Four artworks by American painter Bob Ross will appear at auction in New York later this month. They will be on view at Bonhams’ newly unveiled U.S. flagship on April 22nd, ahead of their American Art auction the following day. This is the third in a series of sales that cumulatively offer 30 paintings by Ross on behalf of American Public Television, who will receive 100% of the net proceeds in support of stations nationwide.
Ross painted the four canvases either on-air during the artist’s The Joy of Painting television show, which ran from 1983 to 1994, or for his instructional books bearing the same name. The works on offer include Autumn Images (1990), Purple Mountain Range (1993), Mountain Seclusion (1990), and River’s Peace (1991), all estimated to fetch between $25,000 and $60,000. Ross executed each in his signature wet-on-wet technique, and they all depict the peaceful natural landscapes for which he was known. These paintings are all appearing on the market for the first time; they have been stored in a secured storage since they were made. Ross passed away in 1995.
The April 23rd event arrives at a promising moment for the artist’s legacy. His market continues to climb steadily, and in November of this past year, three of his works sold for a collective $662,000 at Bonhams in Los Angeles. A Bonhams sale in Boston this past January raised $1.27 million.
In an interview with local station WBUR Boston following the sales earlier this year, Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross, Inc., said “The thing about these auctions is you start sort of realizing how people feel about Bob and his paintings and they're getting it, you know what I mean?… They're understanding the work that goes into his painting."
