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I recently sold some Ikea Promenad plates for about $90, but for some reason haven’t looked up other Ikea items when I’ve found them (in fact, I usually put them back in irritation.) I’m going to have to brush up on my Ikea patterns. Thanks for the information & for helping me realize flaws in my own thinking.
Five years ago, I started a blog (with an associated Pinterest account) intended to clarify certain common attribution errors (Reed & Barton enamelware being attributed to Alexander Calder, or Harpswell House pieces being attributed to Philip Lloyd Powell and Paul Evans) and also to document my research about certain marks, artists, or other designers. Unfortunately, my main scope was a little bit too narrow (I ran out of interesting attribution errors pretty quickly) and recording my research began to feel unnecessary, given that there are already a lot of resources out there.
https://thatobject.wordpress.com/It’s been a long time since I solved a good mystery for myself, although I hang out over at the “What is this Painting?” subreddit and help identify mystery artists for fun. 🙂
Sally, if weather doesn’t permit a Seattle road trip, or if you have a spare moment over the weekend, you can put in an email request to the Frick Collection and they’ll mail (or scan and email) you a copy. The relevant information about how to do it is here:
https://www.frick.org/research/library/copies
Also, I’d definitely call the library in Seattle to make sure they’re open and still have the document you’re looking for.
Did I mention that I”m totally excited for you!?!?!?!?!
So, here’s the tl/dr as I understand it:
1. Big Sally picked up a painting, which was reportedly deaccessioned (or never even fully accessioned) by the Seattle Public Library, at an auction.
The painting is signed “Reginald Marsh” and has various stickers and labels indicating that it was shown at the La Tausca Art Competition in 1948. I tracked down a blog where someone posted some content from an exhibition catalog for the show, and a painting by the same name, by Reginald Marsh, is listed as one of the entries.
As far as I can tell from here (across the country, through a blog, with my terrible eyes), this is an original painting — tempera, I think, on Masonite or other board.
Reginald Marsh is a relatively well-known American artist. His work is shown all over the country and is in the permanent collections of, among other places, MOMA and The Met.
As for the value of this particular piece — I really don’t know. So much of his work has sold that it would almost take a spreadsheet where you categorize and cross-reference by medium, size, subject, age, etc. in order to really arrive at a range. Doing a quick “Findartinfo” search, the highest price I find a tempera painting selling for is over $200k. The lowest is about $6,000. But there are sales not recorded on that site, and without looking at each piece and without knowing what subjects are most desirable, it’s impossible to say. I mean, I feel confident that it’s at minimum worth over $1,000 — and that’s pretty exciting all on its own!
Sorry, this has probably gone on too “L” for it to be a true “TL/DR” version. 🙂
Sally, I’m so excited for you!
So, the photos aren’t showing up for me, either. I think the person’s gallery is down. You could try contacting the blogger to see if s/he still has a copy of the exhibition catalog, or…. (drum roll please…) — you could contact one of these archives, all of which have a copy of the exhibition catalog in their records. Personally, I’ve had good luck with the Frick Collection — they look things up, copy them, and mail them to you.
Note on page 2, if you’re in Seattle — there’s a copy in the Seattle Art Museum Libraries.
This is honestly so thrilling. I’m absolutely geeking out over here!
Once you have a copy of the exhibition catalog, I think it’s worth approaching some of the auction companies again. Which ones did you try contacting? I’d certainly talk to Sotheby’s and Christies.
Keep in mind, I’m just an amateur without experience or training, just a brain that’s wired to find research immensely enjoyable. 😉
Hey, Big Sally — you’re going to want to sit down!
Check out this blog post. The author found a brochure from the 1948 show and lists a few of the artists and the titles of their entered works. I think you’ll be very pleased.
http://inbetweennoise.blogspot.com/2010/11/when-albers-or-shahn-could-be-had-for.html
