Lost Jackson Pollock painting found in a garage could be worth $15 million

[Frank Cannon]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/us/lost-jackson-pollock-painting-garage-trnd/

The story sounds like something out of a film noir brought to life.
It has every element of a good mystery: a socialite who spent her days mingling with New York's best and brightest, a lost painting found years later in an unexpected place, and -- perhaps most notably -- a potential $15 million price tag.
So when a rare Jackson Pollock painting was found in an Arizona garage, figuring out its origins wasn't just about analyzing brush strokes. Like any good mystery, uncovering the painting's history took tracking down the people behind it.

'God, that looks like a Jackson Pollock'
The mystery began with a signed L.A. Lakers poster.
When a Scottsdale, Arizona, man was headed to a retirement home, a neighbor helping with the move found the collectible in the garage and suggested contacting an auctioneer to appraise it.

Josh Levine, owner of the auction house who was called to look at the poster, estimated the signed Lakers memorabilia would be worth about $300. But when they went to the man's garage, what they found could be 50,000 times more valuable.
A collection of several modern paintings were among the man's belongings -- one of which featured an amalgamation of splatters and swirls similar to Pollock's contemporary style.
"As we're going through the stack and we're down to this last piece ... I was like, 'God, that looks like a Jackson Pollock," Levine told CNN.

The paintings seemed out of place. In a region where most homes are filled with traditional southwest art, the eccentric shapes and abstract details were "really weird," Levine said.
Levine brought the artwork back to his office, where it sat for three months. He struggled to find the link between a man from Nebraska and his little collection of modern New York art.

When Levine contacted the owner's attorney, he bridged the gap between the Arizona garage and New York's modern art scene: a half-sister, Jenifer Gordon Cosgriff.
Gordon Cosgriff, a New York socialite, was considered the "black sheep" of the family, Levine said. While the rest of the family stuck to the Midwest, Gordon Cosgriff spent her time rubbing shoulders in the 1950s with elite members of the art community on the east coast. She ran in the same social circles as notable art critic Clement Greenberg, modern artist Hazel Guggenheim McKinley ... and Jackson Pollock.

Learning about Gordon Cosgriff's history and relationships was a turning point in Levine's research. The piece that had first seemed reminiscent of Pollock's work now had a plausible connection to the artist himself.
When Gordon Cosgriff died in the '90s, her brother packed up her belongings -- including her art collection -- and put them in his garage, where they would remain until January 2016.

But it would take more to prove the painting's origins than a personal connection between Gordon Cosgriff and Pollock.
For nearly 18 months after unearthing the painting, Levine spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to authenticate the piece.
He fell down a rabbit hole of research into Gordon Cosgriff's life, poring over her letters and hiring a private investigator to help. His ultimate goal: to track Gordon Cosgriff's location down to a Pollock showing where she reasonably could have acquired the painting in question.

Once he confirmed her attendance at his showings, Levine brought forensics experts into the mix to analyze the painting itself.
"All I was interested in was, was it executed before Jackson Pollock was dead, before 1956?" Levine said.
After examining the kind of paint used, the forensics report confirmed what Levine had hoped: The painting was likely one of Pollock's missing gouaches, a specific style of painting using water and a binding agent, from around 1945 to 1949.
"I actually felt weightless," Levine said. "I was actually kind of worried I was having a panic attack or something."

The painting is heavily damaged and needs to be restored, Levine said. The darker, cream-colored swirls throughout the canvas would have originally been a brighter white.

Levine said the damage comes from the artwork spending years in a house with heavy smokers, which was not unusual for the mid-20th century when it would have resided in Gordon Cosgriff's home.
Restoration, a process that involves cleaning the painting by hand over a couple of weeks, could cost up to $50,000.
Despite the damage, Levine's rabbit hole is expected to pay off. After remaining out of the public eye for years, the untitled Pollock piece will be auctioned off on June 20.

Bidding starts at $5 million, but Levine expects the final price tag to be anywhere from $10 million to $15 million -- far surpassing the estimated $300 value of the signed Lakers poster.

[Frank Cannon]

I did moderate street drugs with this auctioneer in high school.

[skeeter]

I did moderate street drugs with this auctioneer in high school.

Looks like he kept the handkerchief you both threw up into.

[Frank Cannon]

Looks like he kept the handkerchief you both threw up into.

This makes me laugh because back in the 80's he thought he was going to be the next big music thing with his absolutely terrible heavy metal band. He had ridiculously big rocker hair. He looks mildly respectable now.

[skeeter]

This makes me laugh because back in the 80's he thought he was going to be the next big music thing with his absolutely terrible heavy metal band. He had ridiculously big rocker hair. He looks mildly respectable now.

I thought you were kidding.

He looks like he played bass. Am I right?

[bigheadfred]

What is it about that work that could possibly be worth so much?

[catfish1957]

What is it about that work that could possibly be worth so much?

Even as an art collector, I can't give a good reason why Pollock's work is worth so much.  Anyone who  says "they get it" is a lying art snobbery goblin

I think it was best captured in the early '60's in a Beverly Hillbilly episode when Ellie's chimp slops some paint on a canvas, and a pencil headed art critic finds it and calls it a masterpiece.

[bigheadfred]

I would just soon as not be traumatized by art work.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Pollock was the biggest scam "artist" in history. Maybe second biggest after this guy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Serra

[truth_seeker]

My only uncle was a career Army officer, and lifelong amateur artist, wood cafrver, photographer.

The artistic gift ran in the family. During the late 50s he did some modern art paintings which were along the Polluck lines.

