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greg paupst february 2015 BCBusiness 23 I n the world of Canadian fine art, David Heffel, president of Heffel Fine Art Auction House, along with his younger brother, Robert, vice-president, have a reputation as the young turks of Canada's cozy art auction world. Founded by their father, Kenneth G. Hef- fel, in 1978, the South Granville gallery-cum-auction-house has emerged as a Canadian art pow- erhouse since the brothers took over in 1987, following the death of Kenneth. A shift in the focus from commercial gallery sales to big-ticket auctions in 1995, and then an aggressive bet in 1999 that Canadian collectors wanted to buy art online, propelled Heffel into its place as Canada's top auction house. This May, David will take the gavel at Hef- fel's 20th annual auction at the Vancouver Convention Centre; after two decades, Heffel has sold more than $325 million in art, mostly Canadian. How do you put together a col- lection for auction? We work with private collectors and corporations, sometimes over many years, to help them assess their collection and provide various services from acquisition to appraisals to disposition. A painting offered in one of our catalogues could have been on up to a 15-year journey from when we first discovered it until it works its way into being reoffered on the market. Given that sort of timeline, how do you build a relationship with David Heffel T h e C o n v e r s a t i o n One of Canada's leading fine art auctioneers on the secret of a successful sale, and where the art market is going by Jacob Parry a potential consignor? People come to us for different reasons—sometimes death or estate planning, or, in the case of Imperial Oil, to help them downsize the lower-value works in their art collection as they've reduced their office square footage in Toronto. Imperial has been collecting works since the early 20th century and has per- haps one of the finest corporate collections in Canada. There must be some fascinat- ing stories on how you obtain works for auction. We always like Cinderella stories—when a collector comes across a work by inheritance or acquires it at a flea market, contacts us and discovers that it is very valuable. We were once approached by a young gentle- man from Hamilton who had bought an E.J. Hughes canvas depicting Okanagan Lake for under $500 at an estate auction four or five years prior. He had it in his home and enjoyed it—and then one day, he went online and discovered how valuable it was and contacted us. The painting sold for $400,000, at a timely point in his life: his girlfriend was expect- ing a baby. We've had other instances where people had unsigned Tom Thomsons on their walls: once, our agent in Ottawa visited a home to see a panel by A.Y. Jackson. An unsigned paint- ing hung next to it—they didn't know who the artist was—and it turned out to be a Tom Thom- son, eventually selling in excess of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Your involvement in the art world, and running this busi- ness, began at a young age. For Robert and I, it began as small kids—back in 1970 when my dad became very passionate about collecting Canadian art. At home, we had perhaps our most memorable Canadian painting, one of Emily Carr's three War Canoes (Alert Bay) sketches, but also a number of Lawren Har- rises. Without being aware of it at the time, we were exposed to and developed an appreciation for Canadian art. When I was 24, when my dad died, the biggest motivational factor was fear: fear that we had to make our balance sheet FActoid Did you know Emily Carr was born the same year British Columbia joined Canada (1871)? most expensive works by b.C. artists sold at auCtion Dead Troops Talk (1986) by Jeff Wall us $3.6 million SOLD: Christie's in New york, May 2012 The Crazy Stair (1928-1930) by Emily Carr $3.39 million SOLD: Heffel in toronto, November 2013 1 2