Fremont Ellis Oil on Board, ca. 1929
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GUEST:
This painting was made by Fremont Ellis in 1929. It was given to my godmother's husband in 1969 and then my godmother gave it to me in 1985.
APPRAISER:
It's a beautiful example of Fremont Ellis's work. Fremont Ellis was born in Montana and was mostly a self-taught artist. He did three months of training at the Art Students League in New York, but other than that he learned to paint on his own.
GUEST:
That's right, the... he was one of the original Cinco Pintores from Santa Fe when the art colonies started many, many years ago, in the '30s. And I was a personal friend of his. I went to work in a paint store in 1948 and he was a customer because we sold art supplies.
APPRAISER:
In terms of technique, this is an oil on board. It was painted probably in the late 1920s. The first date we have on the back is 1929. You have any idea of the value of this painting?
GUEST:
No, not really. I did know as he went on in his career a lot of his paintings were pricey. You saw them in Santa Fe, but no one had the money to buy them.
APPRAISER:
Right. Well, I think this one, it's a smaller example for Fremont Ellis, but for its size I would say it should sell at auction between $10,000 and $15,000.
GUEST:
Wow. That's quite a... quite a figure. I never had anything like that in mind.
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