"What's It Worth?"

“What do you think its worth?”  That is a question that I have been asked on numerous occasions throughout my over thirty years  as a museum director, writer, and auction specialist.  It is a natural query, particularly in light of the popularity of such television shows as Antiques Roadshow.  We all have a curiosity about the value of a work of art.  We may appreciate a painting or sculpture on a number of different levels, for its beauty, for its ability to tell a great story, or for its importance to a particular artist or movement, but we also want to know what it is worth in terms of dollars and cents.

Rockwell Museum of Western Art, Corning, N.Y.

Recently I had the pleasure of participating in an appraisal fair at the Rockwell Museum of Western Art in Corning, New York.  For those not familiar with the museum, it has a great collection of both historic and contemporary art of the American West that grew out of the collecting efforts of Robert Rockwell, who among other things, owned a department store in Corning where he initially displayed many of the paintings and sculpture now in the museum.  The museum was formed through a collaboration between Bob and Corning, Inc. and is housed in a beautifully restored building that once served as both the Town Hall and Fire Station. (In terms of full disclosure, I readily admit that I am a great fan of the museum having served as its director in the mid-1980s and most recently as a guest curator.) During the course of the day, I and the other specialists saw many different items from jewelry to paintings.  Every object had a story attached to it, and while many of the people who brought their treasures to the museum had no interest in selling them, all were eager to find out how much their item was worth.

As a museum director, I spent much of my career advising people to buy what they like, to buy the works of art that speak to them personally, and not to think of how much a painting may appreciate in terms of  monetary value over  the years.  The fact is, the great majority of works of art appreciate very slowly, if at all.  Naturally there are spectacular exceptions to this rule and it is those exceptions that fuel speculation about the value of art objects.  We love to hear the stories behind the antiques and other treasures that show up on Antiques Roadshow, but those stories are all the more dramatic once we hear just how much the piece is likely to bring at an auction or in a gallery.

 

When I was just starting out in the museum field, one of my colleagues at a neighboring museum had the task of announcing to the press and the public the acquisition of a prized painting by Paul Cezanne.  It was an important and very fine example of the artist’s work and its acquisition was quite newsworthy. Along with a thorough assessment of why the painting was a great Cezanne and how it fit in with the museum’s collection, the press release also mentioned that the painting had been purchased for six million dollars; and that was back when a million dollars seemed like a lot of money.  Naturally, every news   outlet that carried the story led with the purchase price.  My colleague told me that it was not at all unusual for visitors to ask the museum guards to point out the “six million dollar painting,” not where the new Cezanne was hanging.

 

"Home Sweet Home" by W.R. Leigh, 1932 oil on canvas, 40"x60"

What’s it worth? Is a natural question to ask, but it is a question that is not so easy to answer.  Barring damage or natural deterioration, a work of art does not change over the course of its lifetime, its market value, however, can.   Recently, W.R. Leigh’s painting, “Home Sweet Home,” sold at Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas for $1,195,000, a record auction price for the artist.  The painting had a pre-auction estimate of $400,000 to $600,000, a range that was based on the auction records for other paintings by Leigh of a similar size.  So which of those figures, the pre-auction estimate or the winning bid, accurately reflects the true value of the painting?  The answer is really both.  Based on past auction records, one could have reasonably expected the painting to sell at the upper limit of that range (we will talk about the psychology of setting lower auction estimates to encourage competitive bidding in a later post).  In fact the definition of “fair market value,” according to the Internal Revenue Service is the price that a buyer and seller would agree on in an open market, with both parties having a reasonable knowledge of the market and neither being under any pressure to buy or sell.  In other words,  both buyer and seller would have the opportunity to research prices paid for similar works by the same artist and to come up with what both would see as a reasonable price.

