Painting by Homer Watson sells over asking at auction

A painting by one of Waterloo Region’s most renowned painters went up on the auction block Wednesday and sold over asking.

The piece, Landscape Near Doon by Homer Watson, was expected to bring in between $3,000 and $4,000.

But the owner hoped it would sell for more.

“Last call, $5,500 in the room,” said the auctioneer for Cowley Abbott. “At $5,500, and selling, and sold. $5,500.”

Nancy Silcox kept the painting on the wall of her Waterloo Region home for years.

It was one of several works she owned from Homer Watson, Canada’s first internationally-known landscape painter.

“It’s very special because it’s being sold with a lot of Group of Seven [pieces],” she told CTV News on Monday.

Asked why she wanted the sell the painting, Silcox said: “Tastes change. I also feel that I would like more people to be aware of who Homer Watson is and what he brought."

Some of artist's work is on display at the Homer Watson House & Gallery.

“Homer was known for painting Canada before the Group of Seven,” the gallery’s Ralf Wall told CTV News on Monday. “His decline came during their rise. So there was probably a little bit of that bitterness because of that.”

Watson died in the Doon area in 1936. He was 81.