Maud Lewis painting found in southern Ontario thrift shop bin to be auctioned
A painting by Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis has turned up in a southern Ontario thrift shop.
Volunteers at the Mennonite Central Committee Thrift Centre in New Hamburg, Ont., southwest of Kitchener, came across the piece while sorting through donations.
The work, entitled “Portrait of Eddie Barnes and Ed Murphy, Lobster Fishermen, Bay View, N.S.” is painted on beaverboard, a pulp board Lewis used for many of her paintings.
Living in poverty for most of her life, Lewis sold her paintings from her small home near Digby, N.S., for as little as $2 and $3. Since her death in 1970, Lewis’s paintings have sold for up to $22,000.