TORONTO - Two important works by Alex Colville consigned from a private American collection both sold at a Sotheby's auction in Toronto Monday night.
Colville's 1952 work "Woman, Jockey and Horse" sold for $370,000 according to the Sotheby's website -- far higher than the pre-auction estimate of $100,000 to $150,000.
The painting features a jockey captured in an intriguing exchange with a mysterious woman.
Colville's "Cattle Show," from 1955, had a pre-sale estimate of $250,000 to $350,000 and sold for $290,000.
The Sotheby's Important Canadian Art auction, held at the Royal Ontario Museum, featured nearly 190 works.
It was expected to pull in between $4.7 and $6.6 million, but the standing-room-only crowd was astonished when the final sale total exceeded $7.8 million.
