Something nice I got for Christmas

[kenny]

It's an old original watercolor, 8" x 11".

I love looking in thrift stores and antique stores for old original art, which can often be bought for a pittance.

A century ago watercolor painting, like piano, was something any proper cultured young lady was expected to pursue.
Today the piano market and antique shops are littered with remnants of these long-gone social phenomena.
While many of the old watercolors show little talent this one demonstrates quite a bit of skill for this difficult medium.



Detail.



Detail.

 

[AprilBaby]

Very pretty, I really like old art.

 

[Kaleigh]

Kenny it''s beautiful!!!

 

[athenaworth]

Ooooooooooooooh!!! I love it!!!

 

[soocool]

It is beautiful. I tried water colors years ago and gave it up. I still have my paints and brushes.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Very nice!

I have no painting talent whatsoever and I can't play the piano. I would have made a terrible young lady.

 

[yennyfire]

It's gorgeous Kenny! Have you googled the artist to see if you can find anything out about them?

 

[kenny]

It's gorgeous Kenny! Have you googled the artist to see if you can find anything out about them?

Well, there IS a mystery here.
I'm not certain who the artist was.
All I have to go by is what appears to be the initials N.J. in pencil and a title "Eden Inn".



Below is what was written on the cardboard on the back - but who knows who wrote this, or if it is true?
The painting was cheaply mounted with materials that are not acid-free.
I immediately removed them and will mount it with archival materials.



After a little Googling:
There was a Nell Choate Jones, 1879 - 1981, (wow, lived 101 years) with works now in museums.
This and other links offer some facts which make it possible that this could be an early work by her.

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-3429

In the late 1920s she was in England studying art and the subject does look English.
(But the back says it was painted "at" Kansas.)
The style of her important works in oil, from later in her life, does not match this watercolor but this would be from the beginning of her career when studying in Europe and exploring the impressionistic style.
Plus artists usually use a media in media-specify styles, so the style mismatch means little.
She exhibited in the New York Watercolor Society - so clearly she was adept in watercolor.

I suppose there is a small chance this is an early work of hers.
I just don't know how I'd go about establishing that.
I suspect many "art experts" would be delighted to take my money to have a look at it.

Even if it could be proven the value would not be terribly high since it is not an oil and it is small.
I know it was only around $100 and the shop was not a fancy gallery, just a dusty old local antique store.
I'd more value that I spotted her skill calling out amid the junk and clutter of the shop.

 

[Imdanny]

I don't know anything about art collecting but maybe (maybe) there are licensed appraisers. I think if it were me I'd want to know the truth even if I wasn't going to sell it.

 

[dragonfly411]

Kenny
You might contact the Columbia Museum of art and The Morris Museum of art. Both house watercolors by Nell Jones, though neither of the water colors are shown on their collection pages. They might be able to offer some insight as to whether this is her work. Morris houses many of her oil paintings as well.

If Admin will give you my email address (With full permission) I will send you the name of a private collector who also has several of her watercolors, who has a Bachelor of Arts from Clemson. He also might have further information.

 

[partgypsy]

I love a mystery like that.

My grandfather was a commercial artist (paper ads) but he had done a number of watercolors, in particular of buildings (probably Chicago) and a series of postcards when he was stationed in the Phillipines in WWII. I would have loved to have some of those, but unfortunately were lost when my grandmother died (he died first). I'm thinking maybe someday I'll run across them.

 

[partgypsy]

Totally off topic, but someone found some of my grandfather's advertising materials, was curious about them and wrote a blog article about it!
http://parenthetically.blogspot.com/2010/03/housecleaning.html

 

[Tuckins1]

Isn't that lovely?

 

[iLander]

I love the bucolic watercolor scenes, especially with a cottage and a road, which is a very prevalent theme of these "ladies' diversions". Some can be done very poorly, but yours is a well-done, good example of the genre. I suspect it's worth quite a bit more than you paid for it.

These lovely watercolors can still be had for relatively little, and are just lovely to collect. I have one myself, and framed it with a $20 period gilt frame from Goodwill (THE place to buy frames, IMHO).

There are also quite a few etchings out there with similar bucolic themes; farm scenes, landscapes. I have a couple of those, I guess this was the men's diversion at the time? Or possibly just the "right" selection for the den? I find it an interesting reaction to the industrial revolution that everyone wanted to return to the farm life that their parents couldn't wait to get away from.

I hope you chose UV glass, I lost one of my etchings to a sunny window in under 6 months (wanna see my etchings? )!

I also like the hand-painted limoges vases, trinket boxes, etc., that were also a popular ladies' diversion of the time.

 

[Blackpaw]

Its beautiful Kenny, im decorating a living room around it in my head right now

 

[yennyfire]

How neat Kenny. It would be so cool (a la Antiques Roadshow) to purchase a piece that you love, with no real notion of the artist/value, only to find out that the artist was someone well respected/admired in their field. If you take dragonfly up on her offer and do find out some more info, I hope you'll share it with us!

 

[kenny]

Kenny
You might contact the Columbia Museum of art and The Morris Museum of art. Both house watercolors by Nell Jones, though neither of the water colors are shown on their collection pages. They might be able to offer some insight as to whether this is her work. Morris houses many of her oil paintings as well.

If Admin will give you my email address (With full permission) I will send you the name of a private collector who also has several of her watercolors, who has a Bachelor of Arts from Clemson. He also might have further information.

Thanks so much.
I'll try to get in touch.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Thats beautiful!

 

[HollyS]

Beautiful watercolor!

Sounds like the perfect item to take to the next "Antiques Roadshow" in your area. Then they can tell you, for free (or the price of a ticket anyway) what this pretty picture is worth.

You never know. Just like DaVinci's pencil sketches, if early works of hers are fairly rare, you might have something worth much more than you think.

Regardless, I would consider it a gem of a find.