The trick though is assessing just how similar any given painting is to one that has sold in the past. Many factors beyond the size and medium of the work will come into play.  Sometimes subject matter has a significant impact on the value of a work of art.  For example, the late Wilson Hurley could paint still lifes and portraits with the same skill and feeling that he brought to his landscapes, but the latter will most likely always command higher prices.  Because he was so widely known for his prowess as a landscape painter, the demand for landscapes is far greater than for any of his other subjects.   Another example is Thomas Moran who painted many scenes of the harbor at Venice and many have done quite well at auction, but the prices for those paintings
pale in comparison to his scenes of Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon.

Grand Canal,Venice by Thomas Moran, 1901, oil on canvas, 20"x30"

A Passing Shower in Yellowstone Canon by Thomas Moran, 1903, oil on canvas, 16"x20"

 The Venetian painting sold at auction for $116,500 at Christie's in New York in 2010, while the Yellowstone painting, which is a little smaller in size, sold at the same venue in 2008 for $2,505,000. The paintings were completed in 1901 and 1903.  Both are executed with equal skill, but Moran landscapes are in much higher demand than his other subjects.




 I have often been approached by someone who has a work by a well known artist with a subject that the artist is not particularly known for.  In some cases, the painting technically in terms of skill, composition, and execution is the equal of the sort of paintings that established the artist’s reputation.  In almost every case, I have had to tell the owner that while he has a great painting, he does not have a painting that the market will value on a par with the better known subjects of that particular artist.  There are no doubt collectors out there who are looking for a great Wilson Hurley still life, but there are far more who are looking for a great Wilson Hurley landscape.

Arabesque by Wilson Hurley, 1985, oil on canvas, 38"x48"

Late Afternoon at La Cueva by Wilson Hurley, 1983, oil on canvas, 60"x96"

A Brush with the Redskins by Frederic Remington, 1891, oil on canvas, 16.50"x27"

And then there is the issue of quality, which is at best, a subjective assessment.  Some paintings are simply better than others.  Just like everyone else, artists   develop their talents over many years.  It is not particularly surprising that a painting by Frederic Remington in 1888 often does not match one of his paintings done in 1909 in terms of artistic merit.  He was a better painter in 1909 than he was in 1888. Even paintings from the same year or era can vary greatly in terms of quality.  Chalk it up to a bad day in the studio or the need for whatever reason to rush to finish a painting, sometimes an artist simply does not do his or her best work.  I don’t know of any artists, living or dead, who, so to speak, hit a home run every time they came up to the plate.  In general, better paintings will always command better prices.

Remington's skill as a painter steadily improved over the course of his career.  He moved from producing illustrations such as "A Brush with the Redskins," which  he painted in 1891, to such masterful works as "Winter Campaign," which he completed just prior to his death in 1909

Winter Campaign by Frederic Remington, 1909, oil on canvas, 27.25"x40.50". In the permanent collection of the Rockwell Museum of Western Art, Corning, N.Y.

But how does one know which is the better painting?  Why is one Charlie Russell painting of cowboys roping longhorns better than another?  Actually determining which is best is not nearly as mysterious as it may appear, but it is a process that can take time.  The most accomplished and knowledgeable scholars, collectors, and curators for the work of any given artist have spent a great deal of time simply looking at that artist’s work (along with the work of a good many other artists as well).  In this case, familiarity most likely does not breed contempt, but a thorough understanding of the artist’s work and skill level.  There is no substitute for  looking at a large number of works by any artist to gain an appreciation for that artist’s best work.

A Mix Up by Charles M. Russell, 1910, oil on canvas, 30"x48" inches.  In the permanent collection of the Rockwell Museum of Western Art, Corning, N.Y.

