A painting owned by an Edmonton grandmother will go from collecting dust in her basement to touring the country before being auctioned for thousands of dollars.
Glenna Gardiner thought so little of the 18 by 25 centimetre sketch that she mailed it to a friend as a joke for her birthday. Her friend thought the painting had value, and had it evaluated a few months ago.
“’You’re not going to believe,’ she says, ‘it might be worth between $125,000-$175,000.’I said, ‘You’re kidding.’”
The canvas of this particular sketch, Lake in Algonquin Park, is hanging in the National Gallery of Canada. It was painted by celebrated artist, Tom Thomson, who was linked to the Group of Seven.
Thomson gifted the sketch to the son of a Group of Seven member, who then gave it to a college instructor. It was this college instructor who passed the painting to Gardiner’s father.
The back of the painting (right) has Thomson’s name, has a message for her father, but Gardiner never believed him.
“My dad was a bit of a joker, so I always took it as a joke of his that this was a Tom Thomson,” Gardiner said. “I didn’t truly believe that it was because that wouldn’t be hanging on our wall.”
The painting joined a stack of other works in her basement when it was passed down to her, and years later, it will be shown in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver before it is auctioned in a livestream on May 30.
“We knew when it came in that it was a Thomson, so we were very excited,” Heffel Fine Art Auction House spokesperson Rebecca Rykiss told CTV News. “Works by Thomson are particularly rare because he died so young at age 39. Anytime a work comes up by Tom Thomson, it is definitely rare and that’s why they do so well at auction.”
Heffel estimates this sketch will go for at least $125,000-$175,000, but another sketch by Thomson previously went for $2.75 million. Gardiner plans to take a vacation with the friend who made this possible.
“My girlfriend and I are going on a Mediterranean cruise and we’re taking her husband with us to carry the luggage.”
Gardiner will cherish the memories of her father and the painting, but its future owner may appreciate the art more than her.
“I used to look at it all the time and not think too much, and people will go to look at it will be something different,” she said.
With files from Angela Jung
