Maud Lewis painting, once traded for grilled cheese sandwiches, sells for $350K
Maud Lewis painting, once traded for grilled cheese sandwiches, sells for $350K
Maud Lewis painting, once traded for grilled cheese sandwiches, sells for $350K
NEW HAMBURG, Ont. -
Hungry for some uplifting news, a man from western Canada stumbled across a story about a painting up for auction. The work by acclaimed Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis had been traded in the 1970s for some grilled cheese sandwiches. Recently, it was valued pre-auction at around $350,000.
“There isn’t much good news out there, and then I came across that little article,” the buyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, told CTV News.
“I hadn’t actually heard of Maud Lewis.”
The man bought the painting recently for a record $350,000, which is five times more than any Lewis painting had previously sold for and 10 times the estimated price.
He and his wife had watched a movie about Lewis the night before the auction and say they thought it would be nice to be part of the story behind the painting, which is of a black truck on a rural road.
“For the last four or five years, I was saying to my wife I’m looking for a little black truck and I think I found it,” he said.
The eye-popping price the painting fetched still has collectors all abuzz.
“The galleries that have these things for sale, immediately nothing is for sale because prices are being calibrated,” said Ethan Miller of Miller & Miller Auctions, which listed the painting.
Lewis, who died in 1970, lived much of her life in poverty in a one-room house in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia. She suffered from debilitating arthritis and sold her paintings on the roadside, often for $5. She scrounged for paint from local fishermen and her works have been described as happy, joyous and childlike. They were often similar with scenes of rural life, including landscapes and wide-eyed cats.
“She was completely untrained but I think that's what people love so much about it,” said Justin Miller, who co-runs the auction house in New Hamburg, Ont.
“As we're coming out of the pandemic, I think people are looking for exciting things, colourful things, fun things,” he said.
Another one of the Lewis’ oil paintings, depicting a pair of oxen, also sold at the auction for $70,000, the second-highest price ever paid for one of her works.
Bill Mayberry is an art dealer who has sold more than 250 of her paintings since the 1980s. He says the sales will probably raise the tide on most of Lewis’ paintings, noting she initially sold her art on Christmas cards for a few cents.
“She would be completely amazed and bewildered by the amount of attention her work has received in recent years. The kind of numbers that she could never even have imagined,” said Mayberry.
The truck painting, one of three known to exist, had been obtained by Irene Demas and her husband Tony nearly 50 years ago. The couple were running a restaurant in London, Ont., and a regular customer was local artist John Kinnear. Kinnear had been helping Lewis with supplies and in return she had sent him several of her paintings. He offered up six of them to Demas in exchange for some lunchtime grilled cheese sandwiches.
“One caught my eye, which was the black truck. It was a very bright, very happy little painting,” said Demas.
“I was pregnant with my son and I thought, it’ll look cute in the baby’s room.”
She only chose the one painting.
Nearly 50 years later, she can’t believe it sold for so much money.
“I wish I had taken all six,” she said with a chuckle.
She hopes the story will draw more attention to Lewis, who spent most of her life in obscurity.
“I think that it’s time that Canadians take more notice of her and appreciate her.”
CTVNews.ca asked Canadians to share their travel horror stories as cancelled flights, delays and lost luggage throw a wrench in Canadians' summer travel plans, due in part to staffing shortages at Canadian airports. Some report sleeping at airports and others say it took days to get to or from a destination.
Turkish customs authorities have detained a Russian cargo ship carrying grain which Ukraine says is stolen, Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey said on Sunday.
The remaining businesses on Shelbourne Street in Saanich, B.C., that had been closed after last week's shooting at a Bank of Montreal branch have now reopened, police say.
It's been said no one's success is complete without failure, but a new international exhibit in Calgary is proving that even some of the most talented innovators had some of the worst ideas for consumers.
An Ontario high school teacher plans to continue with an alternative method of grading her students after an experiment last semester in which students proposed a grade and had to justify it with examples of their work.
Thousands of residents in Sydney suburbs were told to evacuate their homes on Sunday after heavy rains caused floodwaters to rise and rivers to overflow in what authorities called life-threatening emergencies.
Parts of a mountain glacier collapsed in the Italian Alps on Sunday amid record temperatures, local authorities said, killing at least six people and injuring eight.
