Last month, the chance discovery of an early oil painting by Canadian artist Emily Carr made headlines. Masset Q.C.I. (1912) finally hit the block last night with Toronto-based Heffel Fine Art Auction House. The distinctive artwork sold for $349,000 CAD (just over $250,000 USD), including fees. That’s well above its estimated $100,000 CAD to $200,000 CAD, but lower than prices achieved by Carr’s other comparably-sized oil paintings like Forest Light (1930), which sold with Heffel in 2015 for seven figures.
Allen Treibitz, the Patchogue-based proprietor of Heritage Gallery Auctions, famously scooped Masset Q.C.I. for $50 from a barn sale in the Hamptons earlier this year. The work’s striking subject matter and color palette attracted him. But, when Treibitz looked up the name signed on the canvas, he realized it was by Emily Carr—a renowned painter associated with Canada’s illustrious Group of Seven.
Emily Carr, Masset, Q.C.I.. Image courtesy Heffel Fine Art Auction House.
“Carr traveled up the coast of British Columbia following her return from France in 1912 with new tools and a fresh perspective,” a representative from Heffel told me via email. “At that time, she developed a deep appreciation for Indigenous culture and documented it through her art. This painting is a quintessential example from that period—many of the major works from this earlier period in her career are housed in major museum collections.”
Despite owning his own auction house, Treibitz brought Masset Q.C.I. to Heffel, since their team has conducted 90 percent of the sales surrounding Carr’s work. “Since [this painting] had no history or provenance with it,” Treibitiz told me over the phone, “it had to go to a place that could do the provenance and also realize the most for it.”
“The Canadian market is definitely where it belonged,” he added.
The auction in progress. Image: Heffel.
David and Robert Heffel were born into a family of art collectors that harbored a deep affinity for Carr. They grew up surrounded by Carr’s paintings, in fact. Over time, the Heffels have acquired all of Carr’s journals, as well as her extensive writings. (The brothers have yet to publish a catalogue raisonné for the artist, however.)
Using those materials, the team at Heffel successfully determined that “Masset Q.C.I.” ended up on Long Island because, somewhere along the line, Carr gave the painting to her friend Nell Cozier, who moved to the area with her husband to work as caretakers for a local estate. The Coziers either brought the work to America amongst their belongings, or, Carr gave it to them when she visited New York in the 1930s.
A press release following last night’s sale said “Collectors flocked to Heffel’s cross-country previews” of Masset Q.C.I. Given all that hubbub, Treibitz said he expected the painting to hammer higher than it did. “I never thought it would go viral,” he remarked. “That doesn’t equate to results, obviously, but it definitely helps.”
“It also shined a light on Canadian artists from that time period, and her specifically,” Treibitz continued. “In that regard it’s kind of cool.”
According to Heffel, the painting now lives with a “passionate collector.”