Painting By Highwaymen Artist Sam Newton

The painting is done on upson board. It has a damage on the boa

rd and some flakes on few areas.
Wonder if I should go to a place to restore it or sell it the way it is. Have not check yet how much it would cost for the fix.
Thanks

 

It's a nice image, but the framing looks like the type used with modern factory paintings so it might not be worth enough to have it repaired.

 

What do you mean factory painting? This one?

 

Oops, sorry, kardinalisimo. I missed that it was by a known painter. Please ignore what I said!

 

There's a Sam Newton site that includes contact info and a restoration heading:

http://samnewtongallery.com/

The problem with art like this is that if it is by one of the Florida Highwaymen, it has value... but other paintings of the same age, style and quality by others not considered part of that group are worth nothing. So far as value is concerned, it is entirely reliant on the name. As a Sam Newton this has some value. I suppose his site will give an idea of current prices (I didn't delve), and maybe an idea of the cost of restoration.

 

As a matter of fact I said the same when a saw the piece, a factory painting. I looked at it, glanced at the signature and left it. Before leaving the store, googled the name and turned around to go get it
Seems like Highwaymen art is very collectible. The early pieces even more. They were done on upson boards.
Thar is why I am asking should I go for repair or not?

 

It is a large painting, 35" x 20" without the frame. Ebay has few that sold over a thousand.
I will contact the artist to ask for to restoration cost but I am not planning to ship it to Florida. Either local restoration or sold as is.
I know, it is not fair. But fame is everything. If it was not the NY Times artical from the 90's about them, their paintings probably would not sell for more than what they use to, around $25 a piece.

 

Good luck with it... I hope it brings a good result.

 

Highwayman art is past the height of the craze here in Florida, but they are still selling. The big distinction is between pre-fame pictures and later ones. Keep it in the frame - the hand made and hand-adapted frames are part of the package. Bluntly - this is not great art that you give the best "package" possible - it's a genre collectible - you want the original "box". The damage will affect the value a bit, but probably not enough to be worth fixing - let the buyer decide that - cheers

 

I've never been to Florida, and hadn't seen or heard of the work of the Highwaymen before. From what I just read on wikipedia, their history is interesting, and I'm glad they stuck with what they were doing.

 

If you would like to private message me I know one of the surviving highwaymen. I am a big collector and have many prices by each artist. If you are near Palm beach I can get you in touch with an original highwaymen who would probably very much enjoy fixing this for you (at cost) but he will fix it the same way they have for many years.