Heffel Fine Art Auction House held its marquee autumn sales in Toronto on November 19, featuring four auctions that included works from the collection of the Hudson's Bay Company, North America's oldest company, which declared bankruptcy earlier this year. The marathon series of sales also included a single-owner auction of the late collector Lillian Mayland McKimm's holdings and two multi-owner sales of Canadian, Impressionist, modern, post-war, and contemporary art. Over 16 artists' secondary market records were broken, with total sales reaching C$31 million ($22.1 million). Notable highlights included E.J. Hughes' 'Entrance to Howe Sound' selling for C$4.8 million, more than doubling his previous record, and Winston Churchill's painting 'Marrakech' fetching C$1.5 million.
The auction's success underscores the resilience and vitality of the Canadian art market, particularly in a year marked by economic uncertainty and the bankruptcy of a historic institution like the Hudson's Bay Company. The strong prices achieved for lesser-known historical Canadian artists, alongside record-breaking sales for figures like E.J. Hughes and James Wilson Morrice, signal growing collector interest in Canadian heritage and regional art. The event also highlights the role of corporate collections in preserving and circulating cultural artifacts, as the Hudson's Bay Company's 355-year-old collection was dispersed to new owners, marking a significant moment in Canadian art history.