GUEST: All I know is that my grandparents bought it about 1959. I think they bought it maybe in New York City. They traveled a lot. It was a big deal. They paid a lot of money for it, supposedly. I don't know how much. They had a party to show it off to their friends. And then when they passed away, it went to my aunt. She had it appraised sometime, maybe ten, 15 years ago, and was either told that it was a fake or it wasn't worth anything. And so then my dad had it, and then he gave it to me.
APPRAISER: The painting is by the Vietnamese artist Le Pho. And we can see his signature and chop, lower right. What's interesting about him is that he was born in 1907 in Hanoi, but had a very cosmopolitan life and education. He first studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Hanoi, and then later at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he became friends with Matisse, which is interesting when you look at the painting.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: While he was cosmopolitan, he never gave up an Asian sensibility of flowers and delicate interiors and beautiful washes of color. So his style really was a combination of Asian stylings and Western... almost post-Impressionism. So it's a beautiful style. His subject matter is exactly what we have here, is beautiful, elegant women in an interior with the beautiful floral still lifes. What's interesting to me about the idea that it wasn't right is perhaps the medium of the piece, because a lot of Le Pho's later pieces were oil on canvas. His early ones, of which I believe this to be an example, were painted on silk.
GUEST: Oh, really?
APPRAISER: Yes, which is in itself a very Asian medium. So I think probably the confusion that arose from the piece was that it wasn't on the expected medium.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Because to my eye and opinion, I believe the painting to be by the artist. The piece was acquired in 1959, and my sense is that it was probably painted circa that era.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: In terms of his market, in the '40s, '50s and '60s, there wasn't a great demand for his work. They were selling for a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. With the Asian economy exploding as it has, his work has also become more popular.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: So it's a very interesting combination of Asian art, Western art, and a burgeoning market. Given that, I would be estimating the painting at between $25,000 and $30,000 at auction.
GUEST: Thanks, Dad.
APPRAISER: Thanks, Dad.
GUEST: Thanks, Dad.
