2021 Canadian Spring Auctions

On June 3rd, 9th and 23rd, 2021, Waddington’s, Cowley Abbott and Heffel respectively hosted their spring live auction sales.  The art market was strong going into this auction season. Art has seen a boom throughout COVID – stuck at home buyers used this down time to expand their collections.  Both the spring and fall 2020 …

2020 Fall Auction Sales

December 2nd and 3rd, 2020, Heffel and Cowley Abbott respectively hosted their fall live auction sales.  A week before the auctions, Toronto implemented new COVID restrictions effectively halting all in person viewings of the two auction houses’ preview shows. The sales were held virtually and bidding was restricted to phone, absentee and online. Despite these …

Spring 2020 Canadian Auction Results

In May 2020, due to COVID regulations, the Canadian live auctions were postponed. Heffel rescheduled their spring sale for July 15th. Waddington’s and Cowley Abbott postponed their sales until September 17th and 24th respectively. How has the economic uncertainty of the pandemic affected the Canadian art market? Going through the results it is clear that …

Buying for an Art Collection

The cliche in the art world is to say “buy what you love”. I agree that personal taste should be the driving force in choosing fine art to consider for purchase. But once you’ve determined a painting of interest there are a host of factors that should be taken into account before you buy for …

How to Price Art

The New York Times recently published a great article on art investing. While the art market acts differently to more traditional capital markets that doesn’t mean it’s totally irrational. There is an old adage that says you should buy art based on what you love. In the New York Times article the art advisor B.J. …

Press: Canadian Art Magazine

I was recently featured in Canadian Art magazine to give my take on the fall auction week! Interview on Canada’s Fall Auctions Montreal artist and art consultant Courtney Clinton, for one, believes that some works by Lawren Harris, A.J. Casson and Arthur Lismer—particularly those that veered away from classic forested landscapes—performed worse than expected at …

2018 Fall Auction – Canadian Fine Art

The week of November 19th, 2018 Canada’s two major auction houses, Heffel Fine Art Auction House and Waddington’s Auction House, hosted major live auctions of Canadian Fine Art. Watching the live auction is a great way to gauge the temperature of the Canadian art market.  Highlights from the Auction Sale Two artists who made a …