11-21-2006, 01:18 PM
Tom Thomson tops rich day
Algonquin Park oil sells for near-million
In all, Toronto auction lifts bar for 25 artists
Nov. 21, 2006. 07:51 AM
PETER GODDARD
VISUAL ARTS COLUMNIST
A price spent for a Tom Thomson oil sketch led the way at a record-shattering Sotheby's auction in Toronto yesterday that saw total sales of $7.4 million, about $2.5 million more than expected.
An anonymous collector paid $934,000 for Burnt Area With Ragged Rocks, a small, melancholic canvas showing the artist's beloved Algonquin Park. The pre-sale estimate for the work was in the $150,000 to $250,000 range.
Winnipeg dealer David Loch won the bidding war for the small canvas with a bid of $810,000 (the final price includes the buyer's premium). Loch represented Ken Thomson at auctions for years until the billionaire press baron's death in June. Loch's aggressive bidding this time suggests the buyer might be David Thomson, Ken Thomson's son and an avid collector himself. He was unavailable for comment yesterday.
The previous record for a Thomson painting was the $428,000 paid in a 2005 auction for his Autumn, Algonquin Park. Its pre-sale estimates were in the $200,000 to $300,000 range.
Burnt Area With Ragged Rocks originally sold for $200, according to a well-placed dealer taking part in yesterday's sale.
"The reason the Thomson did so well now is because there are so few of his works still around to buy," said Sotheby's president David Silcox, a Thomson scholar who co-authored the book Tom Thomson: The Silence and the Storm with the late artist Harold Town in 1977. "Besides, it is a great painting."
Full Story....
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Algonquin Park oil sells for near-million
In all, Toronto auction lifts bar for 25 artists
Nov. 21, 2006. 07:51 AM
PETER GODDARD
VISUAL ARTS COLUMNIST
A price spent for a Tom Thomson oil sketch led the way at a record-shattering Sotheby's auction in Toronto yesterday that saw total sales of $7.4 million, about $2.5 million more than expected.
An anonymous collector paid $934,000 for Burnt Area With Ragged Rocks, a small, melancholic canvas showing the artist's beloved Algonquin Park. The pre-sale estimate for the work was in the $150,000 to $250,000 range.
Winnipeg dealer David Loch won the bidding war for the small canvas with a bid of $810,000 (the final price includes the buyer's premium). Loch represented Ken Thomson at auctions for years until the billionaire press baron's death in June. Loch's aggressive bidding this time suggests the buyer might be David Thomson, Ken Thomson's son and an avid collector himself. He was unavailable for comment yesterday.
The previous record for a Thomson painting was the $428,000 paid in a 2005 auction for his Autumn, Algonquin Park. Its pre-sale estimates were in the $200,000 to $300,000 range.
Burnt Area With Ragged Rocks originally sold for $200, according to a well-placed dealer taking part in yesterday's sale.
"The reason the Thomson did so well now is because there are so few of his works still around to buy," said Sotheby's president David Silcox, a Thomson scholar who co-authored the book Tom Thomson: The Silence and the Storm with the late artist Harold Town in 1977. "Besides, it is a great painting."
Full Story....
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