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A rare painting from one of Canada’s greatest folk artists, Maud Lewis, will be sold on May 14 at Miller & Miller Auctions’ Canadian and decorative arts sale in New Hamburg.

The painting was traded in the 1970s to London, Ont., restaurateurs for grilled cheese sandwiches and will be sold along with two letters written by the late artist.

Lewis lived with her husband, Everett, in a tiny, one-room house in Marshalltown, N.S., with no running water or electricity. She had physical challenges, including rheumatoid arthritis and painted with whatever materials she could find.

John Kinnear, a British painter who came to Canada after serving in the Second World War, learned about Lewis from a story in the “Star Weekly.’’ Moved with compassion, he sent her proper art supplies including Masonite boards, sable brushes and paint.

In appreciation, she sent him some of her paintings.

Kinnear later approached Tony and Irene Demas — the owners of the restaurant he used to visit daily — about trading one of those paintings for some grilled cheese lunches. He also gave them two of the letters Lewis wrote to him, one of which describes how anxious roadside buyers would take her paintings before they were dry.

The Demas’ chose one of Lewis’ paintings, which features a man believed to be Everett Lewis driving a little black truck.

“I was 21 at the time, and my husband and I are both Europeans interested in antiques, so when we saw the paintings we were shocked — and more than a little reluctant,” recalls Irene. “I had never seen anything like them. They were so childlike, with cats and cows, and one featured this little black truck. I remember John telling us how Maud was this crippled up little birdlike lady and how sorry he felt for her.”

Lewis originally sold her paintings at the roadside for $10 each, but in recent years they have increased in value and in one case surpassing the $65,000 mark at auction.

In 2021, two of her paintings sold at auction in the U.K. for more than $100,000 (with buyer’s premium).

For more information, please contact Ethan Miller at 519-573-3710.

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