Cowboys working cattle was one of Charles Russell's favorite subjects and he returned to this subject on numerous occasions.  A close study of those many images is the very best way of comparing the quality of one painting to another.  There is no substitute for simply looking at as many works by a given artist as possible

So  market demand, quality, and past sales all play a role in determining a work of art’s value.  But let’s return for a moment to W. R. Leigh’s painting, “Home Sweet Home.”  I asked the question, which is the more accurate assessment of the painting’s value, the pre-auction estimate of $400,000 to $600,000 or the $1,195,000 paid at auction and concluded that both were correct valuations.  The pre-auction estimate was based on all of the factors that I have talked about here:  past sales records, quality of the work itself in terms of artistic merit, and demand for paintings of this subject matter by this artist.  Had I been asked to appraise this painting, I would have placed its value, based on all of those factors, at around $600,000, but that would have been before the actual auction.  After all the easiest definition of what something is worth is the amount of money that someone is willing to pay for that item.  At an auction, collectors do not bid in a vacuum.  The price for the Leigh rose to a million dollars because at least two bidders were willing to match and then top each other’s offers.  On this particular day the value of the Leigh was $1,195,000 because that is what it took to win the bidding.

Now will that value hold?  Well, who is to say what the next great Leigh will bring at auction?  Certainly the fact that this one sold for over a million dollars will affect the price paid for the next and most likely will also influence the owners of Leigh paintings to consider putting their works on the market.  Because this painting sold at such a high price, the next one to hit the market will likely start with a higher pre-auction estimate, not at the million dollar level, but at a level considerably higher than this one had.

Mourning Eagle by J.H. Sharp, oil on canvas, 18.20"x12"

As I said, placing a dollar value on any work of art can be a tricky business.  While all of the factors that I mentioned here are important in determining value, equally important is the overall state of the economy.  In the field of American Western Art, there are paintings that seem to defy economic conditions, the Leigh being a case in point.  Great Remington’s, Russell’s, Morans, and Bierstadt’s still bring great prices.  However, in general, prices for western art are not nearly as robust as they were prior to the economic downturn of 2008.  Portraits that Joseph Henry Sharp painted at the Crow Agency in Montana in the 1890’s were regularly bringing well over $100,000 prior to 2008, but today paintings of that nature often sell for around half of that figure.  Again, the paintings have not changed, but the market certainly has.  And that is where the terms value and worth can split company.  The answer to the question, “What’s it worth?”  is generally given in terms of dollars, the price the item would fetch on the open market. 

Red Cloud, Ogalalla Sioux by J.H. Sharp, oil on canvas, 18.25"x12.25"

Ogalalla Fire by J.H. Sharp,1898, oil on canvas,  13.25"x9.13"

Mourning Eagle sold at Christie's in 2007 for $180,000, not an unusual price for the time.  Three years later, Ogalalla Fire, a painting of similar size, subject and date fetched only $54,000 at a Santa Fe auction.  An even better example of how the overall state of the economy can affect the value of art is afforded by Sharp's portrait of Red Cloud.  The painting sold at Christie's in 2007 for $132,000.  When it was offered in 2010 at auction in Santa Fe, it was sold for $60,000

Another question to ask is, “What’s its value?” The answer to this question could be quite different.  Anyone who has bought one of those Sharp portraits, whether that person is a private collector or a museum curator, made the decision to buy it  based on many factors other than its auction estimate or gallery price.  They likely were attracted by some intangible factor in addition to the painting’s importance such as the artist’s overall career or the skill with which he completed it.  There was something about that painting that spoke to them, that spoke to them in a singular fashion that compelled them to select this particular painting.  In those cases, the value is really in the eyes of the beholder.  And ultimately that is what makes placing a value on a work of art such an inexact science.  One can analyze the market, study past prices, make an assessment of current economic conditions, evaluate a painting for quality and importance, and measure its size and condition, but that still does not take into account, the sheer emotional impact that a work of art will have on its eventual buyer.  Is a painting with a pre-auction estimate of $400,000 to $600,000 worth a million dollars?  It is, without question, to the person who buys it.

This post is the first of many that will appear here.  I will do my best to post new entries on a weekly basis and I hope that you will return frequently and tell your friends and associates about the blog as well.  We will cover a lot of territory in the field of American Western Art from market conditions to interviews with artists, to tips on buying art, and virtual visits to great museums.  My intent is to share some of the knowledge that I have gained over three decades in the field and to have fun at the same time.  Thanks for visiting and come back soon.