Families across the country tell W5 they were falsely accused of child abuse after bringing their sick or injured child to the hospital. Some parents are calling for mandatory medical second opinions when it comes to cases flagged in hospitals.
Former Deputy Leader of the Conservatives Lisa Raitt shares the pain behind her husband's devastating diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's and the story of their enduring love, in a candid and revealing interview with CTV W5.
W5 investigates disturbing allegations against a pediatric dentist in Nova Scotia whose treatment of children over five decades is now an alleged crime.
CTV W5's latest investigation: For a year, Dr. Brooks Fallis ran the Critical Care unit at a Brampton Hospital. He openly criticized Premier Ford’s COVID-19 response and was warned by his bosses there could be consequences.
For the past two years, a number of doctors across Canada have advocated for their patients and questioned the role of politics in the handling of COVID-19. To explore the issues, W5 convened a group of seven physicians from across the country.
An Ontario man shares his horrifying story of murder as W5 investigates the widespread under-reporting of serious side-effects from prescription drugs.
Two people died and four others including a nine-month-old baby were injured in a pair of crashes that occurred two hours apart in Peel Region overnight.
Nearly 250 child care centres have signalled their intent to opt into the federal government’s $10-a-day program since applications opened across most of the Greater Toronto Area last week but hundreds of others remain on the sidelines.
An Ottawa epidemiologist says expanding eligibility of COVID-19 boosters to allow adults to get a fourth dose if they wish could help stem a possible fall wave.
Ottawa Bylaw says another 22 vehicles were towed out of downtown Ottawa on Saturday and more than 150 parking tickets were issued as the city’s vehicle control zone remains in effect.
Nearly 250 child care centres have signalled their intent to opt into the federal government’s $10-a-day program since applications opened across most of the Greater Toronto Area last week but hundreds of others remain on the sidelines.
Hospitals overwhelmed by the pandemic’s onslaught are still facing a number of challenges, causing unprecedented wait times in emergency rooms across the country.
A man is facing charges after he set off fireworks early Saturday morning in Waterloo. "He was holding the fireworks in his hand and then projecting them at businesses and pedestrians," said police.
The London Fire Department tackled a blaze at a home in south London early Sunday morning, which claimed the lives of two pets and resulted in approximately $250,000 in damages.
Heavy smoke and loud explosions woke up a number of residents in a high-rise apartment Saturday morning on Capulet Lane in London, Ont. when a fire broke out in the parking garage next to their building.
Hospitals overwhelmed by the pandemic’s onslaught are still facing a number of challenges, causing unprecedented wait times in emergency rooms across the country.
One person is deceased and another was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries following a collision between a pickup truck and a motorcycle in Leamington on Canada Day.
At this time of year, when many Quebecers move into a new home, there may be an increase in infestations of invaders such as bed bugs. Anyone can be affected by these unwanted pests and it is important to report cases.
Quebec provincial police officers working out of Laval's highway patrol along with Deux-Montagnes police had a busy night Saturday as motorists were caught driving with a cell phone, fleeing from police on a motorbike, driving drunk, and other offenses.
New Brunswick's education minister is lashing out at Air Canada, saying the airline is incompetent because it decided on the weekend to cancel a Monday flight that would have taken him and four officials to a meeting in Regina.
A 50-year-old New Brunswick woman is facing an impaired driving charge following a head-on collision with a fully marked RCMP vehicle in the village of Tracadie.
Hospitals overwhelmed by the pandemic’s onslaught are still facing a number of challenges, causing unprecedented wait times in emergency rooms across the country.
Vacation resort owners near Minaki, Ont., are drowning, both literally and financially, after flooding has left them operating below capacity or unable to open at all.
It's been said no one's success is complete without failure, but a new international exhibit in Calgary is proving that even some of the most talented innovators had some of the worst ideas for consumers.
CTVNews.ca asked Canadians to share their travel horror stories as cancelled flights, delays and lost luggage throw a wrench in Canadians' summer travel plans, due in part to staffing shortages at Canadian airports. Some report sleeping at airports and others say it took days to get to or from a destination.
CTVNews.ca asked Canadians to share their travel horror stories as cancelled flights, delays and lost luggage throw a wrench in Canadians' summer travel plans, due in part to staffing shortages at Canadian airports. Some report sleeping at airports and others say it took days to get to or from a destination.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has indicated his United Conservative government will reveal details next week about additional support to help people deal with high inflation.
