1936 Frank E. Schoonover Illustration
Appraised Value:
$20,000 - $75,000
IMAGE: 1 of 1
Appraisal Video:
Appraised By:
Colleene Fesko
Paintings & Drawings
Vice President & Director, American and European Paintings and Prints
Skinner, Inc.
Appraisal Transcript:
GUEST: Mr. Schoonover gave this to my mother in the... during the Second World War. She typed something that he had seen in a magazine about a baby that he wanted a copy of, and she typed it for him, and he gave her the painting.
APPRAISER: So this was a gift.
GUEST: A gift. It was a gift. I knew I shouldn't have thrown away my typewriter. Darn.
APPRAISER: Frank Schoonover was born in late 19th century-- and New Jersey in fact-- and studied with the great, great father of American illustration, Howard Pyle. And early on, he became quite successful doing covers for magazines and books and illustrations for stories and magazine stories. And this is a wonderful example of his work. One of the things that sets Schoonover apart from some of the other American illustrators was that he liked action and activity, and liked to go on location for some of his illustrations. And a lot of them are really very full and active and just very, very exciting pieces. This was in fact an illustration for a story in Country Gentleman Magazine, I believe, from 1936. "Path of Empire" was the title of the story. It's a... it's a wonderful illustration. The illustration market is very strong right now, and Frank Schoonover is widely considered to be a great master of American illustration. I would perhaps even conservatively estimate it at auction between $20,000 and $40,000.
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: Yes. Yes.
GUEST: Wow! But it means so much to us, I don't think we would ever get rid of it.
APPRAISER: Well, in that case, again, easily, and perhaps conservatively, I would say an insurance value of $75,000.
GUEST: Oh, great.
APPRAISER: Thank you.
