The screenprint, part of Warhol's Royal Edition, sold at the Heffel fall auction for $1.14 million, far exceeding estimates
A print of Queen Elizabeth II by Andy Warhol broke the global auction record for the artist’s Reigning Queen series, selling for $1,141,250, says Heffel Fine Art Auction House.
The screenprint, which is part of Warhol’s Royal Edition, shows the late monarch wearing a crown and is sprinkled with diamond dust. Its estimated sale price was between $500,000 and $600,00, according to the gallery — but it ended up going for much more at the Nov. 24 auction.
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“The scale is quite dramatic,” Heffel’s vice president Robert Heffel told the Vancouver Sun. “He’s really captured the beauty of the Queen. It’s a stunning image.”
Warhol is known for being a leading figure in the pop art movement, using mediums like silkscreening, painting, photography and film. He captured the essence of celebrity culture and consumerism in his work. He famously stated that in the future, “everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”
The auction was also successful for Canadian painter Lawren Harris, who was a leading member of the Group of Seven. Six of his works were sold for a total of $7.3 million. One painting alone, House in the Ward, Winter, City Painting No. 1, sold for $2,521,250. The painting depicts Toronto on a snowy day in the 1920s, with intense colours and radiant sunlight.
Heffel’s president David Heffel described the effect of the thick layering of paint as “ice cream snow” to the Vancouver Sun.
“Back east there’s these great snowstorms and blizzards, and once they clear and you walk out next morning there’s a real silence. This painting has a great tranquillity,” he said.
Three of Harris’s coveted oil sketches were also featured: Lake Superior Sketch X, Arctic Sketch XV and From Berg Lake, Evening. They were sold for $871,250, $2,041,250 and $1,561,250 respectively. They were consigned to Heffel by descendants of the architect behind Union Station and other Toronto buildings John Lyle, the auction house said.
In a recent Christie’s auction in New York, two of Harris’s paintings — Mountain Sketch LXIII and From Berg Lake, Morning — sold for $1.2 million each.
Other highlights from the auction included an oil sketch by Canadian artist Tom Thomson titled Moccasin Flower or Orchids, Algonquin Park. It was previously owned by Canadian art dealer Blair Laing, said Heffel. It sold for $1,501,250.
“We are honoured to have presented so many phenomenal works by Canadian and international giants, which will continue their journeys in wonderful new homes,” said Robert Heffel in a statement after the auction.
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