GUEST: In Columbus, where I live, I had went to a guy that I knew that dealt with art. I was looking for some Black artists and some pieces. So he told me about this lady, and I guess he impressed me, because he said that Oprah had one of her paintings, so... And then I liked the scene. It reminded me of the '50s, the '60s, like that. I used to travel with my mother, so...
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: Kind of spoke to me.
APPRAISER: So what's the name of the artist?
GUEST: Helen la France.
APPRAISER: And how long ago did you buy this painting?
GUEST: I bought this about 2015, something like that, or '14.
APPRAISER: Well, Helen La France was born in Kentucky, and she didn't have any formal training as an artist.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: And didn't begin painting full-time until she was in her mid-to-late 60s.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: And she lived to be 101 years old.
GUEST: Oh. (chuckles)
APPRAISER: So she got a late start, but she did a lot of good work.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: She also did quilts.
GUEST: Hm.
APPRAISER: This is an oil painting on canvas. She called these memory paintings. She did paintings of scenes that she remembered from her life as someone living in rural Kentucky. She did a lot of scenes where there were churches and gatherings outside of churches.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: They're just sort of a naïve style of very simple, big blocks of color, but really nice, relatable pictures of life as she remembered it...
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: ...growing up in the rural South.
GUEST: Yeah. That's the feeling you get, kind of get from it.
APPRAISER: My guess is that this painting was probably done in the early 2000s? There was a documentary made on her a few years ago.
GUEST: Hm.
APPRAISER: Which I think brought her into greater prominence. And there are a number of big collectors, as well as museums, that have collected her work in the last few years, and there's been a lot of attention given to some of these artists who were very talented, but sort of overlooked during their lifetime.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: She passed away in 2020, and since her death, the prices of the work have gone up noticeably.
GUEST: Oh, yeah.
APPRAISER: Which often happens when...
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: When an artist passes away, and...
GUEST: Sad thing, but...
APPRAISER: Being in Oprah's collection probably didn't...
GUEST (chuckles): Right.
APPRAISER: ...didn't hurt, so, um... Do you mind telling me what you paid?
GUEST: Well, I have this one and another one. I think this one I paid $1,300 for. And the other one, I think I paid $1,500.
APPRAISER: If this piece were to be at auction, I think that the value would probably be $8,000 to $10,000.
GUEST: Wow. (chuckling): Okay, okay! Good deal. Whew, and I have two of them. (chuckles)
