Theodor Grust Oil, ca. 1890
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GUEST:
I inherited this from my mother. Her father purchased it from a museum in Germany. During the Crystal Night, 1938 it was cut by the Nazis. It was taken back to the museum and pieced together.
APPRAISER:
Where were they living at that time?
GUEST:
They were living in a city called Krefeld, northern Rhine.
APPRAISER:
Have you ever had it appraised?
GUEST:
My mother had it appraised back in the early '60s, and at that time, it was appraised for about $5,000.
APPRAISER:
And that was appraised here in the United States?
GUEST:
In New York.
APPRAISER:
How did it make its way to New York, exactly?
GUEST:
My grandmother got out of Nazi Germany and it was one of the few possessions she was able to take with her.
APPRAISER:
And you know the name of the artist?
GUEST:
The artist, yes, Theo Grust.
APPRAISER:
Grust is not an artist that you see that often. He was the head painter at the Meissen Porcelain Works around the turn of the 20th century. He was born in Meissen, had trained to be both a porcelain painter and a painter in oil, and later, he moved to Munich, and I would imagine he did some study in Munich as well because everything about this has the Munich look. And indeed, the signature down here, "Theo," which is an abbreviation for Theodor, Theodor Grust, and M.C.H.N. for Munich. So this was painted while he was living in Munich. That would have been late 1880s, early 1890s. One of the curious things here... So it says "Theo Grust, Munich," and then it has the date of "1802." Well, that's completely wrong. He wasn't alive in 1802. It's probably more likely that it's perhaps 1892. So clearly the date is not quite right. Probably someone didn't read it properly and actually restored it slightly wrong. But this is a marvelous painting of this artist's best technique from his Munich period, so it wouldn't affect the value at all. When he did paint in oil, he painted adorable girls like this in an interior. They appear to be reading music. I think they're going to be singing from these scores. He does paint these lovely girls in often slightly folk costumes sitting in interiors of this kind lit in just this way. They're wonderfully realized. This is a man who was really a master in his art. Now, it has had some damage, as you mentioned. The history of the painting is rather turbulent. There's a tear here, there's a tear here. They've been restored and the picture has been rebacked. But nevertheless, there's a lot of very good surface left. Most of the picture is in very good condition, actually. Now, Grust doesn't come up at auction very often, but when he does, he can sell very well. Recently, a painting much smaller than this sold at auction in New York for $21,000. I would think a picture of this size with two figures and this kind of charm, several of us conferred, our feeling is it would sell for about $30,000 at auction.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
Isn't that nice?
GUEST:
That's nice, very nice.
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