Advertisement

Bidding for Nova Scotia's Maud Lewis painting found in thrift store reaches $125,000

Maud Lewis’s painting titled “Portrait of Eddie Barnes and Ed Murphy, Lobster Fishermen, Bay View, N.S.”
Maud Lewis’s painting titled “Portrait of Eddie Barnes and Ed Murphy, Lobster Fishermen, Bay View, N.S.”

Bidding for a painting by Nova Scotia artist Maud Lewis has surpassed an astonishing $125,000. The auction price would have floored the late folk painter, who for most of her life, sold artwork for around $2 or $3.

Portrait of Eddie Barnes and Ed Murphy, Lobster Fishermen, Bay View N.S.” was discovered by volunteers at the New Hamburg Thrift Centre in New Hamburg, Ontario, while sorting through donations, according to the auction web page. The painting was authenticated and valued at $16,000, but bids quickly shot up to $125,208 — and the auction is not set to close until May 19. The previous auction record for a Lewis painting was $22,000.

Maud Lewis lived much of her life in a one-room house, where she made simple but striking paintings of the maritime life that surrounded her in Digby, Nova Scotia. Though she suffered from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, Lewis was able to overcome her disability to paint. She achieved some recognition late in life thanks to newspaper coverage and a CBC documentary, but mostly sold her work for prices in the single digits.

Recent increased interest in Lewis’s work is likely due to a new film about about her marriage to fish peddler Everett Lewis. Starring Sally Hawkins as Maud and Ethan Hawke as Everett, “Maudie” premiered in Canada at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016. The film opened to St. John’s audiences last weekend and is already generating Oscar buzz, reports CBC News.

Proceeds from the auction will go to the Mennonite Central Committee.