1942 Fred Green Carpenter Oil Painting
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GUEST:
My grandfather's mother was best friends with her neighbor, and her neighbor was a cousin to the artist. So my great-grandmother would buy the paintings and give them away as family gifts. So this one was actually given to my grandfather as a wedding present, and was in his first home with my grandmother.
APPRAISER:
The artist is Fred Green Carpenter. And he was a really significant artist here in St. Louis. He was born in Tennessee, but came to St. Louis early in life. And he got a post at Wash. U. as an instructor, and he served out his entire career there. He made some pretty significant contributions to the St. Louis artists' community, and really continued to exhibit. He won awards at the Paris Salon, at the Panama Pacific Expo during his tenure at Washington University, and continued to paint in an innovative manner throughout his career. This is an oil on canvas, and we can see that it's signed, and it's dated 1942. He was known as a colorist, and he would paint exotic subjects, many of them figural. We looked at this very closely, and could not determine the precise location.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
But we think it might be along the Missouri River.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
At auction, a conservative estimate of value would fall in the range of $5,000 to $7,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my God. (laughing) Wow, that's incredible. I need to up my insurance.
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