Attacca, an abstract acrylic on canvas by postwar artist Jack Bush, which was nabbed by a western Canadian bidder for $165,200.
• Winter Traverse, an oil on canvas painting by historical painter Cornelius Krieghoff, which sold for $88,500.
• Animal Unity, a work by Norval Morrisseau, which sold for $59,000.
• Caprice, a 1958 abstract work by Jock Macdonald, which sparked feverish bidding and ultimately fetched $37,760.
• Cultural Exchange in Canada, a narrative work by William Kurelek, which sold for $59,000.

The evening saw spirited bidding, a lively crowd and art collectors from across Canada and beyond represented, according to a post-auction statement from Joyner.

"Passionate bidding throughout the evening indicated that the market was strong for artworks by cherished historical and contemporary artists," the auction house said.

Overall, the sale totalled just over $3.1 million, Joyner vice-president Rob Cowley said on Tuesday morning.

The Toronto-based auction house continues with more Canadian art offered online from Tuesday through Dec. 2. A third sale, specifically offering art from an unnamed Canadian corporation's collection online, is slated for Dec. 6-9.

The Canadian fall auction season continues in Toronto with the Sotheby's Canada sale Tuesday and the Heffel's sale on Thursday.