A 13-year-old girl from Edmonton who had been missing for more than a week was safely located in Oregon, where a man, 41, is in police custody and facing charges.
Mounties in Coquitlam are asking the public for help locating a 35-year-old Indigenous woman wanted on a warrant under the provincial Mental Health Act.
The Caps came in below the playoff line in Major League Soccer's Western Conference, and seemed to be in tough as they hosted league-leaders Los Angeles FC, a team that has dominated nearly every club in its path this season.
The remaining businesses on Shelbourne Street in Saanich, B.C., that had been closed after last week's shooting at a Bank of Montreal branch have now reopened, police say.
A law outlawing any dealings with the Taliban, which charities complain is impeding their ability to help needy Afghans, could be adjusted by the federal government to give more flexibility to aid agencies.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling on Canadians to recommit to the country’s values, including respect, hope and kindness, in his official Canada Day message.
Nationwide, U.S. workers at clinics that shuttered abortion services are feeling fear and stress as they try to pick up the pieces and chart a path forward. At the Women's Health Center of West Virginia, the days following the historic court ruling brought on a different kind of grief for staff as their new reality set in.
Living with HIV may have an immediate effect on how your body ages, according to new research which showed that cellular aging was sped up within two to three years of infection.
Medication abortions became the preferred method for ending pregnancy in the U.S. even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. These involve taking two prescription medicines days apart -- at home or in a clinic.
Researchers in British Columbia say the province's endangered southern resident orcas have not been getting enough food for years, with some of the worst bouts of hunger occurring since 2018.
Scientists are hopeful that the key to reviving red wolves, which are on the brink of extinction, may lie in the genes of coyotes that have significant red wolf ancestry.
Google will automatically purge information about users who visit abortion clinics or other places that could trigger legal problems now that the U.S. Supreme Court has opened the door for states to ban the termination of pregnancies.
"Minions: The Rise of Gru " brought in an estimated US$108.5 million in ticket sales from 4,391 screens in North America, Universal Pictures said Sunday. By the end of the Monday's July Fourth holiday, it will likely have earned over $127.9 million.
Peter Brook, a British theatre and film director known for an influential and distinguished career which saw him garner worldwide acclaim, has died. He was 97.
A 35-year-old New York man is facing trespassing and stalking charges after authorities said he entered two New York City residences linked to the famed singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.
Canadian retailers are struggling with higher shipping costs as couriers tack hefty fuel surcharges onto shipping rates to recoup record gas prices. The additional charge is sending the cost of shipping goods within Canada higher, topping 40 per cent for some carriers.
Airlines worked Saturday to deliver luggage to passengers around the world after a technical breakdown left at least 1,500 bags stuck at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, the latest of several tangles hitting travellers this summer.
An Ontario high school teacher plans to continue with an alternative method of grading her students after an experiment last semester in which students proposed a grade and had to justify it with examples of their work.
Zhou Guanyu was involved in a frightening first-lap crash Sunday that brought the British Grand Prix to an immediate halt as safety crews attended to the only Chinese driver in Formula One.
Nick Kyrgios cursed at the Wimbledon chair umpire and asked, 'Are you dumb?' He demanded to see a Grand Slam supervisor after questioning why his opponent, Stefanos Tsitsipas, didn't forfeit their ever-contentious, never-boring match for angrily hitting a ball into the stands after dropping the second set.
Dutch rider Fabio Jakobsen overtook Wout van Aert right on the line to win the second stage of the Tour de France while Van Aert took the yellow jersey on Saturday.
A Vancouver Island real estate agent has lost his bid to recover a deposit he made on a new Ford Mustang that he intended to offer as a prize in a year-long contest in 2020.
Tesla's sales from April through June fell to their lowest quarterly level since last fall as supply chain issues and pandemic restrictions in China hobbled production of its electric vehicles.
It took 151 attempts for Carlos Sainz to earn his first Formula One pole. Now he'll chase that elusive first win. But starting alongside Sainz on the front row Sunday at the British Grand Prix will be defending F1 champion Max Verstappen, a year removed from the crash with Lewis Hamilton that turned their title fight into a bitter rivalry.
