Heffel to auction works from noted Canadian collector

More than a dozen artworks hailing from a valuable collection assembled by an early champion of Canadian art and childhood friend of Lawren Harris will cross the auction block in Toronto this fall.

Fifteen works — including paintings, sculpture and ceramic pieces — assembled by noted art collector and businessman Charles Band will be offered as part of the Heffel Fine Art Auction House sale in November.

Band had not only been a longtime friend of Harris, he also shared correspondence with the artist's contemporaries, including A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley and Emily Carr, said Robert Heffel, vice-president of the Vancouver-based auction house.

It was Band, for instance, who spurred the then Art Gallery of Toronto — now the Art Gallery of Ontario — to host an exhibition of Emily Carr's works in 1937, Heffel told CBC News on Monday.

"He both supported the artists financially [by buying their work], but also on an emotional, career level as well."

Aside from knowing the artists and collecting during a period (the 1930s and 1940s) when their works were more readily available, Band had an eye for acquiring top notch pieces.

"One thing that's characteristic [about] all Band's paintings is they're all the best quality of the artist's work. For example, the three Harris sketches are three of the finest Harris sketches you'll see," Heffel said. "The Varley painting, Nude on a Couch, is arguably Varley's most famous painting."

The 15 Band works to be included at the auction this fall are:

• B.C. Binning: Atomic Fountain.
• Emily Carr: Klee Wyck Ceramic Bowl.
• Lawren Stewart Harris: Houses, St. Patrick Street; In Buchanan Bay, Ellesmere Island; Iceberg, Baffin's Bay North; The Old Stump, Lake Superior.
• A.Y. Jackson: North Shore, Lake Superior.
• Arthur Lismer: Maritime Still Life, Cape Breton, N.S.; Tree, Georgian Bay; Sword Fishing Gear; Killicks No. 1, Cape Breton Island, N.S.
• Henry Moore: Maquette for Figure on Steps.
• Harold Town: President's Lady (Jacqueline Kennedy).
• Frederick Varley: Nude on a Couch; Twin Bays, Kootenay Lake.

Two of the pieces — The Old Stump, Lake Superior and Iceberg, Baffin's Bay North — are the oil sketches the iconic Harris made for his masterpieces: North Shore, Lake Superior and Icebergs, Davis Strait(held at the National Gallery of Canada and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, respectively).

The oil sketch for The Old Stump Lake, Lake Superior is valued the highest, between $2 million and $2.5 million, while the Iceberg, Baffin's Bay North is expected to sell for between $1.2 million and $1.6 million.

Both pieces "are very similar to the [finished] canvases," Heffel said. "Perhaps the only difference is that there's more immediacy to the [sketches] done on location. He's taken out some of the extraneous detail that you see in the initial drawing and simplified it."

Band's artistic support also included bringing international artists to exhibit their work in Canada, serving as president of the Art Gallery of Toronto and a stint as a governor of the National Film Board of Canada.

He was named to the Order of Canada in 1969, the year he died, and left a sizable portion of his personal art collection to institutions like the Art Gallery of Ontario. The 15 works to be auctioned this fall had passed from Band's estate to his daughter Helen, who died in 1992. Her estate is now selling the artworks.

Heffel will preview the 15 Band pieces in Vancouver and Montreal before landing in Toronto for the sale, set for Nov. 26.