Posted on 09/22/2023 8:57:31 AM PDT by Red Badger
If you want these happy little trees, you’ll need a lot of green. Beloved TV artist Bob Ross’s first-ever on-air painting is up for sale and costs almost $10 million.
The late host of PBS’s “The Joy of Painting” became massively popular for his friendly, calm demeanor and his insistence that anyone can become an artist. Now Modern Artifact Gallery in Minneapolis is selling “A Walk in the Woods,” the first of over 400 paintings Ross made on the show. Ross painted it for the premiere episode which aired on January 11, 1983.
“It is season one, episode one of what you would call the rookie card for Bob Ross,” gallery owner Ryan Nelson said of the work, per The Guardian. Nelson added that he doesn’t expect the work to sell quickly because of the cost.
“What this piece represents is the people’s artist,” the gallery owner continued. “This isn’t an institution that’s telling you that Bob Ross is great. It’s not some high-brow gallery telling you that Bob Ross is great. This is the masses, the population in the world that are saying that Bob Ross is great.”
“A Walk in the Woods” was originally sold for an undisclosed amount to a volunteer to raise funds for the local PBS station. The painting was displayed in her home for almost four decades before she contacted Nelson about purchasing it. He bought it last year, then gave it the “not for sale” price of $9.89 million, the outlet noted.
“Ryan would prefer to take [the painting] out, tour it around to museums and things like that so people can enjoy it and appreciate it,” Nelson’s publicist said. “He will take offers but he’s not in a hurry to sell it.”
Ross, who died in 1995, had a passion for removing pretentious attitudes from the art world. As he said in the first episode, “We have avoided painting for so long because I think all of our lives we’ve been told that you have to go to school half your life, maybe even have to be blessed by Michelangelo at birth, to ever be able to paint a picture. And here, we want to show you that that’s not true. That you can paint a picture.”
IMHO the memes of Bob Ross are better than the paintings.
LOL- good meme- about what they are worth- good for motel wall hangers to maybe brighten up a room a bit, but not for serious collectors-
Ross painting goes “on sale” for $9.8 mill? Wow- Guess it pays to be a hack artistically- his painting ‘technique’ (if you can call it that) appealed to amateurs who wanted to try their hand at it but id have to say his paintings were far from professional quality-
I guess the appeal of “The First on air painting” is what the draw is about, but in the art world, i wouldn’t put it past them to value his other paintings highly as well- the art world is weird-
He certainly has fame but not known as a great artist, I see no chance myself.
Isn’t that an NFT asset?
LOL
Their.
Now that’s funny.
Something is worth only what someone else will give you for it.........................
Maybe Hunter Biden can up his price tag ( reminds me of that famous line of P.T.Barnum)
Wasn’t Ross in the military before he became a painter?
Bill Alexander, with his almighty brush, was way better.
Art is in the eye of the beholder. Bob’s work is pretty good. Better than most modern trash.
Bob Ross is loved by the masses, not the elite. Both situations can lead to high auction prices, depending on details. But the rest of his work won’t go for that.
Yes. Drill sergeant. Screamed at people for a living.
Air force. He talked about it on the show.
Ross’ work wasn’t about Great Art, it was about the value of access to something artistic for the average person to do. Being able to sing, draw, dance or act at a humble community level is part of what keeps us human. Folk art is important art. Not for its end product, but for its process. It uses different parts of our brains, and that is healthy. It reminds us that we can, indeed, make something from nothing, and we need people who believe they can make things happen. It covers that spot on the wall where Jeffrey threw up that time after he ate all the guacamole and prunes. We need that spot covered.
Yes. I know about folk art. In fact if I buy another guitar my wife says she’ll bean me with it.
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