August Franzen 1863 - 1938

[John Golden]

Has anyone heard on an artist named August Franzen? He is an American artist who lived from 1863 - 1938. I had a customer bring in a watercolor painting in an old wooden frame that had been in a house fire. The frame and glass are black with soot. The glass was cracked. I carefully took this apart and found the watercolor. It is signed and dated (1890). The painting is in pretty good shape. A few water marks probably from the extinguishing of the fire. I google searched and found that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has one of his drawings in their collection. The owner originally had asked me to have the painting restored and the frame refinished. At this point I am afraid to do anything with this. I have given the painting back to the customer and will return the frame to her tomorrow. This painting belonged to her great grandmother. Where would you send this lady to find out if she has a piece or ordinary art or a lost treasure that needs to be hanging in a museum?

 

[UTA KIRCHLECHNER]

Hi Johnny,
my thought on this is to goto the antique roadshow site and find an appraiser there. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/appraisers/index.html
Let me know if you get the results you are looking for when dealing with them. Perhaps you could take a photo of the art and frame and show it here as well.
Uta

 

[Dave]

Ask Art has information on this artist with twelve auction records:

http://www.askart.com/askart/artist.aspx?artist=25074

 

[John Golden]

Thanks for the tip Dave. Ask Art like many similar sites require a subscription fee to see auction prices. I will pass this info along to my customer...

 

[John Golden]

Uta, thanks for the tip. I have contacted one of the appraisers from the web-site you posted. I will keep everyone up to date as I learn more about this painting.

 

[TEKniques]

You could also contact staff at the museum and ask them if they have artist info. Most museums are interested not just in the art in the collection, but in the entire story behind the piece, which would include artist biography and records of other works.

When I was curator at the local museum, we occasionally undertook research of this nature.

Some (most) will charge a fee, but it is usually worth it. Our fees varied based on the amount of detail required/available and if it was for an individual or a corporation.