“The Doryman” by Jack Gray, shoved off as the top lot for $6,710.
WAVERLY, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA – Crowther & Brayley Ltd conducted its online-only November 2022 sale via HiBid, opening bidding on November 25 and closing on December 1. The auction presented more than 400 lots of fine art, decorative arts and jewelry. The top lots of this sale inadvertently adopted the earthy tones of winter, with the highest selling being an oil on board painting titled “The Doryman” by Canadian artist Jack Gray (1927-1981), which sold for $6,710. Gray exhibited widely throughout his career, always living and working close to the water, and his “Dressing Down, the Gully” joined the collection of newly elected president John F. Kennedy in 1962. This was followed in price by Czech-Canadian artist Dusan Kadlec (1942-2018), whose painting of a snowy Argyle Street in Halifax achieved $4,175. Kadlec received the Rudolph J. Schaefer Maritime Heritage Award from the Mystic Seaport Museum in 2008.
There was a collection of 17 Lorenzen ceramic mushroom sculptures listed, one of which bid to $2,610. The sculptures were made by the Lantz, Nova Scotia, husband-and-wife team Ernst and Alma Lorenzen, who created more than 200 unique mushroom figurines in their 40-year career. The couple already operated their own pottery company, but the project began when Ernst warned Alma against accidentally stepping on a rare mushroom while searching for mineral deposits. Matching this in price was a lamp by French sculptor Louis Albert-Lefeuvre (1845-1924), modelled in the figures of two foundrymen “of the Middle Ages” holding a large bell. The bell showed his Paris foundry mark and the lamp sold for $2,610.
Prices converted from CAD using opening rate set on December 1. For more information, www.crowther-brayley.com or 902-423-3226.
