Margaret Keane Acrylic Painting, ca. 1965
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GUEST:
This is a Margaret Keane painting that I think was done in the mid-1960s.
APPRAISER:
Right.
GUEST:
My mother-in-law purchased it on a trip to Hawaii, and I know she didn't pay a lot for it because she didn't have a lot of money. So we inherited it in 1991 when she came to live with us. But I must confess that I'm not very fond of it. My husband loves it, so it's kind of been in the dining room, not in a place of prominence.
APPRAISER:
What can you tell me about the artist or the subject of the painting or...
GUEST:
Well, Margaret Keane always did the large eyes, and that was her signature. I don't know what the name of this is, if it has a name.
APPRAISER:
Well, the work of Margaret Keane has gone through considerable discussions over the years. There was a ten-year lawsuit between Walter, her husband...
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
...who claimed to be the author of the paintings, and Margaret, who claimed to be the artist. There was a court trial in Honolulu, federal court, where they settled the matter by, Margaret Keane and Walter had to paint a painting.
GUEST:
I see, yes.
APPRAISER:
And Walter begged off and Margaret did one in 53 minutes. And so she won the lawsuit.
GUEST:
Ah, interesting.
APPRAISER:
And resolved it-- I think it was in 1986.
GUEST:
Oh, that recently?
APPRAISER:
Yeah. There is far more to the story than we'll go into here.
GUEST:
Sure.
APPRAISER:
But she was basically locked in a room and made to paint by her husband. These waifs were her signature.
GUEST:
I see, yes. Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Margaret Keane worked primarily with acrylics.
GUEST:
I see.
APPRAISER:
Which dry very quickly. It allowed her to produce a number of paintings in a day. So...
GUEST:
Oh, really?
APPRAISER:
That is her medium of choice.
GUEST:
Okay, interesting.
APPRAISER:
And did you have a sense of what you thought Penny was worth?
GUEST:
I'm just guessing, and I'm going to say maybe about $4,000.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
I have no idea.
APPRAISER:
I think it'd be a bit more than that. They've sold at auctions in as disparate places as Maine and Japan. And there's some affinity here to the anime images, it seems to me.
GUEST:
Oh, yeah, yes.
APPRAISER:
And there's a bit of a pop culture interest, and I wasn't sure whether you're aware that Tim Burton, he has got a film in the production on Margaret.
GUEST:
Oh! I, I have heard of that, yes.
APPRAISER:
Yeah. Today it might... The auction values are $5,000 to $7,000, maybe $5,000 to $8,000.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
But you might wait-- Burton has a collection of them.
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
Keane has been an interest over the years, so you might wait and see how that film turns out.
GUEST:
Okay, all right.
APPRAISER:
Everyone thinks that the value in art is constant, but it does change with other events.
GUEST:
I see.
APPRAISER:
So...
GUEST:
Very interesting.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, thanks very much for bringing it in.
GUEST:
Thank you.
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