Rare paintings by notable B.C. artists to be previewed this weekend ahead of Heffel auction

E.J. Hughes' Entrance to Howe Sound and Emily Carr’s Dancing Forest will feature in Heffel's fall auction in November.

Aesthetes hoping to invest in their art collections at the Heffel Fine Art Auction House’s fall auction next month can get a taste of what to expect this weekend, as a preview of the collection makes a fleeting visit to Vancouver.

The collection is being previewed in four cities leading up to the auction, beginning in Calgary before travelling to Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto throughout October and early November. In Vancouver, the Heffel Gallery on Granville Street will host the collection from Oct. 15 - 20.

Celebrating the business’s 30th anniversary of auctions, the fall live auction in November will be an “incredibly memorable event” for anyone in attendance, whether in person or virtually, said the auction house’s vice-president, Robert Heffel. The previews offer an “early celebration of this milestone, and it’s exciting,” he said.

It had been Heffel and his brother David who had expanded the business to include art auctions in 1995, 17 years after it had been founded by their father, Kenneth G. Heffel. In 1995, the auction house became one of the first in the world to begin conducting auctions online - a development Vancouver collectors will no doubt be grateful for when live auction kicks into action in Toronto, Nov. 19.

Fitting for the occasion is a series of collections that Heffel deems to be a cause for celebration themselves.

Those in B.C. will likely have a soft spot for the extensive collection of Lillian Mayland McKimm, comprising notable works from local artists E.J. Hughes, Lawren Harris and Emily Carr. Fans can expect to see Carr’s Dancing Forest and E.J. Hughes Entrance to Howe Sound in the line-up, the latter of which is estimated to go for anywhere between $1.25 million and $1.75 million.

“She was an extraordinary collector who lived in Calgary and then on Vancouver Island,” says Heffel, describing McKimm’s collection as a “really important aspect of the show.”

A catalog of Canadian impressionist and modern art will also feature, in addition to the much-anticipated A Legacy Through Art: The Hudson’s Bay Company Collection, a session dedicated to the notable assets sourced from Canada’s oldest retailer.

Of the thousands of works of art and artifacts The Hudson’s Bay Company owned and had to source a new home for, hundreds of pieces of store memorabilia and 27 paintings, including a work by former British prime minister Winston Churchill and numerous pieces by painter and founder of Toronto William von Moll Berczy, were taken to be sold by Heffel.

The collection will lead proceedings from 3 p.m. ET on the day of the live auction, with the Lillian Mayland McKimm Collection following behind at 5 p.m. ET and the Canadian, Impressionist & Modern Art at 7 p.m. The catalogue Post-War & Contemporary Art will round things off for the evening.

“This is an incredible, incredible auction,” says Heffel, describing how both November’s event and the preview this weekend is open to all, whether avid collector or someone who simply likes to pore over pretty things.

“We’re always bringing in new people to the market, so if you’re thinking about starting a collection, this is a good place to start,” he says.