I may have watched too many episodes of Antiques Roadshow, but I’ve got two paintings that appear to be original and professionally painted. There’s a signature that I can make out on one, and I’ve quasi determined that I may have an original…it’s not terribly expensive, but rather a lesser know Hudson River area artist from the turn of the 20th century. I cannot decipher the artist signature on the second however…short of paying for a professional appraisal, does any one have any hints on how I can proceed? Any websites that perhaps my assist?
If the artist is obscure, even a professional may well not recognise the signature. Have you tried scanning it in high quality and using some image processing software to enhance it?
See, if your painting was by someone famous, then it would be copied.
If you obtained these because your grandfather was friends with the artist, then maybe. Otherwise, whats the chances its just a copy sold by traveling salesmen ?
But yes, the geographic source and approximate age (and subject matter) give good clues was to where and who the artist was. then you’d need an expert in the field or try to match the signature to someone in that field. If you want to be your own detective, go to a large public library and look up books for, for example, “Portrait painters of 1860’s New York” or “Abstract painters of 1920’s Chicago” or “Landscape painters of the old west”. Try to match your artist’s signature there.
I suspect a lot of the “good finds” in Antiques Roadshow they have experts on speed-dial and the pre-screening includes checking with people who have spent their life studying, say, the 1850’s New City art scene.
I have recently bought some copies of some Monet paints from a place that procures them from China. Interestingly enough they were signed with english names even though the company freely publishes that are made in China by Chinese artist! Strange that they would even bother to place a fake name on an obvious reproduction painting, maybe it’s just habit.
Point being, people have been faking paintings for a long time. And many people painted as a semi professional hobby. The name on the painting may be meaningless, but if the combination of subject matter, style and age peaks someones interest the painting may have value.
Not really. Mostly in my business experience I have seen Asian people take on americanized first names like many have done, but these were signed with western first and last names. Perhaps they are told to paint under such a name in order to keep the perceived value higher, better for business. A Monet signed Jeff Xu might appear tacky to some people, whereas one signed Christopher Henderson might not get a second glance since a story could be told that he was say perhaps a startup student from New Hampshire. But like I said the company makes it clear that these come from China.
Yard sales…I think they may well be original painting copies. They appear old, but I can’t remove from the frames as they would be damaged. I may have to just bring them for an appraisal, even if just to ascertain insurance value and satisfy my curiosity