Paintings bought for $12 expected to fetch $60,000
Interest in Maritime folk artist Maud Lewis continues to grow
Julie Leblanc poses with the two Maud Lewis paintings she inherited from her late aunt, Marilyn Manzer. The paintings will be auctioned at Miller and Miller on February 11, 2023.
NEW HAMBURG, Ont. – Two paintings bought for $12 in 1967 at roadside from the Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis and her husband Everett are on the auction block this Saturday, anticipated to sell for $60,000, possibly more.
Miller & Miller Auctions sold a Maud Lewis black truck painting in May 2022 for a world record-breaking CA$350,000 ($413,000 with buyer’s premium) – a painting once traded for a few grilled cheese lunches at a London, Ontario restaurant and which has since garnered widespread media attention.
This weekend the auction house will be offering two Maud Lewis paintings during its February 12th Folk Art and Canadiana auction, with similarly strong provenance – the kind buyers long for, especially in the current marketplace. Horse Pulling Logs and Oxen in Winter were both bought by Marilyn Manzer, an elderly woman who has since died and who bequeathed the paintings to her niece, Julie Leblanc, but not before she was videotaped telling the story of how and when she acquired them.
Horse Pulling Logs by Maud Lewis is offered as lot 264 in the February 11th auction.
Oxen in Winter by Maud Lewis is offered as lot 263 in the sale.
“Maud Lewis paintings face a lot of scrutiny these days. In any art market, with an increase in price comes an increase in forgeries,” says Ethan Miller, co-owner of Miller & Miller Auctions. “Having strong provenance – like we had with the black truck painting and again with these two consignments - is becoming increasingly important to collectors because it adds weight to their authenticity.”
Manzer describes in the video how she and her husband went for a drive one day on the back roads of Nova Scotia in their new 1967 Ford Fairlane looking for the Lewis house. And they found it. She says Maud Lewis was sitting outside in her little rocking chair. Maud’s husband Everett offered Manzer a weiner, which she politely declined. Everett then went to the back of the house and brought out more paintings, including some of his own. The couple turned down Everett’s paintings, but chose two of Maud’s. Manzer said she wished she could have bought them all, but pointed out “in 1967 twelve dollars was quite a lot to spend… She was a dear little thing – so tiny.”
Justin Miller, Julie Leblanc, Ethan Miller and Aki Ohtsuka pose with two of the Maud Lewis paintings offered in this Saturday’s sale.
Maud Lewis (1903-1970) lived in abject poverty and suffered from crippling rheumatoid arthritis. She never sold a painting in her lifetime for more than $10. Her work has garnered international attention in recent years.
While provenance is a key factor in confirming authenticity, it’s not the only tool in the toolbox. Miller & Miller Auctions works with recognized Maud Lewis experts, people who know exactly what to look for in identifying a genuine Maud Lewis and weeding out a fake.
CBC’s The National has done a number of stories on Maud Lewis paintings, most recently during their Jan. 31st news program.