[catfish1957]

Pollock was the biggest scam "artist" in history. Maybe second biggest after this guy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Serra

Not a fan either , but at least his stuff has symmetry and sense.  Pollock just slung and slopped oil against the canvas in what appears to be a random fashion.  Here is an example.

[austingirl]

My only uncle was a career Army officer, and lifelong amateur artist, wood cafrver, photographer.

The artistic gift ran in the family. During the late 50s he did some modern art paintings which were along the Polluck lines.

That looks more like a Joan Miro of the Dada school.

[ABX]

No wonder people don't understand it, he is holding the picture upside down.

[ABX]

Jackson Pollock painting generator by MIT.
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/61255222/

Simply splashes to most random fashion possible.

[catfish1957]

Pollock was the biggest scam "artist" in history. Maybe second biggest after this guy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Serra

Wish I could find one of these with original foundry marks at a garage sale....

[Suppressed]

Even as an art collector, I can't give a good reason why Pollock's work is worth so much.  Anyone who  says "they get it" is a lying art snobbery goblin

@catfish1957

I used to think the same.  In college, I had a work-study job that had me working with an illustrator who loved Pollack's work... and I gave her a birthday card with a woman feeding a kid spaghetti directly from the pan, captioned "Jackson Pollack's Mother"  (WOW, I found it online!)



But as much as I mocked his work, I knew artists I respected (i.e., not the BS type) who said there was something different about his work...something quality there.

And it turns out, nearly 20 years ago, it was confirmed that there's something mathematically different about his works, that distinguished them from imitators.  See the following...

FROM THE NOVEMBER 2001 ISSUE of Discover Magazine
Pollock's Fractals
That isn't just a lot of splattered paint on those canvases, it's good mathematics
By Jennifer Ouellette | Thursday, November 01, 2001
http://discovermagazine.com/2001/nov/featpollock

and

JANUARY 4, 2017 BY ANAE
The facts about Pollock’s fractals
https://blogs.uoregon.edu/richardtaylor/2017/01/04/the-facts-about-pollocks-fractals/

[Frank Cannon]

I thought you were kidding.

He looks like he played bass. Am I right?

I can't remember it's been so long. I know it wasn't drums and he sang. They went by the name Dracera. LOL. Effing losers.

[catfish1957]

@catfish1957



But as much as I mocked his work, I knew artists I respected (i.e., not the BS type) who said there was something different about his work...something quality there.

@Suppressed

LOL...  Fractals and Chaos.....    Guess you have to stare at the piece like these a few decades ago.     

[ABX]

@catfish1957

I used to think the same.  In college, I had a work-study job that had me working with an illustrator who loved Pollack's work... and I gave her a birthday card with a woman feeding a kid spaghetti directly from the pan, captioned "Jackson Pollack's Mother"  (WOW, I found it online!)



But as much as I mocked his work, I knew artists I respected (i.e., not the BS type) who said there was something different about his work...something quality there.

And it turns out, nearly 20 years ago, it was confirmed that there's something mathematically different about his works, that distinguished them from imitators.  See the following...

FROM THE NOVEMBER 2001 ISSUE of Discover Magazine
Pollock's Fractals
That isn't just a lot of splattered paint on those canvases, it's good mathematics
By Jennifer Ouellette | Thursday, November 01, 2001
http://discovermagazine.com/2001/nov/featpollock

and

JANUARY 4, 2017 BY ANAE
The facts about Pollock’s fractals
https://blogs.uoregon.edu/richardtaylor/2017/01/04/the-facts-about-pollocks-fractals/

I like to say, to each his own in regards to art. If it brings you joy or makes you think, to you it is art.  If not, then to you it isn't.

I don't like Pollock, frankly it gives me an anxiety attack, but I do like a lot of modern minimalist art like Piet Mondrian, something many don't like. 

[ABX]

@Suppressed

LOL...  Fractals and Chaos.....    Guess you have to stare at the piece like these a few decades ago.     

To this day I can't see the hidden image in these.

[Suppressed]

I don't like Pollock, frankly it gives me an anxiety attack, but I do like a lot of modern minimalist art like Piet Mondrian, something many don't like.

I like his early, pre-Paris stuff.

I'm trying to think of the guy who did giant paintings of just half one color and half another. 

[ABX]

I like his early, pre-Paris stuff.

I'm trying to think of the guy who did giant paintings of just half one color and half another.

Barnett Newman?

[truth_seeker]

Rolph-Scarlett

[Sighlass]

@Suppressed

LOL...  Fractals and Chaos.....    Guess you have to stare at the piece like these a few decades ago.     

I remember the first time someone tried to get me to see the hidden picture in one of those. I thought they were full of horse fertilizer. I swore it was a scam until I sat down one day and actually figured out the optical illusion trick to see the hidden picture (yours was a horse or unicorn or something like that).

But at least I got it, the modern art scene I never did figure out. Just silly painters splattering paint in my opinion.

[goatprairie]

I remember the first time someone tried to get me to see the hidden picture in one of those. I thought they were full of horse fertilizer. I swore it was a scam until I sat down one day and actually figured out the optical illusion trick to see the hidden picture (yours was a horse or unicorn or something like that).

But at least I got it, the modern art scene I never did figure out. Just silly painters splattering paint in my opinion.

About forty years ago Thomas Wolfe wrote a book about modern art called "The Painted Word."  After years of going to art galleries and viewing numerous modern "art" works, Wolfe realized he wasn't getting any pleasure out of the stuff he was viewing.
He came to the conclusion that the great majority of modern art was a scam.  There was nothing there.
Naturally, Wolfe was condemned by all the effete snobs on the art scene as being a philistine or other nasty adjectives.
I think Wolfe was correct....there is nothing there. Except, of course, a ton of money to be made by the scammers.