Touted Riopelle fails to sell at auction

A large Jean-Paul Riopelle canvas from the Quebec artist's most celebrated period — one of the highlights of Sotheby's spring sale of Canadian art — failed to sell at auction in Toronto Monday.

The 1955 painting La Forêt Ardente, which features Riopelle's distinctive palette-knife style, drew spirited bidding, but only reached $1.7 million — short of the reserve price set for the masterwork, which Sotheby's had expected would sell for between $2 million and $2.5 million.

The auction house had forecast strong international interest in the work because of the popularity of Riopelle's pieces abroad.

Other major works that have failed to sell at auction have often sold soon afterward, and Sotheby's Canada president David Silcox said he expects to receive offers for La Forêt Ardente from private collectors in the next few days.

Overall, the sale moved $11.3 million worth of art by perennial favourites, such as members of the Group of Seven, as well as works by Quebec's Automatistes and post-war Canadian artists such as Jack Shadbolt, Christopher Pratt and Attila Richard Lukacs.

Some of the artworks sold include:

  • The Paul-Émile Borduas works Pierres Angulaires and Composition, which sold for $402,500 and $520,000, respectively (all prices include buyer's premium). The sales set a new record high price for the artist.
  • An untitled Riopelle that sold for $750,000.
  • The Lawren Harris canvas Abstract Painting, which sold for $548,750 (and is the sister painting to Figure with Rays of Light that Sotheby's sold a year ago for $1.095 million).
  • Jean Paul Lemieux's Rencontre, which sold for $462,500 and is a new record price for the Quebec artist.

Vancouver-based auction house Heffel kicked off the spring auction season in Canada last week, ultimately selling a record-setting $22.8 million worth of art, including a Harris work entitled Pine Tree and Red House, Winter, City Painting II for $2.875 million (including the 15 per cent buyer's premium).

The season continues Tuesday, with the first half of a two-day Joyner-Waddington's sale in Toronto.