Where do Toronto hockey legend, British music icons, and rare paintings intersect? Apparently, at an art auction, by way of a secondhand store somewhere in North Bay, Ontario.
Bidding opens June 15th on a unique sale of international art. A good chunk of the pieces up for sale come from the collection of former NHL legend Hap Day — and another one of the pieces turned out to be a rare painting by rocker David Bowie.
From Hap Day to North Bay
Clarence Henry “Happy” (Hap) Day began his career in pro hockey in 1924 in the Toronto St. Pats. It was after his first Stanley Cup win in 1932 that he and his new wife Margaret Shaw honeymooned in Europe. That’s where he began a lifelong passion for art collection.
- He’d go on to a successful 33-year career in pro hockey as player, coach, ref, and assistant general manager.
- With seven Stanley Cup wins under his belt, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.
- His retired jersey #4 hangs in the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
- One of the other notable paintings in his collection, which will also be coming up for auction, is a fine European landscape Day purchased on his honeymoon — the first piece in his collection.
- The Day family owned On The River Lyd, Dartmoor by Alfred Fontville de Breanski for almost 90 years.
The Bowie Connection
Among other pieces, Cowley Abbott’s Online Auction of International Art will feature the debut sale of a painting by the late rocker David Bowie. Titled D HEAD XLVI, it comes from a series of portraits painted by the music icon.
The painting was discovered among a cache of good donated to a thrift centre just south of North Bay, Ontario. The lucky buyer, who snagged it for a mere $5, happened to examine the back of the painting and spot the label clearly marked and signed by “David Bowie”.
The Cowley Abbott auction house did a thorough review of the work, including consulting with an expert on David Bowie’s art and his signature. The UK-based expert was able to confirm its authenticity, and that it belonged to a portraiture series Bowie had completed in the 1990s.
David Bowie’s art
David Bowie painted throughout his life and during his storied music career. But, while he shared his music and acting talent with the world, his paintings were more of a private matter.
- He was influenced by German Expressionism, and lived in Berlin in the late 1970s with Iggy Pop, where he had an artistically creative period.
- He would often paint alongside working on his music, both art forms fuelling each other.
- He had his first exhibition, New Afro/Pagan and Work: 1975-1995, at The Gallery in London in 1995.
- His own style is often called Neo-expressionism, with its brushwork and use of impasto technique, among other elements.
- Between 1994 and 1997, he worked on a series of about 45 portraits he called Dead Heads, or D Heads, each title paired with a Roman numeral.
- His subjects were most often taken from people and places close to him, including friends, family, band members and others.
The paintings
The international auction comes on the heels of a recent successful auction of Canadian works. The Spring Live Auction of Important Canadian Art saw pieces by Maud Lewis, Kim Dorland and others command career high prices.
D Head XLVI is estimated to fetch between $9,000 and $12,000.
[UPDATE: June 18, 2021. The article was edited to clarify ownership of the paintings.]
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