The West Coast landscape painter E.J. Hughes stole the show at the Canadian auction house Heffel’s marquee spring auction in still-chilly Toronto on Thursday night (21 May). His Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC (1948)realised C$5.7m (or $4.1m, all prices include fees), more than tripling its high estimate of $1.75m and surpassing the artist’s previous secondary-market record, set at a Heffel auction in 2025.
The bustling seascape painting had been consigned by Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where Hughes studied nearly a century ago (when it was known as the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts) and graduated in 1933. Proceeds from the work’s sale were earmarked to benefit student awards.
Seven other works by Hughes were offered during the evening’s earlier session, though none came close to the result for Coastal Boats. Heffel had even created a separate catalogue devoted to its star lot.
E.J. Hughes, Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC, 1948 Courtesy Heffel
The evening’s total tally came to C$22.4m ($16.2m), a sizeable drop from the equivalent auctions last November, which brought in more than C$31m ($22.1m). Of the 80 works offered across Thursday’s back-to-back sales of postwar and contemporary art followed by Old Master, Impressionist and Modern art, only five failed to sell, resulting in a solid 93.75% sell-through rate by lot on the night.
“From the record-breaking E.J. Hughes to the exceptional results achieved throughout the evening, the sale reflected continued confidence in the Canadian art market and the enduring importance of these remarkable artists,” Robert Heffel, vice president of Heffel Fine Art Auction House, said in a statement after Thursday’s auctions.
“Buying art makes you happy,” Heffel’s president David Heffel said in launching the proceedings at the auction house’s premises in Toronto’s swank Yorkville district. His words apparently hit home as the sale got to a swift start and works by Guido Molinari and Mary Pratt easily surpassed their pre-sale estimates. Pratt’s luminous 2010 painting Snow Light in My House eventually sold for C$205,250 ($149,000), tripling its high estimate.
Mary Frances Pratt, Snow Light in My House, 2010 Courtesy Heffel
There were more fireworks to follow, with four lots crossing the million-dollar mark during the evening’s two sales. “It was in 2000 that we sold our first million-dollar painting,” Robert Heffel pointed out. (That was Emily Carr’s 1912 painting War Canoes, Alert Bay, now in the Audain Art Museum’s collection.)
The always-in demand Jean Paul Riopelle was well represented, with four works in the post-war and contemporary sale. His roiling untitled canvas from 1950, held in the same private collection in Toronto for the last 43 years, sold squarely within its estimate for C$1.3m ($959,000).
An early work by the realist painter Alex Colville also elicited bullish bidding. Cattle Show (1955), which was included in the 1964 exhibition Fifteen Canadian Artists at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, sold for C$931,250 ($676,000), just over its high estimate.
Alexander Colville, Cattle Show, 1955 Courtesy Heffel
The much-honoured artist Takao Tanabe, who will turn 100 later this year, had three works on offer in the post-war and contemporary sale. Top of the group was his moody seascape Inside Passage 12/98: In Grenville Channel (1998), which brought in C$511,250 ($371,000)—more than four times its high estimate and a new auction record for the artist.
There were fireworks in the evening’s second session, devoted to more historic material, as well. The moody landscape composition Early Winter Frost (1914) by the ill-fated Tom Thomson sold near its high estimate, achieving C$1.2m ($872,000).
Group of Seven mainstays Arthur Lismer and A.J. Casson also racked up big numbers. Lismer’s Bon Echo Rock (1922) cracked the seven figure mark, selling for C$1.08m ($785,000). Casson’s Autumn on the York River (1959) tripled its high estimate, taking in$931,250 ($676,000). Another composition in autumnal hues, The Turning Earth (around 1950) by Lawren Harris, the Group’s unofficial leader, sold for C$313,250 ($227,000), nearly nine times its high estimate.
Peter Lely, His Royal Highness Prince Rupert, around 1665 Courtesy Heffel
The evening featured five works by Emily Carr, led by Strait of Juan de Fuca (around 1935), which doubled its high estimate to sell for C$601,250 ($436,000). Another Carr standout was Alive (1939), which had very humble beginnings: when it was shown at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1943 it carried a price tag of just C$50. It far surpassed that price, and its high estimate of C$350,000, to sell for C$481,250 ($349,000) on Thursday night.
A work of historic interest in the latter auction of the evening was the recently rediscovered portrait of Prince Rupert by Peter Lelyfrom around 1665, which had been in the collection of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). It is thought to have been gifted by Prince Rupert at the founding of the once all-powerful company in 1670. It surpassed its C$150,000 high estimate to sell for C$217,250 ($157,000).
Serge Lemoyne, Sans titre (from the series Bleu blanc rouge), 1976 Courtesy Heffel
In addition to that exceptional lot from the HBC collection, the evening featured works from several important private collections, notably those of the Québecois lyricist and music producer Luc Plamondon, and the late Albertan radiologist Luigi Rossi. A work from Plamondon’s collection provided a timely exclamation point in the earlier of the night’s sales.
With the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup playoffs in full swing and the Montreal Canadiens flying high, David Heffel flashed a Canadiens jersey once worn by his son and bearing the naming PRICE on the back. He then opened bidding on Serge Lemoyne’s Sans titre (1976), an abstract composition of primary red and blue criss-crossed with white—the colours of Montreal’s favourite team. Despite Toronto being solidly behind the struggling Maple Leafs, Lemoyne’s painting skated past its low estimate to sell for $49,250 ($35,700). (The Canadiens, too, found success Thursday night.)
