Art Gossip: Impressionist painting discovered at Goodwill

Posted by Pinkie on July 15th, 2008 9 Comments

At work today, someone told me an interesting story:  a valuable painting was found at the Goodwill on Pantops. They said somebody donated an old painting and a store employee saw a signature on it and it turned out to be by a French Impressionist and ended up being worth $40,000.

Great story huh? Not true unfortunately.  A quick Google search shows the incident actually happened in Maryland:

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/271863-3/National/Goodwill_painting_auctions_for_40000/

Still, whoa! That Goodwill just got a lot of extra cash for charity. Experts say the piece, by Edouard Leon Cortes (1882 - 1969), could have easily been mistaken for something from a souvenir shop with its subject being such a commonplace Parisian scene. Poor Cortes, he would have been so insulted!

So listen up MUSErs, next time you’re in a thrift store, keep your eyes peeled. You never know when you might stumble across some treasure.

[Pic: “Marche aux Fleurs” by Edouard Leon Cortes, AP]

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9 Responses to “Art Gossip: Impressionist painting discovered at Goodwill”

  1. 15 Jul 2008 at 3:00 pm1Sunbow said:

    This post reminded me of this story I read a while ago…can you imagine finding this on the street?

    http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Rufino_Tamayo-Tres-Personajes.html

    /sorry I don’t know how to put a link in

  2. 15 Jul 2008 at 3:24 pm2Pinkie said:

    Who puts a $750,000 painting out with the trash???

  3. 15 Jul 2008 at 3:39 pm3NewmaN said:

    Sorta related, sorta unrelated…

    My mom was walking through the “Loovrah” looking at the works of the French Impressionist, Ingres. It’s believed that he painted my mom’s great, great, great, great, great, average uncle Edward, a portrait that she has proudly on display in her house. While studying his works, she was totally shocked to find a large painting of what appears to be a naked me flirting with the breasts of a sphinx.

    I’ve studied the painting, too, and it’s true. It does scarily look like me…. with smaller muscles, of course. I’ve since cut my hair as not to confuse anyone.

    So, i’ve got that going for me.

  4. 15 Jul 2008 at 4:27 pm4Esther Bunny said:

    NewmaN - that is a crazy coincidence!

    This story is bizarre … I bet the person who donated it either:

    a. didn’t know the value
    b. knew the value and got rid of it on purpose to get back at someone

  5. 15 Jul 2008 at 4:35 pm5Pinkie said:

    And now we know what Newman looks like nekked.

  6. 15 Jul 2008 at 5:09 pm6NewmaN said:

    Yes, you do.

    I think it’s amazing how certain things get deemed “valuable”. I’ve seen several “worthless” paintings done by people that are my contemporaries, that look like they took more talent than things done 500 years ago.

  7. 16 Jul 2008 at 9:57 am7Pinkie said:

    @6: It’s easy to think a piece is lacking talent if you don’t understand what they were going for. I’m sure some people see Picasso, don’t know what it is, and think “My kid could paint something better than that!” not understanding what cubism is about.

  8. 17 Jul 2008 at 12:05 pm8PJP said:

    @5 Thanks Pinkie; I was laughing at creepy Newman trying to pick up a sphinx, now I have to realize he’s naked too. Not a pleasant thought, and still creepy.

  9. 17 Jul 2008 at 1:36 pm9Pinkie said:

    Newmie, you can nude model for me anytime. Don’t listen to PJP.

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