Emily Carr Painting Bought for $50 at Barn Sale Poised to Fetch $147k at Auction

A painting by Canadian artist Emily Carr purchased at a Hamptons barn sale for just $50 this past summer is set to bring in up to $147,000 at auction next month, multiple sources report. TitledMasset, Q.C.I., the 1912 canvas depicts a carved grizzly bear lurking menacingly atop a totem pole outside a small wooden shack. New York dealer Allen Treibitz, who made the fortunate find, was initially unaware of Carr’s work and of her history when he bought the painting, but told theCanadian Pressthat “it stood out from everything else in that barn.” After researching the work online, Treibitz realized he likely had a treasure on his hands and contacted the Heffel Fine Art Auction House in Vancouver to determine its worth.

“There was no doubt in my mind that this was an exciting Cinderella discovery,” auction house president David Heffel told theCanadian Press. The Victoria-born Carr, the daughter of British immigrants, was closely affiliated with the celebrated Group of Seven landscape artists and is known for her work in this vein documenting First Nations in British Columbia at the turn of the twentieth century.Masset, Q.C.I.shows an Indigenous totem pole that stood in the provincial village of Masset. Carr is thought to have given the painting to her friend Nell Cozier and her husband in the 1930s. The couple, who lived in Victoria, moved to the Hamptons to work as estate caretakers, and the work is believed to have been hanging in the barn since.

“This is the most significant thing I’ve ever found,” Treibitz told the Canadian Press. “The fact that it was found and that it is back to its home place is very important.” The painting was on view this past weekend at Heffel’s Calgary showroom; it will travel to its galleries in Vancouver (Oct. 16–21), Montreal (Oct. 31–Nov. 5), and Toronto (Nov. 15–19) before being auctioned in Toronto Nov. 20, with a high estimate of C$200,000 (US$147,000). Treibitz expressed hope that the canvas would be purchased by an institution or by a collector of Carr’s work.