TORONTO.- Heffel Fine Art Auction House opened its doors to the public this Saturday, November 22 to allow interested buyers an opportunity to view the spectacular collection of Canadian masterworks that will be featured at Heffel’s annual fall auction on Thursday, November 27. The collection is on display for a special preview from Saturday, November 22 to Wednesday, November 26 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and available on Thursday, November 27 for a final viewing from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the University of Toronto Art Centre (UTAC), 15 King's College Circle.

The much anticipated fall auction is expected to achieve between $8 and $11 million (by conservation estimates), and key highlights include:

· Jean Paul Riopelle, an undeniable favourite each season, with five works represented at the fall auction for a total combined estimate of between $1.3M to $1.9M. His 1955 masterpiece Ombrages was first sold at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. Also from 1955, Aventure Picaresque comes from the private collection of Riopelle’s late Montreal dealer Gilles Corbeil, and Sanstitre is a fine example of his working method using the palette knife.

· A significant piece by Jeff Wall, internationally acclaimed Canadian photo conceptualist whose photographs have transformed contemporary art. Wall’s Park Drive is a documentary photograph that reveals a familiar place – Stanley Park – a landscape shaped by humanity on the fringe of urban Vancouver, and tells a story of the passage of time. (est. $250,000 - $350,000).

· Group of Seven’s Lawren Harris has three masterworks at auction with a combined total estimate of between $600,000 and $770,000. The impressive Houses on Gerrard Street eloquently showcases his talent for painting directly from a subject and relates to his other well-known urban house paintings, such as Toronto Houses from 1919, in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Mountain Sketch, Jasper, Athabasca Valley, painted on Harris’s journey to “the big country” with fellow Group of Seven member A. Y. Jackson, is a prime example of the dramatic evolution his work took while travelling in the Rockies.

· Undeniably one of Canada’s greatest artists, Emily Carr has five significant works estimated to fetch between $750,000 and $1.14M combined. Most notably, Totem Poles, Kitwancool Village expresses the affinity Carr felt with the First Nations people. Her 1928 pivotal journey to the remote village of Kitwancool inspired several of her better known pieces and marked her last extended visit to First Nations villages.