Poems, prints and a lock of hair: auction celebrates Leonard Cohen

Lauren's Auction House managing director Laura Woolley explains how the Leonard Cohen collection came to be and gives highlights.

Fans of iconic Montreal singer/songwriter/poet Leonard Cohen will have the chance to bid on pieces related to the man through a Los Angeles auction house.

Julien’s Auctions announced that an auction will run until the end of Feb. 28, including photographs, manuscripts, his tweed pageboy cap and even a lock of his hair.

Julien’s Auctions managing director Laura Woolley catalogued the collection and spoke about the particular item that has drawn a lot of attention.

Cohen gave the lock of hair, she explained, to his one-time partner Anjani Thomas after she gave him a haircut. She, like many in the Victorian era did, kept the hair in a locket.

“I think people immediately go to the macabre, obviously, because he’s no longer with us, they think that she somehow must have done something weird or clipped it after he passed away, and that’s not it at all,” said Woolley. “They were having a nice, casual Sunday, probably giving him a haircut, and she thought, ‘Oh, I’ll save a lock of hair.’ So at first it sounds weird, but it really isn’t. It’s kind of sweet.”

Thomas dated Cohen from 1999-2010.

“You may wonder why I am parting with these precious things,” she said.

“The truth is, I’ve lived with them going back 40 years, carrying them through a dozen moves across the U.S. and Europe and back. Leonard is so deeply ingrained in my soul that he’ll never be far apart from me. I feel it’s time that others who loved his music, writing, and art have an opportunity to own something that is imprinted with his awe-inspiring energy and giftedness.”

In addition to Thomas, who also sang backup vocals for Cohen, the collection comes from three sources: Aviva Layton (partner of poet Irving Layton and friend of Cohen’s), Cohen’s childhood friend Nancy Bacal and Cohen’s Viking Press editor Cork Smith.

The first to offer up material was 92-year-old Aviva Layton.

“She said, ‘I’m going to be 92, I’ve held on to these things so long, now’s the time,’” said Woolley. “So once she decided to sell, then these other couple of things kind of came out of the woodwork, because it’s like, ‘Oh, well, if you’re going to do it, then maybe I’ll do it.’ And then I told this other collection, ‘hey, these other people are doing it,’ so everyone kind of bandwagon together.”

Irving Layton died in 2006 in Montreal and Cohen visited the couple on Ridgewood Avenue in Cote-des-Neiges.

“‘He’s the real thing,' Irving said when he told me that someone called Leonard Cohen would be visiting us that evening in our cramped little basement apartment,” said Aviva in a news release.

“I’d been with Irving long enough to know that his calling someone ‘the real thing’ meant that he was a genuine poet, the highest compliment he could pay anyone.”

Aviva said he was “in the presence of the most magical man I’d ever met- and would ever meet.”

“From that moment on, Leonard became a constant in my life,” she said.

Woolley said that within 24 hours of launching the collection the auction site has had over 9,000 views of the various pieces from across the globe.

“I know that his appeal is so global,” she said. “He really, obviously had great success touring everywhere in the world. He’s super popular in Europe, obviously in Canada, but I think the response is very positive. I’ve had a lot of people reach out and say, ‘oh my gosh, Leonard Cohen.’ There’s always a reverence. I think, when you hear people mention him, and it’s not just a casual pop star, because he wasn’t a casual pop star, it’s like, ‘oh, it’s Leonard.’”

Those who want a piece of history can bid on the items online, in person or by phone until Feb. 28 when the final auction will happen.