Auction of Canadian art at Sotheby’s yields sales total of $3.5 million

TORONTO – An auction of Canadian art Sotheby’s Canada on Thursday night in Toronto yielded a sale total of $3.5 million.

A contemporary post-war painting by Paul-Emile Borduas entitled Froissement Multicolore was sold for $663,750, including the buyer’s premium.

The latticelike brushwork painting had a pre-sale estimate of $350,000-$500,000.

Robert Todd’s landscape of Montmorency Falls, Que., set a record for the artist, earning $439,500 after several minutes of heated bidding.

Another artist’s auction record was broken when Jack Bush’s 1971 abstract canvas Glide sold for $267,000, more than doubling its pre-sale estimate of $120,000.

Collectors vied for pieces representing four decades of William Ronald’s career, with Back Thru Spring besting its estimate of up to $80,000 by selling for $100,250.

One painting that did not sell was Mountain Sketch XCI by Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris. The mountainscape had a pre-sale estimate of up to $600,000, but failed to find a buyer.

”Naturally, we’re disappointed the Harris didn’t find a new home tonight,” said

Linda Rodeck of Sotheby’s Canada in a statement.

She said when a sale estimate is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, ”the pool of capable bidders narrows so it’s always a little harder to place paintings this valuable.”

“I’m confident that Sotheby’s be approached in the coming days with private offers to purchase it,” added Rodeck.