Toronto offers free van Gogh, Lawren Harris exhibit

Cowley Abbott opened a free public exhibition in Toronto on May 23 featuring works by Vincent van Gogh, Lawren Harris, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Emily Carr, Tom Thomson and other Group of Seven artists ahead of its spring auction on May 27. The gallery said the show gives the public access to works that are usually held in private collections. (ca.news.yahoo.com) The exhibition is being staged at Cowley Abbott’s Toronto gallery, across from the Art Gallery of Ontario, and runs through next Tuesday. The Toronto display is built around works that will be offered in Cowley Abbott’s spring sale, which the auction house has scheduled for Wednesday evening at the Globe and Mail Centre. Artnet reported the sale is titled *Select Masterworks of Indigenous and International Art*. (news.artnet.com) ### Which van Gogh work is actually in the room? Vincent van Gogh is represented in the exhibition by a rare etching of Dr. Paul Gachet, according to Yahoo News Canada’s report on the show. The work is notable because it is the only etching van Gogh produced, the report said. (ca.news.yahoo.com) Dr. Paul Gachet was the physician who cared for van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, Yahoo reported. Cowley Abbott paired that work with other international and Canadian pieces in the same pre-sale display. ### Where does Lawren Harris fit into the exhibition? Lawren Harris is part of a broader Canadian grouping in the exhibition that also includes Emily Carr, Tom Thomson and other Group of Seven artists, according to Cowley Abbott material republished by ArtDaily and Yahoo. (news.artnet.com) The public-facing pitch is that visitors can see internationally known European names and canonical Canadian painters in one room before the auction. (ca.news.yahoo.com) Canadian works have been a central draw in recent Toronto auction previews more broadly. Waddington’s, another Toronto auction house, is currently showing a Lawren Harris painting, *Lake Superior Sketch, VI*, estimated at C$700,000 to C$900,000, in its own major spring sale preview through May 27. (ca.news.yahoo.com) ### Why is the exhibition free? Cowley Abbott said the exhibition is open to the public ahead of the auction, a format auction houses use to generate interest and allow potential bidders and non-bidders to inspect works in person. The Toronto show was described as a free public exhibition in reports published on May 22 and May 23. (artdaily.com) The works on view are described as “museum-quality” in the auction promotion carried by ArtDaily. That language comes from the organizer’s publicity around the sale rather than from a museum loan announcement. (bid.waddingtons.ca) ### Where is the show and how long does it run? Yahoo News Canada said the exhibition is being held at Cowley Abbott’s gallery just across from the Art Gallery of Ontario. The report said it remains on view until next Tuesday, placing the final public viewing before the May 27 auction. Toronto has multiple auction-house previews running this month. (artdaily.com) Waddington’s said its own Major Spring Auction preview is open on specific dates from May 20 through May 27, underscoring how public exhibition and timed bidding are being paired in the city’s late-May art market calendar. ### What happens on May 27? Cowley Abbott’s next step is the Spring Live Auction on May 27 at 7 p.m. at the Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto, according to Artnet’s sale preview. (artdaily.com) ArtDaily said the free exhibition is being held ahead of that Wednesday auction. Wednesday’s sale will determine whether the van Gogh etching, the Harris work and the other featured lots move from preview-room attention to auction results. (ca.news.yahoo.com) Cowley Abbott has not, in the material surfaced here, described the exhibition as continuing beyond the day before the sale. (artdaily.com) (news.artnet.com) (waddingtons.ca)