TORONTO - A lack of competitive bidding meant headlining works by two renowned Canadian artists failed to find buyers at an auction by Sotheby's Canada Tuesday night.

A painting by influential Ontario artist Tom Thomson, which depicted winter in Algonquin park, was estimated at $750,000 to $1 million, but couldn't secure a buyer.

Meanwhile, a highly touted work by Group of Seven painter Lawren Harris (Street in Barrie, Ont.), which was estimated to sell for between $900,000 and $1.2 million, also went unclaimed by the end of the night.

Sotheby's Canada's Managing Director Linda Rodeck said the failure of the two top lots to find buyers was more of a disappointment than a surprise.

"There’s not much room at the top of the bidding pyramid and while the presence of just two capable bidders can result in record prices, the absence of two bidders can lead to a different outcome," she said.

"I view the lack of bidding tonight for these lots as an opportunity lost. Both Thomson and Harris are scarce commodities and both of our star lots were beautiful examples of what each artist is renowned for."

Rodeck said Sotheby's expects to receive offers for the unsold works in the near future.

Also failing to find buyers were Jean-Paul Lemieux's "Equinoxe D'Automne'' — which had an expected pricetag in the range of $250,000-$400,000 — and Clarence Alphonse Gagnon's "St. Malo from the Cliffs of Saint-Briac,'' which was expected to fetch between $400,000 and $600,000.

An arctic sketch by Harris, however, managed to double its pre-auction estimated value and sold for $865,000 on Tuesday night. Two other Harris works sold within their estimated range.

A work by another Group of Seven member, Franz Johnston ("Scene From Acton Island"), tripled its estimated value and sold for $129,000.

Emily Carr's "Canal in Brittany'' and "Woman Knitting'' — both tracking back to her 1910-11 trip to France — sold within their estimated ranges for $140,500 and $117,500 respectively.

All three works on the auction block from Dutch-born 19th century artist Cornelius Krieghoff found buyers, with one piece in particular ("Visitors in White") surpassing its estimated value to sell for $221,000.

Five works by Prairie artist William Kurelek sold for a total of $599,500, surpassing their pre-sale estimates of $162,000 to $228,000.

The pre-auction estimate for all the works up for auction Tuesday was $8 million to $11 million.

In all, Sotheby's said its top ten lots which were sold on Tuesday accounted for just less than $3 million.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2012