1979 Romare Bearden Lithograph
GUEST: A few weeks ago, I was looking for art here in Austin to hang into a house I had bought, and up until then, I had a lot of French country, but I bought a very modern house. So I wanted something to hang on the fireplace, and I saw this in a resale shop and I noticed it had these grays and these really pretty colors, and it was ten dollars, and it had this stainless steel frame.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: And so I went ahead and purchased it.
APPRAISER: Good for you-- I, I noticed you have that on here. Right here, actually, the ten dollar price tag. So do you know anything about who the artist is?
GUEST: I…
APPRAISER: Or what the medium is?
GUEST: I do not. It was signed, I couldn't read it.
APPRAISER: It says Romare Bearden. And it is also numbered 30 out of 175. Romare Bearden is a 20th-century artist who died in the 1980s, but is one of the most celebrated African American artists. He's well known mostly for his collages that he did. This is an example of a slightly different look of his, but it is another theme that he's very famous for, which is jazz clubs and music. This one is from his "Jazz" series, and there were six images in this series. Bearden was really well-known for being a huge supporter of African American artists, writers, dancers. He founded several organizations that were meant entirely for the support of young Black artists and helping them come along. He was the director of the Harlem Cultural Arts Council. He wrote and published several books, and was known to be friends with Langston Hughes, various jazz musicians...
GUEST: Mm-hmm, yes.
APPRAISER: ...all different kinds of major figures in African American arts, and for that reason, he's celebrated hugely as having a major impact on later-20th-century African American art coming to the fore. This particular print is a lithograph, which is an image in which the artist works directly on the stone and drew this composition. There are many others done of it, of course. There's 175 altogether. This particular print was made in 1979, towards the end of his career. Do you have any idea of the value of the print beyond the ten dollars that you spent?
GUEST: No. I figured it was worth more than ten dollars, but...
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: $100? $200?
APPRAISER: I think you could add another zero to that number. And the current auction estimate that I would place on a work like this would be $1,000 to $2,000 and very pleased that you brought it in. It's wonderful to see. Especially in a city like Austin to have an image celebrating music and I'm thrilled you brought it in.
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: You okay?
GUEST: Yeah!
APPRAISER: (laughs)
GUEST: (voice trembling): I'm okay. I am, I mean, that's exciting. I don't have anything that's, you know, that, that's nice, it's like... Sorry. It's, like, I told you I wasn't gonna cry!
APPRAISER: (laughs)
GUEST: It's, like... Oh, my gosh!
$1,000 - $2,000 Auction
$1,000 - $2,000 Auction
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