Group of Seven, Emily Carr and rediscovered Tom Thomson work about to hit auction block
Calgary gets preview of upcoming Toronto auction, which could bring in up to $17M
An Alberta art collector wasn't aware a sketch she owned was by the forefather of the Group of Seven, Tom Thomson, and now it could bring in almost $200,000 in an upcoming auction.
"There is an incredible Tom Thomson oil sketch for a canvas in the national gallery," Robert Heffel of Heffel Fine Art Auction House told CBC News on Friday.
"It would be more like a rediscovered Thomson because the daughter never really believed her father that it was by Thomson. They brought it into our gallery. We knew immediately it was a Thomson. We confirmed it with several experts. It came from an Edmonton collection."
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Sketch for Lake in Algonquin Park is estimated to go for between $125,000 and $175,000.
It's part of a Calgary preview collection of about 25 pieces, highlights from the 118 pieces in the Post-War & Contemporary Art and Canadian, Impressionist & Modern Art auction in Toronto at the end of May.
"It's really a wonderful opportunity to see some great Canadian art that has been in private collections," Heffel said.
The total auction estimate is between $11 million and $17 million, including pieces by Lawren Harris, Tom Thomson, Emily Carr, A.Y. Jackson, Paul-Émile Borduas and the Group of Seven.
The Calgary preview runs April 13-14, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at 888 Fourth Avenue S.W. ahead of previews in Vancouver and Montreal before the May 30 auction at Toronto's Design Exchange.
With files from Radio-Canada's Audrey Neveu