The guest was taken aback when the expert revealed that the artist’s work has “become highly sought-after in recent years”.
During an Antiques Roadshow episode in Baltimore, a guest displayed a colorful painting by renowned artist Ed Clark.
The back of the artwork bore a handwritten inscription dated 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 of Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore.
Bedolla responded with deep admiration: “Ed Clark was a significant African American artist.
“He rose to prominence later in his career,” she said, mentioning that the artist’s work is housed in the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among other institutions.
“The signature color bands in his work are indicative of his style.
“The artist’s work has become highly sought-after in recent years.”
Bedolla told the owner that the Ed Clark painting could fetch between $50,000 and $65,000 at auction.
“You have a really beautiful piece here by Clark, and it is quite a gem,” she said, clearly moved.
Ed Clark was an abstract expressionist painter renowned for his bold brushstrokes and vibrant colors.
According to art historians, his major contributions to modernist painting were largely overlooked for much of his seven-decade career due to racial barriers faced by African American artists.
The Baltimore episodes of Antiques Roadshow aired on PBS every Monday in April, with the final episode airing on Monday at 8 p.m.
Another Antiques Roadshow guest discovered that his 1941 C.F. Martin 000-42 guitar, given to him by his grandfather, was valued at $75,000.
The guitar’s original owner, nicknamed “Cowboy Slim,” performed live on the radio in the early 1950s.
Slim bought the guitar in 1952 from a friend who offered him a deal: pay for it when he could. His great-nephew now owns the instrument.
Slim eventually purchased the guitar for $50, which was a small sum even at the time.
He passed away in 1989, leaving the guitar to his nephew, who has kept it safe ever since.
Although the guitar was appraised in the 1990s for around $10,000, that figure barely scratched the surface of its current worth.
The Brazilian rosewood is a key feature of this guitar.
The guitar features an ebony bridge and fretboard with ivoroid binding.
An expert estimated that the guitar is worth between $65,000 and $75,000 in today’s market.