ANTIQUES Roadshow left a widower shocked after discovering his late wife’s painting was a hidden masterpiece.
The stunned guest was floored when the expert revealed the artist’s work has “become highly sought-after in recent years”.
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During an Antiques Roadshow episode in Baltimore, a guest displayed a vibrant painting by the acclaimed artist Ed Clark.
The back of the artwork bore a handwritten inscription, dating it back to April 1976.
“My wife passed away in 2019, and she was a collector of all kinds of art but particularly African American artists,” the owner told appraiser Myrtis Bedolla from Baltimore art gallery, Galerie Myrtis.
Bedolla replied with deep admiration: “Ed Clark was a very important African American artist.
“He reached a level of prominence later in his career,” she said, mentioning the artist’s work hangs in the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art among other institutions.
“Something that is indicative of his work are the bands of color that is signature to his style.
“The artist’s work has become highly sought-after in recent years.”
Bedolla revealed to the owner that this Ed Clark painting could rake in between $50,000 and $65,000 at auction.
“You have a really beautiful piece here by Clark, and it’s quite a gem,” she said, visibly moved.
Ed Clark was an abstract expressionist painter known for his broad brushstrokes and radiant colors.
Art historians have noted that his major contributions to modernist painting were overlooked for much of his seven-decade career due to the racial barriers faced by African American artists.
The Baltimore episodes of Antiques Roadshow have been airing every Monday throughout April on PBS, with the final episode set to air Monday at 8pm.
It comes as another Antiques Roadshow guest discovered his 1941 C.F. Martin 000-42 guitar – given to him by his grandpa – was valued at $75,000.
The guitar’s original owner, affectionately known as “Cowboy Slim”, played live on the radio in the early 1950s.
According to his great-nephew, who now owns the instrument, Slim acquired the guitar in 1952 through a friend who offered him a deal: pay for the guitar when he could.
Slim eventually bought the guitar for $50, a modest sum even at the time.
He passed away in 1989, leaving the guitar to his nephew, who has safeguarded it ever since.
Although the guitar was appraised in the 1990s for around $10,000, that valuation barely scratched the surface of its true worth today.
One of the key details about this guitar is its Brazilian rosewood back and sides, a material highly prized for its tonal qualities and rarity.
The guitar also has an ebony bridge and fretboard with ivoroid binding.
An expert placed the guitar’s worth between $65,000 and $75,000 in today’s market.
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