André Gisson Paintings, ca. 1955
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GUEST:
I bought them in a gallery in Minneapolis in 1959. They were in the window, and as I walked by, I thought they were very pretty.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And that they would look wonderful in a special place I had in my living room.
APPRAISER:
So you bought them as a pair.
GUEST:
I bought them as a pair on the spot. Hadn't gone in planning to buy paintings or anything.
APPRAISER:
Okay, and you know who the artist is?
GUEST:
Well, I read, or they told me it was Gisson? I'm not sure of how you pronounce it.
APPRAISER:
Right, his name is André Gisson. Did they tell you anything about him?
GUEST:
The only thing they told me that he was getting old, and he was starting to go blind.
APPRAISER:
Really? Okay.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Well, you do, in fact, have two views of Paris. And you can see down here it is signed, "A. Gisson," G-I-S-S-O-N.
GUEST:
Oh, I didn't-- I didn't see the A.
APPRAISER:
They're both signed. Now, nice Parisian views, but the artist wasn't French at all.
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
It's one of the great stories. He was a struggling artist. He was born in Brooklyn.
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
His name was Anders Gittelson, of all things.
GUEST:
Oh, for heaven's sakes.
APPRAISER:
And he was born in 1921. And so what he did is, he backed up his dates. He said he was born in 1910 and was named André Gisson. And he lived in Westport, Connecticut, most of his life, and painted there.
GUEST:
Oh, uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
So that's why they thought he was getting older. And his biography, one of his galleries wrote, the very first line, it says, "Born outside of Paris." I guess Brooklyn counts as outside of Paris.
GUEST:
But they weren't lying.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, they weren't lying, no.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
He died just recently, in 2003. Did you pay a lot of money for these?
GUEST:
I paid $150 for each one.
APPRAISER:
$150.
GUEST:
For each one.
APPRAISER:
Well, his paintings have come up a little bit more in the market recently.
GUEST:
Good.
APPRAISER:
So if I were to put these into an auction, I would probably expect to get $3,000 to $4,000 for them, for the pair.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm, oh, good, good. My son will be glad to hear that. He's inheriting them.
APPRAISER:
Oh, he will, good.
GUEST:
(laughs)
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