Is Canadian art more valuable if Americans like it?

Is there a ‘Canadian ceiling’ on our art that can only be shattered if Americans are interested?

Last week’s art auction is a perfect case study for these questions

It was the highly-anticipated auction of a Lawren Harris painting, Mountain Forms. Steve Martin loves that painting. It was the showstopper for a special exhibit of Harris paintings that Steve Martin curated earlier this fall. The pre-sale estimate for the painting was $3 to $5 million. Steve Martin made a public announcement that he thought the painting was worth $10 million, double the price of any other Canadian painting.

Was Martin right? YES!

TORONTO – The Lawren Harris painting “Mountain Forms” has set a towering new benchmark in Canadian art by selling for over $11.2 million at auction, more than doubling the previous record established in 2002.   Heffel Fine Art Auction House had estimated the 1926 oil canvas depicting Mount Ishbel in the Sawback Range in the Rocky Mountains would fetch between $3 million and $5 million — the highest ever placed on a Harris piece, said president David Heffel.   Offers streamed in for the 60-by-70-inch (152.4-by-177.8-centimetre) canvas at a blistering pace at the fall live auction, held at the Design Exchange in Toronto on Wednesday night. Within minutes, the bids had steamrolled through the high end of the estimate

  When the hammer fell, the piece sold for $9.5 million — a new Canadian record. Coupled with an 18 per cent buyer’s premium, an auction house fee, the final tally was boosted to $11,210,000.   “One quick crack at a hammer, and one giant leap for the Canadian art market,” said Heffel to enthusiastic applause from the assembled audience.   BNN

The Heffel auction set a Canadian record for a single night: $42 million. In anticipation of this auction, I have had a wonderful time, following the trail of the Group of Seven throughout the fall. I went to McMichael Art Gallery just north of Toronto to see the largest collection of the Group of Seven. I went to Huntsville to see the outdoor murals of the Group of Seven. I went to the special exhibit at the AGO where the Group of Seven joins Monet and van Gogh for the Mystical Landscapes Tour, departing for Paris in the spring. I completed my tour with a trip downtown last week to see Harris’s Mountain Forms on the day of the auction. I had no idea that a preview is the best way to see paintings! Museums are designed around what is best for the artwork. Previews are designed around getting the best price at auction. Museums shield artwork from natural light. Previews let the light in. Art looks its best in natural light. Museums hide their most valuable pieces behind a layer of protective glass. There was no glass at the preview. I had the absolute pleasure of seeing artwork in a setting that is designed to showcase the art, with lots of space and light. Apart from the fabulous artwork, I enjoyed looking around at the other patrons, wondering who might bid that evening.

Have you bought at an art auction?

Lawren Harris: Mountain Forms

The auction preview was held in the former headquarters of the Toronto Stock Exchange in a beautiful Art Deco building. This little two-story jewel is incorporated into the massive TD Centre, a complex of black steel buildings that dominate the business district in Toronto. The light and space in the viewing room was perfect to see the paintings from every angle. The preview did its job: I wanted to buy every painting in the room! I could visualize how each one would look in our house … great!

Lawren Harris’s Mountain Forms is a scene from the Rocky Mountains

I love the Harris painting because it reminds me of the summer that I spent in Jasper National Park in the Rockies. It was 1972. I was 18. I was a chambermaid at a summer resort. I had a summer boyfriend. He was 19 and he had a car …. with an 8-track. I had the best summer ever! I hiked everywhere in those mountains that summer. I don’t need a $10 million dollar painting to remind me of that summer …. but it would be nice!

Why do we love art?

Sometimes, a painting can take us back to a time or a place or an experience. What would you pay for that painting?

This painting by Marc-Aurèle Fortin sold for $500,000

The hammer price was below its estimate of$700,000 to $900,000. Sometimes you can pick up a bargain at an auction. Most of the other paintings in the auction sold for prices that were in the range of the pre-sale estimates.

This A Y Jackson sold for $283,000, the low end of its estimate of $250,000 to $350,000

We need Steve Martin to tell us that A Y Jackson is worth more!

Gustave Caillebotte: Iris bleus, Jardin du Petit Gennevilliers

This is the painting that I would have bought at the auction

Gustave Caillebotte was an impressionist painter. He came from a wealthy family and he used his fortune to support his fellow artists and friends, notably Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir and Camille Pissarro. He bought their paintings when no one else would. He paid the rent on their studios. He was instrumental in establishing Monet’s career and financial survival. Caillebotte built a garden estate at Gennevilliers, just a few miles down the road from Giverny where Monet built his home and famous water lily pond. Caillebotte’s Iris painting in the auction was done at Gennevilliers. Caillebotte and Monet exchanged many ideas on gardening and painting. Known more as a patron than a painter, Caillebotte’s paintings were largely ignored until 1964 when the Art Institute of Chicago bought one of his paintings. The Musée d’Orsay owns 40 of his works.

Last spring, we went to Giverny to visit Monet’s home and gardens. There is a wonderful little museum in Giverny that had a special exhibit on Caillebotte’s paintings. The exhibit is currently showing at the Museo Thyssen in Madrid until January.

Here is a link to a great article with photos about Caillebotte in the Financial Times.

Caillebotte’s Iris painting sold for $678,500 at the auction. The highest price paid for a Monet topped $80 million. Harris’s Mountain Forms sold for more than $11 million. Caillebotte’s Iris painting sold for a fraction of those prices.

Some day, if I have a million dollars, I will buy one of Caillebotte’s paintings.

UPDATE:  February, 2019 The sale of Caillebotte’s irises is now embroiled in a complex and costly legal battle. The buyer at the Heffel auction is a British art dealer. An export permit is required. The Canadian review board denied the permit on the basis that Caillebotte’s irises is of national importance to Canada. Heffel launched a court case to challenge this ruling. Heffel won. The judge ruled that a sale of a French painting from a private collection was not a significant loss of Canadian cultural heritage. This decision threw the art world into an uproar. The same Canadian culture test that is used to evaluate requests for export permits is also used to grant huge tax concessions to those who donate art to Canadian museums. If foreign works do not meet the test of national importance to Canada, then private collectors will lose a special tax incentive that was designed to encourage private collectors to donate art to public museums. The federal government appealed the trial decision. Many museums have been granted intervenor status. The case will be heard next week by the Federal Court of Appeal.

UPDATE: August 23, 2019
Caillebotte’s irises is staying in Canada!

What do you think: Can foreign works of art make a significant contribution to Canadian culture?

This is a picture of my computer screen as I watched the auction in real time

I had a a debate with myself about attending the auction to witness the sale of Harris’s Mountain Forms. In the end, I decided to watch it live on Heffel’s auction site. It was very exciting to watch. The cameras zoomed in on the competing telephone bidders. The price rose to stratospheric prices very quickly. Since I was not bidding, I could relax, pour a glass of wine and enjoy the show!

Canadian art has broken the ‘Canadian ceiling.’

Who bought Mountain Forms?

Heffel was tight-lipped on the identity of the buyer, in line with the auction house’s strict confidentiality policy. He would only say that the prized piece had found “a great new home by a passionate, dedicated and sincere collector,” and expressed confidence that the public would have the chance in future to revisit the work.

When the ‘big reveal’ happens, I will let you know!

I hope you have enjoyed this trip as we followed the Group of Seven these last few weeks. I can’t wait to see the reception in Paris when the Group of Seven hangs with Monet and van Gogh.

See you next week!