Heffel puts Peter Brown's art collection up for auction

The big ticket item at the upcoming Heffel Auction is Mountain Forms, a jaw-dropping Lawren Harris painting of the Rocky Mountains that is five feet tall and six feet wide.

Mountain Forms was one of the stars of a recent Harris exhibition, The Idea of North, that was co-curated by actor Steve Martin and drew rave reviews in Los Angeles, Boston and Toronto.

The painting has a pre-auction estimate of $3 million to $5 million. But Martin recently told the Calgary Herald it could sell for $10 million, which would make it the most expensive Canadian artwork ever sold.

The auction will take place Nov. 23 in Toronto. Vancouverites will get a chance to see Mountain Forms this weekend in an auction preview at the Heffel Gallery, 2247 Granville.

For many locals, the most intriguing part of the preview may be the Peter and Joanne Brown Collection. Assembled by one of Vancouver’s most prominent businessmen, the collection is so large and significant it rates its own catalogue.

It features works by every member of the Group of Seven, including two by Harris. There is an exquisite Tom Thomson sketch, Sleet Storm, that has an estimate of $1 million to $1.5 million. The colourful Emily Carr painting Alert Bay (With Welcome Figure) comes from her Fauvre period, and has an estimate of $900,000 to $1.2 million.

Tom Thomson, Sleet Storm, 1914.

The Browns are selling some monumental Bill Reid works, including a 44-inch tall version of Reid’s famed Killer Whale sculpture at the Vancouver Aquarium. (Reid did an edition of nine smaller sculptures when he designed Killer Whale in 1984.)

There is also an eight-foot-long prototype for a Haida canoe that Reid did for Expo 86.

“I was the vice-chairman of Expo,” said Brown, the 75-year-old founder of investment dealer Canaccord Genuity Group.

“Jimmy Pattison was chairman. We commissioned Bill Reid to do a 60-foot canoe that went up the Seine and a couple of European rivers promoting Expo, which was an exposition on transportation.

“But he had never built a canoe before. You explode them out, you don’t carve them out, so he wanted to do an eight-foot prototype. So I paid for it, and kept it, so he could do it. It wasn’t in the Expo budget. I paid $11,000 for it.”

The estimate for Haida Bear Canoe (Model) and Haida Bear Model is $250,000 to $350,000. Killer Whale has an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000.

Bill Reid, Haida Bear Canoe and Paddle, 1984.

Brown made headlines earlier this year when he sold his Belmont Avenue mansion for $31.1 million. Asked if he’s selling his art because he’s downsizing, Brown said “no, it’s just time.”

He also isn’t selling everything.

“I have three Emily Carrs, five Lawren Harrises, five Shadbolts, three Gordon Smiths,” he said. “At least one of every Group of Seven (member). At least one of every member of the Montreal group. Two of Christopher Pratt’s finest works. I have 290 pieces, of which I’m selling 90.”

Brown said he started collecting in the 1960s. He’s had a long relationship with the Heffel Gallery, beginning with founder Ken Heffel, who died in 1987.

“I was a good friend of Ken’s, and I’m a good friend of the boys (David and Robert),” said Brown.

“A lot of people helped me over the years, but I bought a lot from Ken. Discussed art a lot with Ken and his partner in those days. But you learn as you collect. You learn from all sorts of people – you learn from Andy Sylvester (of the Equinox Gallery).

“But Ken was a big influence, and we did a lot of business together.”

Retired chief constable Jim Chu with Vancouver Police Foundation chair Peter Brown.

“(Brown) was a regular visitor (to the gallery) unannounced,” said David Heffel.

“Our office is situated close to his office and his home, and there would be regular visits on the weekend with Joanne. And also after-work visits. But there would also be phone calls from my father to Peter, informing him about a work he was really excited about and he should come and have a look at it.

“Together the two of them also pursued entire collections that came onto the market. And they would buy those collections.”

The Thomson painting in the auction was part of a collection Ken Heffel purchased off a Vancouver lawyer who was having “matrimonial problems.” The lawyer’s collection also included the James Wilson Morrice painting The Woodpile, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, which became part of the Brown collection. It is now being sold, and has an estimate of $1 million to $1.5 million.

Brown has a real passion for collecting.

“I’m a collector – I collected the biggest collection of antique decoys in Canada, which I recently donated to Ducks Unlimited,” he said.

“I have one of the 10 largest collections of antique mechanical banks. I have 100-plus pieces of Haida art, which I like a lot. I have conventional art, and an antique book collection.

“I love to collect. You just spend time with people. What I liked about collecting was you ended up dealing with people that had a passion for the subject. That made it interesting.”

He has donated some art to institutions, including the landmark E.J. Hughes painting Coastal Boats Near Sidney B.C., which is going to the Emily Carr College of Art + Design.

But he has decided to sell off most of his paintings rather than donate them. He doesn’t want them to go into an archive, he wants people to see them.

“I’m not interested in giving to somebody who’s going to put them in a closet,” he said.

jmackie@postmedia.com

E.J. Hughes, Receding Tide, Departure Bay. 1969.

HEFFEL AUCTION PREVIEW

Saturday to Tuesday (Oct. 29 to Nov. 1), 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

2247 Granville, Vancouver

Free

heffel.com

Mountain Forms, an iconic 1926 Rocky Mountain canvas by Group of Seven member Lawren Harris.

Julia Balazs adjusts the A.J. Casson painting Country Crisis. The painting is part of Peter Brown art collection for sale at the Heffel auction in Toronto Nov. 23.

Art dealer Kenneth Heffel in 1981.

Kate Galicz (L) and Julia Balazs adjust the J. W. Morrice painting The Woodpile, Saine-Anne-de-Beaupre at the Heffel gallery on Granville Street.

Bill Reid, Killer Whale.

Emily Carr, Alert Bay (With Welcome Figure), 1912.