Postwar art gains at Canadian auctions

Art by the Group of Seven and other perennial favouriteswill undoubtedly draw interest at this fall's Canadian fine art auctions, but the "contemporary postwar"scene is attracting increasing attention, according to Canada's leading houses.

Heffel Fine Art Auction House, which has registered record-setting sales over the past five or six years, has its highest hopes this season for a mid-century Jean-Paul Riopelle work.

The 1955 oil-on-canvas Sans Titre, from the Quebec abstract artist's most sought-after period, carries the priciest estimate by the Vancouver-based auctioneer: $800,000 to $1.2 million. The work could set arecord, says Heffel vice-president Robert Heffel.

He compared Sans Titre to Il tait une fois une ville, a similarly sized, mid-century Riopelle that he sold for $1.67 million in 2006 and which remains the most expensive contemporary work of art sold at auction in Canadian history.

"We're seeing the Canadian contemporary postwar market growing and those prices increase. It's really growing towards a market on par with our fine Canadian art sale, which is the equivalent of the impressionist and early modernist sales [elsewhere]," he told CBC News.

Heffel will also be keeping an eye on Alex Colville's Man on Verandah, a 1953 work by the East Coast artist that's piquing the interest of collectors in Canada and abroad (and carries an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000).

"Colville is a very important Canadian artist, but over his lifetime has also exhibited internationally," Heffel explained, noting specifically displays of Colville's art in London, New York and San Francisco.

"The early 1950s in Canadian contemporary art, like on the international scene, was a key time."

Expectations are also high forLawren Harris, this time for his Mountain, Baffin Island North, Arctic Sketch XII. That work a sketch for the major canvas North Shore, Baffin Island II,held by the National Gallery of Canada holds an estimate of $700,000 to $900,000.

Traditional works are also among the fall highlights at Joyner Canadian Fine Art, which will see nearly 300 lots cross the block during its live sale. Two online sales will follow.

Paul Peel's massive canvas Orchestra Chairs is the Toronto-based auction house's priciest lot (expected to fetch $400,000 to $500,000) and one of three of the artist's paintings Joyner is offering.

"[Orchestra Chairs is] one of the last large works he completed before his death... [and offers] a depiction of children, for which of course Peel is internationally known," Joyner vice-president Rob Cowley explained.

"Even if they can't put their finger on who Paul Peel was, people have certainly come across some of his depictions, [such as] After the Bath," he noted.

Afew works from the estate of founding Beaver Hall member Randolf Stanley Hewton are also expected to attract bidders, especially the colourful Semi-draped Nude In the Artist's Studio (which the artist had hung proudly over his fireplace at home) and The Artist Sketching in Winter which his family has always maintains is a portrait of longtime friend A.Y. Jackson.

"It's not only important on the historical side capturing one of our most celebrated artists at work in the field but also the fact that there's such a personal level to it," Cowley said.

"You're getting a depiction from someone who was incredibly close to the artist, studied with him, worked with him and spent a great deal of his life in close friendship with him."

Semi-Draped Nude is expected to sell for $40,000 to $60,000, while Artist Sketching could fetch $5,000 to $7,000.

The Sotheby's Canada fall sale comprises 153 lots that are strong, good-quality pieces, although there aren't many blockbuster canvases this season, saidpresident David Silcox.

At the top end of its sale is a rare, large Arthur Lismer canvas entitled Ontario Village, a "very elaborate, detailed" work thatcarries an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000, Silcox said.

Sotheby's is also showcasing several works from the collection of E.R. Hunter, a retired curator, collector and arts administrator who wrote the first book on Group of Seven member J.E.H. MacDonald.

Among the artworks offered for sale by Hunter, who celebrated his 101st birthday this year in Florida, is Wind Clouds. The moody MacDonald canvas (estimated at $150,000 to $175,000) was shown in the inaugural Group of Seven exhibition in May 1920 and has not been seen in Canada since.

Like his colleague Heffel, Silcox also pointed out a growing interest in postwar artamong Canadian collectors. A third of Sotheby's lots this fall are contemporary works and more than a dozen living, working artists are featured in the sale, he said.

"I think it's the strongest selection of post-Second World War paintings we've ever had. There are major works by Gaucher, Gagnon, Molinari, Town, McEwan, Bush, Izkowitz, ... Letendre," Silcox,an ardent booster of modern and living artists,recounted to CBC News.

"It's the biggest proportion we've ever had, so I'm very happy about that."

Joyner Waddington, which has set an overall presale estimate of $3 million to $4 million,will get things started with its live auction in Toronto on Nov. 22.

Also in Toronto, Sotheby's Canada follows on Nov. 23 and is expected to draw between $4 million and $5.8 million.

Heffel, which has forecast an overall auction total of $9 million to $12 million, closes the season with more than 180 works (offered in two sessions) up for sale in Toronto on Nov. 25.