Bessie Gutmann Oil, ca. 1915
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APPRAISER:
You've brought in something that not only you collect, but I collect, which is objects made by Bessie Pease Gutmann. This is just a fabulous example of original art from an original calendar. Tell me a little bit about how you got this.
GUEST:
Well, I got the calendar piece first at a flea market. I'm also a collector. I have quite a few prints. And then about five or six years ago, my father gave me the painting, the oil painting, as a Christmas present. It's the only oil of Bessie Pease Gutmann that I've ever seen. I've seen lots of prints, and she does babies and children and adults.
APPRAISER:
Almost everyone has seen the baby prints. They seem to be around everywhere. They were popular images from the teens and the '20s. And she used her own children, so they're very lifelike in the way they look, and they were very appealing. She also did a lot of calendar art, which really put her on the map. And it's illustrator art, which has become so important right now in American collecting. Jesse Wilcox Smith, N.C. Wyeth, all of these people were wonderful children's book illustrators. And these kinds of pieces really are quite interesting to not only collectors like you and I, but to people who collect American illustrator art as well. I would put a value of this of around $30,000 to $40,000.
GUEST:
You're kidding. And I think I gave him slippers. Oh, that's fantastic.
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