Jump to content

Help with 1932 Cadillac Painting


TerryB

Recommended Posts

My wife bought me an oil on canvas painting of a 1932 Cadillac convertible at a yard sale over the weekend.  She paid less than $10 but believes it might be worth more.  The artist is H Jonson or something close to that.  Anyone ever hear of him?  The painting is nice and I appreciate the thought but I don't think it's a Rembrandt level work.  Take a look and see what you think.

Terry

 

IMG_0631.JPG

IMG_0632.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice frame! ?

 

There is no value to the painting. I have a similar one that came with my car. I pulled it out of the trash, as the owner didn't think it was worth saving. It's much better than I could do myself. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think what Ed is trying to say is that the artist is obviously not a well known automotive artist and the painting while "nice" is amateurish and not greatly scaled.  I also had one done for my first restoration and it hangs on my wall but now that I have gotten to know the "masters" I realize that it is only "nice" as well!  So the value is minimal.  A guy can never have enough car stuff so if you like the painting hang it up some where!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agreed on the Greenery.  I have a few different ones of my cars, some better than others.  There is a guy at one of the local flea markets that will do a pen and ink for 60 bucks from a picture.  They don't come out too bad.  This is probably the same sort of deal.  Hang it with the car, it will look great!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have three pictures of my 58 year daily driver.  All were done because of friendships and because they were also fans of the car.  Two are line drawings and nicely done but the car is out of proportion as is this one.  The third one in acrylic is  displayed in our den.  It is nice but he did it from memory as he hadn't seen the car for about fourty years, and the proportion is a little off.  These would be in $10. to $20. range in value.  The acrylic painter (who was my longest friend, from the first day of school, until he died two years ago) also gave me two paintings of the Split Rock Lighthouse and obviously landscapes with a building were his forte, as I have been offered over $5,000. for each of them.  This doesn't make his painting of my car any less desirable to me.  It just means that it wouldn't have much market to anyone without a 1930 Pontiac. 

If I had a 32 Cadillac roadster I would love to have the picture you have.

 

3 hours ago, alsancle said:

Hang it with the car, it will look great!

Happy hobbying

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of interest to me is that the painting shows double wide whites.  The painter must have been working from a real car, or a real picture, or been a car person him/her self, as this is a detail the "normal" people (not infected with the old car bug) wouldn't know.

 

I surely can't comment on quality of painting.  I could sit at an engineering drafting table and make very nice blueprints by hand (pre- AutoCAD!), but when it comes to drawing real life, stick figures are about it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would be okay on a garage wall, but not in an art gallery.

 

Under $10 is 'market value' for that.

 

On the other hand if it was a genuine pencil sketch by Harley Earl found on a empty grocery bag......

 

Craig 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

All comments are appreciated, especially Matt's!  I agree it's not going to hang in any art gallery or be featured on the Antiques Roadshow anytime soon.  It's about as close as I'll ever be to owning a '32 Cadillac convertible so I guess it will occupy a spot of honor on my garage wall.  

 

Terry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Terry, I wasn't trying to be over critical on the painting, you posted a question, I gave an honest answer. Enclosed is a photo of a car I purchased in 2000, along with a painting of the car that was out by the curb in a pile of trash. The seller figured I wouldn't want it. Wrong! I'd been hanging in my master bedroom for seventeen years. It's about the same quaility as you painting. When it comes to art the only important thing is that you like it. Ed

 

This is a one off custom bodied car, with very unusual chassis, and body. It had 32,000 original miles on it when the photo was taken. Had a 1942 repaint, my favorite find in forty years in the hobby.

IMG_2876.JPG

IMG_0234.JPG

Edited by edinmass (see edit history)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, 8E45E said:

It would be okay on a garage wall, but not in an art gallery.

 

Under $10 is 'market value' for that.

 

On the other hand if it was a genuine pencil sketch by Harley Earl found on a empty grocery bag......

 

Craig 

 

Harley Earl didn't sketch. He was good at telling people what he wanted and yelling when he didn't get it. Now if that bag had a sketch by Frank Hershey or Gordon Buehrig that would be another story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Brass is Best said:

 

Harley Earl didn't sketch. He was good at telling people what he wanted and yelling when he didn't get it. Now if that bag had a sketch by Frank Hershey or Gordon Buehrig that would be another story.

Legend has it, famous Spanish/French artist, Pablo Picasso hired a cabinetmaker to build some new kitchen cabinets and he drew a sketch of the design, and where he wanted the sink, drawers and the doors located.  The cabinetmaker told Picasso to sign the sketch, and he would do the work at no charge.

 

Craig

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

Legend has it, famous Spanish/French artist, Pablo Picasso hired a cabinetmaker to build some new kitchen cabinets and he drew a sketch of the design, and where he wanted the sink, drawers and the doors located.  The cabinetmaker told Picasso to sign the sketch, and he would do the work at no charge.

 

Craig

 

Another story about Picasso. He was eating dinner at a restaurant and the waitress asked if he would do a sketch for her on the napkin during dinner. Picasso agreed and at the end of the meal he presented the sketch to the waitress. She was of course thrilled. Picasso told her the cost would be $35,000 for the sketch. The waitress exclaimed but you only took 20 minutes to do that. Picasso replied but it took me a lifetime to learn how. He then gave the napkin to the waitress as a gift.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Brass is Best said:

 

Another story about Picasso. He was eating dinner at a restaurant and the waitress asked if he would do a sketch for her on the napkin during dinner. Picasso agreed and at the end of the meal he presented the sketch to the waitress. She was of course thrilled. Picasso told her the cost would be $35,000 for the sketch. The waitress exclaimed but you only took 20 minutes to do that. Picasso replied but it took me a lifetime to learn how. He then gave the napkin to the waitress as a gift.

A high school teacher told my class in the early 1970's that Picasso made a habit out of paying for virtually everything by check, no matter how small the amount. The story was that Picasso learned that no one wanted to give up an autograph from him, so no one ever cashed the checks...effectively allowing him to live for free. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JamesBulldogMiller55Buick said:

"She paid less than $10. But, believes it might be worth more.."

 

I beleive so, too.

If my wife brought one like that home for me I would take her out to a little restaurant by the Lake where dinner would be about $60. Her cut would be 30 bucks. If I bought her two glasses of wine she'd believe anything. Surely a winner.

Bernie

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Terry B

i think your wife is a very thoughtful person. To purchase the painting for u says it all.Cherish it and do hang it on a wall. I lost my husband 2 years ago to cancer. I would give anything for him to walk in and give me such a wonderful gift.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

54 minutes ago, trishabig said:

Terry B

i think your wife is a very thoughtful person. To purchase the painting for u says it all.Cherish it and do hang it on a wall. I lost my husband 2 years ago to cancer. I would give anything for him to walk in and give me such a wonderful gift.

It is CERTAINLY worth more than $10, 

worth more than any amount of money...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, lump said:

A high school teacher told my class in the early 1970's that Picasso made a habit out of paying for virtually everything by check, no matter how small the amount. The story was that Picasso learned that no one wanted to give up an autograph from him, so no one ever cashed the checks...effectively allowing him to live for free. 

I've tried that.

it didn't work.

My checks all get cashed...

Edited by JamesBulldogMiller55Buick (see edit history)
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Wife was absolutely in love with Picasso when she was in college. She dreamed about being one of his mistresses. Then she met me. I was somewhat a writer and artist at the time. I wrote her an X rated, illustrated story about gargoyles. I bet she still has it. The fascination with Pablo slowly faded away.

Bernie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...