A number of works by prominent Canadian artists are up for auction this week, including a large-scale canvas landscape by Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris.
The 120.6-by-127 centimetre work, titled “Winter Landscape,” shows snow-draped trees standing in front of a warm-coloured mountain and blue sky.
The painting goes up for auction in Toronto on Thursday evening, when it is expected to fetch between $1.2 and $1.6 million.
“The canvas winter landscape is … a magnificent example of those early winter landscapes of Algoma or other Canadian scenes,” Robert Heffel, the vice president of the Heffel Fine Art Auction House told CTVNews.ca. “With the thickly laden snow on the trees, the volumetric brush strokes, and the wonderful crisp blue skies, it’s really a magnificent, magnificent painting.”
“Winter Landscape” is one of three Harris paintings that will be up for auction on Thursday, Nov. 26.
The other two, “Mountain and Glacier,” and “Winter in the Ward” are valued at between $1 and $1.5 million and between $500,000 and $700,000, respectively.
According to Heffel, “Mountain Glacier” will be the first Lawren Harris Rocky Mountain canvas the auction house has ever offered.
The painting shows a smooth white glacier nestled between Rocky Mountain peaks.
“In our 20-year history, we’ve never actually offered for sale a Rocky Mountain canvas by auction,” Heffel said. “We were surprised going through our records.”
The Harris paintings are among the “Fine Canadian Art” portion of the auction, which begins at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
Works by other Group of Seven artists and Emily Carr will also be included in that half of the auction.
Earlier in the evening, the auction house will sell paintings from a “Post-War and Contemporary Art” collection, beginning at 4 p.m.
That half of the auction will feature works by Jean Paul Riopelle, Roy Lichtenstein, Barbara Hepworth and Alex Colville.
The public can also view the works for free during the Toronto preview, which runs from Nov. 21 to the morning of Nov. 26 at the University of Toronto Art Centre.
