'Antiques Roadshow' guest brings a painting bought for $100 — then the expert revealed its true value
A work of art available for $100 may not strike someone as precious, but that's why shows such as "Antiques Roadshow" have opened doors for people to bring such items to be appraised by experts. One such example was a guest's $100 painting that showed up on the show and fetched a $500,000 valuation. While the price of the painting from Joseph Kleitsch was low when it was purchased, the show's expert, Debra Force, explained how its value increased with the artist gaining prominence in the market.
The guest shared how she came into possession of the painting, which was potentially made more than a century ago. Talking about the artist, she said, "He lived and worked in southern California from around 1920 to the mid-1930s. And I lived in Laguna Beach then, I grew up there, and this is a picture of the way the town looked at that time," she explained. This surprised Force as she learned that the painting was made in the early 1920s.
"My father knew him (Kleitsch), and unfortunately, he passed away, but my father and mother knew his widow, and they did buy it from his widow," the guest shared, adding that the artwork was purchased by her parents in 1939. "Well, that's perfect provenance, going right from the artist's wife to your family," Force noted. She then went on to explain the significance of the item and the artist as well. "Joseph Kleitsch was actually born in Hungary, and he studied in Budapest, Paris, and Munich, and he was quite accomplished. Even at the age of 17, he was doing major portraits and painted the portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria," she mentioned.
Force further added that the artist came to the U.S. in 1901 and lived in Chicago, where he taught at the Art Institute. She added that Kleistch then moved to California around 1920 and chose to settle down in Laguna Beach, where he found himself "infatuated with the countryside, with the town, the ocean, and the townspeople," she explained. She noted that after travelling around the world, Kleitsch passed away at the young age of 49. "He was considered one of the premier California impressionists, and you can see how wonderful this painting is, with the beautiful light. He was known as a colorist, and he had some wonderful bravura, or flourishing brushwork. And this is an oil on canvas," she explained.
To add to the expert's astonishment, the guest revealed that her parents bought the painting for all but $100. Trying to maintain her composure, Force told the guest that the market for such paintings had fallen in the last decade at the time. After lowering the expectations, the expert went on to share the smashing appraisal, saying, "If this were in a gallery, most likely in California, although his work is collected elsewhere, a gallery price would be $500,000." The guest smiled ear to ear as she said, "Oh, really? That's quite nice to know."
Force went on to add that when the painting came to the set, everyone got excited. "So it's a pleasure to be able to talk about it," she said in the end.
