Private Collection Presentation
Eight life-sized oil portraits of the 1920s Montreal Canadiens. Discovered, restored, and now fully identified.
Oil on board · ca. 1925–1932 · 68 × 30½ inches each · Professionally conserved · All eight players confirmed through La Presse archival records.
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Section II — The Discovery
The Montreal Forum stood at 2313 Sainte-Catherine Street West for seventy years. When the Canadiens moved to the Molson Centre in 1996, workers demolishing the building found the paintings.
Eight portraits. Life-sized. The players unmistakably in the Canadiens' uniform of the 1920s. They were acquired by Christopher English and professionally restored in 2013 by Tom Yost of Yost Conservation, LLC — a $20,000 treatment that addressed decades of accumulated damage and brought these works back to their proper condition.
“There was a lot of time and skill that went into these paintings.”
— Christopher English, Original Acquirer
Section III — Historical Validation
Between December 10, 1927 and March 3, 1928, La Presse published full-page photographs of individual Canadiens players in its weekly Saturday advertising supplement. Each player appears in his uniform against a plain background — the same presentation as the paintings. These archival scans, held by the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, provided the basis for confirming all eight identities.
All Eight Confirmed Identifications
| Player | La Presse Issue | Position | Hall of Fame |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georges Vézina | March 3, 1928 | Goaltender | 1945 — Original |
| George Hainsworth | January 7, 1928 | Goaltender | Inducted 1961 |
| Howie Morenz | December 10, 1927 | Forward | 1945 — Original |
| Herb Gardiner | January 21, 1928 | Defence | Inducted 1958 |
| Art Gagné | January 14, 1928 | Forward | — |
| Albert "Battleship" Leduc | January 28, 1928 | Defence | — |
| Charlie Langlois | February 25, 1928 | Defence | — |
| Léonard Gaudreault | February 11, 1928 | Forward | — |
Section IV — The Portraits
Each painting stands 68 inches tall — roughly the height of an average man. Standing before one of these portraits, a viewer encounters the player at eye level. This is the scale of the painted portrait tradition, reserved historically for figures of civic and cultural importance.
Five of the eight portraits — Oil on board, ca. 1925–1932
Three of the eight portraits
Section V — Physical Specifications
“While the artist is unknown, the players are known and the portraits look to be genuine period portraits of famous hockey heroes in their day. Because no other comparable oil portraits of these hockey players have appeared, these portraits have considerable value due to their rarity and subject.”
— Caroline M. Welsh, Director Emerita, Adirondack MuseumPrivate Acquisition
This collection is being presented privately to a selected group of collectors and institutions. To receive the full documentation package — including the expert opinion, conservation report, and archival identification materials — please reach out directly.
Very few people know these works exist. That is where the conversation begins.