GUEST: My grandfather-- who was involved with the studios back in the '20s and '30s, the Hollywood studios-- acquired it some point in time, I don't know exactly when. What I know about the artist in finding out a little research online is that he was a famous artist from Pennsylvania, moved out here to California because he had tuberculosis, so the climate was for his health. And doing his painting out in the desert, they used to do a lot of film shooting for the studios out in Palm Springs.
APPRAISER: Uh-huh.
GUEST: So from Palm Springs, obviously he's done a lot of desertscapes. Became quite popular with the Hollywood crowd and so I just assumed my grandfather knew this artist and purchased it probably from the artist directly.
APPRAISER: It's by John Frost, it's oil on canvas. He was born in 1890, and it is dated here lower right, "John Frost, 1922," as you said.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: He led a very interesting life, and unfortunately a short one-- he died in 1937.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: He-- importantly for his formation artistically-- is the son of a very famous artist himself, a well-known illustrator named Arthur B. Frost.
GUEST: Yeah, I did read that.
APPRAISER: Who was quite successful.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And Frost put him in touch with a number of artists over the course of his career, helped him get started, including the most important of the California Impressionists, a guy named Guy Rose.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Who was painting in France, in Giverny, right around the same time as Monet, initially.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And Frost actually visited him there.
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: Initiated their relationship, and both of them ended up back in southern California.
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: So Frost is sort of-- he's one step removed from the most important of the California Impressionist painters.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And he's sort of two steps away from the French Impressionists. But the interesting thing with Frost is that because his father was successful...
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: He was successful, as well. This is not the starving artist.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: You have to throw all those ideas out for him.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: He was successful, he was wealthy. There's a great review in 1926 that talks about, most of the time, he is seeing the landscape from behind a golf club or a riding crop.
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: (laughing) He is not out there painting.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: One of the other California painters that he worked with, a guy named Alson Clark, also complained about him never really working that hard.
GUEST: Interesting.
APPRAISER: He's kind of a playboy, the country club lifestyle, and so there's just not a lot of work out there.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Of the work that's out there, there's a fair amount of them that are these desert scenes.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: As you said, he's out there for his health.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: He's out there for the dry air to help with his condition. And in the market right now, in 2018, at auction, I think you could reasonably expect an estimate of $25,000 to $35,000.
GUEST: Well, that's good. Very nice.
APPRAISER: The scarcity function is really fascinating with him, because people think if there are less objects, it will be worth more. Mm-hmm. But there's a certain amount of them that have to circulate in order to have a functioning market. Okay. All of his paintings would be worth more if there were more of them.
GUEST: More paintings.
APPRAISER: He didn't sell them on the cheap, either. Why? He didn't have to.
GUEST: Oh, yeah, yeah. Right?
APPRAISER: So... Not only were they rare, they were expensive.
