Lou MacEachern's art collection heads to auction to fund Junior Achievement Southern Alberta
The first of four auctions closes Oct. 31 and includes two Maud Lewis works estimated at $20,000 to $30,000 each. All proceeds go to a Calgary Foundation endowment for Junior Achievement.
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When Grant MacEachern was 15, he spent a summer job cataloguing his father's art collection, alongside his sister. It was the early 1980s in Calgary. Lou MacEachern, founder of Servpro, a commercial cleaning company he started in 1964, was one of the city's respected businessmen and philanthropists, with a soft spot for supporting artists, and much of his collection hung in the company's office space.
More than 40 years later, that collection is going up for auction. The proceeds will go to Junior Achievement Southern Alberta through a permanent endowment at the Calgary Foundation. Lou MacEachern supported the organization for decades. The first two auctions are being held at Levi Fine Art and Appraisals, closing Oct. 31 and Dec. 8. The third and fourth will be held at Artefact Auctions Ltd., closing Dec. 13 and Jan. 24, 2027. More auctions are planned for 2027.
The first auction features 46 pieces, including two Maud Lewis works: Oxen Pulling A Log (1962) and Skiers (1965). Both are enamel on paper board and estimated at $20,000 to $30,000 each. Lou MacEachern bought the Lewis works 13 or 14 years ago at auction, before they became widely sought after. The collection also includes works by Glenn Olson of Cochrane, Duncan MacKinnon Crockford of Alberta and Marguerite Porter Zwicker of Halifax. Works by the late landscape artist Colin Williams are also included. Lou MacEachern once bought all of Williams' paintings for a year to sell at a pop-up retail location at a hotel. Grant MacEachern said they hardly sold any, so they ended up in his father's collection.
Grant MacEachern said of his father's taste: "It was really more about the artist than the art. For whatever reason, the life of a struggling artist always caught his attention." Most of the collection comes from Western Canadian or Maritimes artists.
Lou MacEachern was born in 1933 on Prince Edward Island and grew up poor on a potato farm. He left for Calgary in the 1950s with a Grade 7 education. He died Feb. 20, 2025, in Calgary, at age 91.
