New auction for Maud Lewis painting found in thrift store reaches $45,000

The restarted auction for a Maud Lewis painting found in a New Hamburg, Ont., thrift store has reached $45,000.

The auction had to be stopped and restarted after bidding reached $125,208 in the week after the painting went up for sale. The Mennonite Central Committee Ontario looked into who was bidding and realizedsomeone had made a bid in bad faith, so they made thedecision to start over.

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The painting, Portrait of Eddie Barnes and Ed Murphy, Lobster Fisherman, Bay View, Nova Scotia, was spotted in a donation bin at the MCC's New Hamburg thrift store by a volunteer in March. It is valued at $16,000 and it has been authenticated by JC Miller Antiques and Lewis expert, Alan Deacon.

Lewis suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and lived in poverty for most of her life. She sold paintings from her small home near Digby, N.S., for as little as $2 and $3.

Since her deathin 1970, Lewis's paintings have sold for up to $22,000.

'Amazing story and remarkable generosity'

At $45,000, the painting is still going for much more than any previous Lewis painting, said Rick Cober Bauman, the executive director of MCC Ontario.

"It's still double what her work has sold for, so we feel just extraordinarily blessed that people are taking an interest in this, for whatever reason," Cober Bauman said Friday.

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He said he's not sure if it's because of the new film, Maudie, that chronicles the Nova Scotia folk artist's life or whether it's the unusual circumstances surrounding this particular painting, but there is a renewed interest in Lewis's life and work.

Cober Bauman said the auction will benefit the work of MCC, a Christian group that helps with relief, development and peace efforts in countries where there have been disasters or conflicts.

"At the end of the day, it's people who are marginalized dealing with violence in their lives or dealing with poverty who are going to be the final beneficiaries of this amazing story and remarkable generosity," he said.

The online auction will end at 9 p.m. on May 19.