Canvas from B.C. artist Emily Carr fetches $3M at auction, some major works go unsold

Emily Carr's 1939 forest scene 'Tossed by the Wind' is seen in an image posted by Canadian auction house Heffel.

TORONTO — A mature-period canvas by Emily Carr fetched more than $3 million at a Toronto auction, making it one of the most valuable works by the B.C. artist to come to market.

The 1939 forest scene “Tossed by the Wind” hammered down for $3.1 million - roughly twice its pre-sale estimate of between $1.2 million and $1.6 million - at the Heffel Fine Art Auction House's virtual live sale Wednesday.

Another of the Victoria-born artist's later compositions, 1937's “Swirl,” which she gifted to contemporary Lawren Harris, exceeded expectations with a $2.3 million sale.

Heffel says the two paintings rank among the four highest-priced Carr works ever sold at auction. All prices include auction house fees.

However, several marquee lots in Heffel's spring catalogue flopped on the auction block.

Canadian artist Alex Colville's well-known 1952 painting “Girl on Piebald Horse,” which had been valued at between $700,000 and $900,000, went unsold.