Emily Carr painting sold at a barn for $50 US fetches $349K at Toronto auction

A painting by renowned B.C. artist Emily Carr that sold for $50 US at a barn sale in New York fetched $349,250 Cdn at a Toronto auction on Wednesday night.

Heffel Fine Art Auction House sold the painting to the highest bidder at its fall sale. The highest bid was above a presale estimate of $100,000 to $200,000. The total price includes the buyer's premium, the commission paid by the buyer to Heffel, on top of the hammer price of $290,000.

The piece, painted in 1912, depicts a carved grizzly bear atop a memorial totem pole and bears Carr's signature. Carr was born in Victoria in 1871 and was closely associated with the renowned Group of Seven, which includes Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris and A.Y. Jackson.

The piece is believed to have been a gift to Carr's friend Nell Cozier and her husband in the 1930s and has been hanging in a barn in the Hamptons since. The couple moved to the area to work as caretakers for a large estate after originally living in Victoria.

The discovered piece was painted as part of Carr's efforts to create an extensive record of the artistic heritage of First Nations communities in British Columbia. The Indigenous memorial post depicted in the painting stood in Masset, a village in the province's Haida Gwaii archipelago.

U.S. art dealer Allen Treibitz, owner of Heritage Gallery Auctions in Patchogue, N.Y.,  bought the oil on canvas painting, Masset, Q.C.I., in the Hamptons in the late spring but he was unfamiliar with Carr's work and legacy. He quickly realized, however, that there was something special about the painting.

In an interview before the auction, Treibitz said the first thing he saw at the barn sale was the painting. The person that owned the painting had died, there were no heirs and the contents of the barn were being sold. He said he found out it was on the property for about 90 years.

"It had a look. It was very special, stood out from other things in that barn, and quite frankly, stood out from most of the things that we see," he said.

"Other than that, how it ended up in on that property, I don't think anybody could ever know. If I didn't find it, it might never have been found."

Treibitz said he researched the painting once he saw it and the fact that Carr had signed, dated and given the painting a title made his research easier.

"I did a quick research when I had pulled it down from the rafters and realized that she was an important artist. I didn't realize how important at that point. I knew it was worth something, but I didn't realize the real importance and special nature of that painting," he said.

Treibitz did more research later, contacted David Heffel of the Heffel Fine Art Auction House, and the auction house was able to piece together that it ended up there through friends of Carr to whom she had given it as a gift.

"The whole process started from there on its journey back to Canada," he said.

Treibitz said Heffel didn't know that the painting existed or had even been painted.

"She's an amazing artist," he said. "There's an otherworldly look to it...It's an amazing work of art on a small canvas, which makes it even more special that she was able to paint and make an impression of this totem that's in Masset.

"It's pretty cool. You don't see things like this."

'It's a long lost treasure,' auctioneer says

Robert Heffel, vice president of the Heffel Fine Art Auction House and an auctioneer, said the painting comes with an interesting story because it was discovered in upstate New York but it made its way back to Canada.

"It's a long lost treasure," he said. "Emily Carr is one of Canada's most important artists. This painting is a really great example of her work from 1912, full colours, when she came back to Canada from studying in France. It's just a real great find."

He said the auction house is pleased that it has found a new home for the painting. He said the buyer is a "passionate collector" and a good client of the auction house.

"We're delighted for the consignor," he added.

Treibitz said he just did his part to promote the painting as best he could. 

"This painting has gone viral because of the story... Nobody expected it to blow up the way it did."