Ernest Spybuck Mixed-media Artwork, ca. 1920
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GUEST:
My grandfather bought it in Wewoka, Oklahoma, from his doctor. And then when he passed away, in 1968, my grandmother wanted to throw the painting away. And my mother said, "No, I want to keep it," and so she did. And six years ago, then, she gave it to me.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
I did have it restored and then properly framed. I think I spent about $3,000, $3,500.
APPRAISER:
So you invested some money in this.
GUEST:
Yes, I have.
APPRAISER:
And why did you do that?
GUEST:
Because I did an online search for the artist and about had a heart attack when I realized that this was a painting of, of some significance, both historically and artistically.
APPRAISER:
What did you find out?
GUEST:
That the artist, Ernest Spybuck, was a Shawnee from Oklahoma and that his works of art were in museums around the country.
APPRAISER:
I love Ernest Spybuck. He wasn't a trained artist, but he had a way of capturing life around him. Now, do you know the title on this by heart?
GUEST:
No, I don't. So I would have to read it from the bottom.
APPRAISER:
(chuckling) Right. It says "Wild Ride, Green Corn Dance, Kickapoo Indians, and Shawnee." And it's signed by Spybuck. They would gather to celebrate that the corn was green. The green, it was edible for them. So it was a gathering of celebration. The painting's mixed media. There's pencil, watercolor...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Maybe a little ink. He was just amazing, and his ability to paint what he saw, his documentation of daily life, are just treasured. There are works in the Smithsonian. He was commissioned to do some murals for the government in different buildings, mostly in Oklahoma. He was born in 1883 and died in 1949.
GUEST:
I was wondering about what year you thought that this might have been painted.
APPRAISER:
Around the 1920s. There's a fair amount of his works around, but you rarely see them coming to market. And if you were to offer this piece at auction today, it would sell for about $35,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my!
APPRAISER:
So...
GUEST:
That's much more than what I expected to hear.
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