Posted on 09/16/2023 4:48:24 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Walk in the Woods (1983), the painting completed on air during the first episode of Bob Ross’s landmark television show The Joy of Painting has come to market, The Art Newspaper reported Thursday.
They say that memories are priceless. However, anyone interested in reliving the first episode of The Joy of Painting via A Walk in the Woods is going to have to shell out a hefty sum: Modern Artifact, the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based gallery selling the canvas, has priced it at $9.85 million.
The gallery understands that this figure might seem outlandish to some, but that may be the point. The gallery says that while it will entertain offers “they would prefer to share it with a museum or traveling exhibit to allow as many people as possible to view such an exciting work of art.”
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In a statement, gallery owner Ryan Nelson wrote about Ross’s singular place in art and cultural history. “Bob Ross has surpassed Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso as the internet’s most searched for artist according to data from Google Analytics,” he said. “It’s an incredibly impressive feat, especially considering that there is virtually no official marketing, and his original paintings are nearly impossible to find.”
Ross has become a crossover star of sorts, and The Joy of Painting has captured the attention of an internet-bred generation in search of calm in the SEO storm. In 2015, the Amazon-owned video game streaming site Twitch held a Bob Ross marathon and stearmed all 403 episodes of the show. When it was all over, Twitch claimed that 5.6 million unique viewers tuned in.
Then, of course, there was the Netflix documentary Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed in 2021 and the Bob Ross-inspired Owen Wilson flick Paint.
A Walk in the Woods is just one of the close to 30,000 paintings Ross is said to have created in his lifetime and over 1,000 for his television show. The works rarely come to auction, despite the fact that Ross often created three versions for every episode of his instructional show: the first one as a reference for the second, which was created on air, and a third more detailed work that was included in his instructional books. The works were often donated to the Smithsonian Museum, to various PBS member stations, or kept by Bob Ross, Inc.
This particular painting was owned by a woman who volunteered at the station where Ross recorded his famous television show, who won it at an auction to support the station.
“The appeal of Bob Ross has extended far beyond the traditional art market and into the world of pop culture. The Bob Ross hype is a rare glimmer of authenticity in a fine art market that is often tightly controlled and highly manipulated,” Nelson said in a statement.
Ross died in 1995 due to complications from lymphoma.
You just KNEW that Bob’s estate was going to rake in the big bucks after he passed.
So glad they’re still airing his shows. So relaxing to watch. He was the first ‘ASMR’ program, don’t you think? ;)
Clouds. Mountains. Trees. Strange strange big hair. Ten minutes.
Painting looks very much like a landscape I purchased for about 100 dollars.
What the Kowalskis did is disgusting.
You paid too much.
Unfortunately his family got screwed after his death by the K’s.
Explain. Don’t know the backstory.
Bill Alexander did it first!
The Kowalskis are Ross’ former business partners Annette and Walt Kowalski. They took over his estate and battled against Ross’ own family for control of his assets and reputation.
In his will and testament Bob left his estate and the rights to his name and likeness to his son Steve and his half-brother Jimmie Cox, but the Kowalskis countered this. They claimed that Ross’ life work was owned by them. A lawsuit ensued and the Kowalskis won.
Annette and Walt Kowalski retired in 2012 and handed over the reins of Bob Ross Inc. to their daughter Joan Kowalski, who started to market the Bob Ross name away from just paint products. The documentary ends by revealing that “despite Bob’s intentions, Steve has not received any of the profits” from the company to date.
How did they win, if it was against his stated will?
That’s too bad. :(
> So relaxing to watch. <
Yes. You might find this interesting. It explains why Ross was so calm.
Ross was a sergeant in the Air Force. From Wikipedia:
Having held military positions that required him to act tough and mean, “the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work”, Ross decided he would not raise his voice when he left the military.
I can’t say the same, LOL!
Beau has heard more than once, ‘Don’t MAKE ME use my Drill Sergeant Voice!’ ;)
It does come in handy when calling in the cows or the dogs, though. :)
I don’t know the specifics.
There was a great documentary on Netflix (yea…I know).
The Kowalskis strike me as sharks while the son etc were harmless sea critters. Yes, I’m sure it was filmed to come across that way. But my “slime ball” radar was going off bigly.
Happy little trees.
That’s horrible.
My kids watched Bob Ross all the time as kids. They loved him. It’s awful that the Kowalskis fought his family, and even worse that they prevailed.
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