Big Eyes .....

Discussion in 'Art' started by verybrad, Dec 16, 2014.

Page 1 of 3
  1. verybrad

    verybrad Well-Known Member

    New movie about the keanes and their big eyed caricatures. I have never seen the appeal in these paintings. Will probably see the movie since it is by Tim Burton and the story is interesting. The movie may just spawn a resurgence of interest in the work .......... :rolleyes: :eek: Here is the trailer:

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1126590/
     
    verybrad, Dec 16, 2014
    #1 + Quote Reply
    spirit-of-shiloh likes this.
  2. verybrad

    verybrad Well-Known Member

    I guess you need to click on the Watch Trailer button in the above link to see it.
     
    verybrad, Dec 16, 2014
    #2 + Quote Reply
  3. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    Or go to You Tube and search Big Eyes.

    Who would've thunk there was a movie in that? I wonder if the actual paintings have any current value.
     
    moreotherstuff, Dec 16, 2014
    #3 + Quote Reply
  4. terry5732

    terry5732 Well-Known Member

    There was a lot of drug use at that time Brad
     
    terry5732, Dec 16, 2014
    #4 + Quote Reply
  5. verybrad

    verybrad Well-Known Member

    verybrad, Dec 16, 2014
    #5 + Quote Reply
  6. verybrad

    verybrad Well-Known Member

    verybrad, Dec 16, 2014
    #6 + Quote Reply
  7. verybrad

    verybrad Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]
     
    verybrad, Dec 16, 2014
    #7 + Quote Reply
    kentworld, Figtree3, Bakersgma and 1 other person like this.
  8. Bakersgma

    Bakersgma Well-Known Member

    Nice selfie, Brad. Is that new?
     
    Bakersgma, Dec 16, 2014
    #8 + Quote Reply
  9. gregsglass

    gregsglass Well-Known Member

    Hi,
    OMG as greg makes a thud sound as he hits the floor. When my first wife was preggie we were in a gallery and my wife was looking at a Kean painting. She started to cry (in that state she was always crying at something sad). The owner and his wife ran over and was trying to calm her down. She was still sniffeling but started to feel better. The owner took our names and address to put on their mailing list. Two months later a Kean painting arrived on our door step. It seems the owner contacted Mrs Kean and told her what happened. Mrs Kean send us a painting since my wife was so moved by her art work. We thanked her but never explained that anything set my wife off when she was Preggie. When we separated years later and the Big Eyes craze was over, my wife gave the painting to a rescue group. It was a little girl hugging a doll. I should have saved that and tossed all the Weller.
    greg
     
    gregsglass, Dec 16, 2014
    #9 + Quote Reply
    Bev aka thelmasstuff, spirit-of-shiloh, kentworld and 3 others like this.
  10. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    Well... if you got em, list em now.
     
    moreotherstuff, Dec 16, 2014
    #10 + Quote Reply
    Figtree3 likes this.
  11. verybrad

    verybrad Well-Known Member

    Thanks. It is from a couple Summers ago. I was going to switch to a Winter pic with snow but be we have none here yet. Didn't think it quite appropriate yet and I didn't want to tempt fate ..... LOL! Thought I would throw this out there in the interim.
     
    verybrad, Dec 16, 2014
    #11 + Quote Reply
    spirit-of-shiloh and antidiem like this.
  12. Lucille.b

    Lucille.b Well-Known Member

    Greg, what A STORY! Hope you still aren't on the floor.

    All I can say is that no one, in a million years, could have predicted this.
     
    Lucille.b, Dec 16, 2014
    #12 + Quote Reply
  13. Mill Cove Treasures

    Mill Cove Treasures Well-Known Member

    I thought I had two! Wrong artist. :rolleyes: I tried to sell these last year without any takers. I wonder if these will have more interest now just because of the movie and the eyes?

    Greg, I hope you didn't hurt yourself when you fell on the floor. You still have a great story.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Mill Cove Treasures, Dec 16, 2014
    #13 + Quote Reply
  14. gregsglass

    gregsglass Well-Known Member

    Hi All,
    I have slowly gotten up and recovered. I have lived so long that I have many regrets about tossing the things I should have kept and keeping crap. Although the crap I kept was because I loved then and still do.
    greg
     
    gregsglass, Dec 17, 2014
    #14 + Quote Reply
  15. 42Skeezix

    42Skeezix Moderator Moderator

    I woulda tossed it too, Greg.

    Did they design the figurines too? The big eyed guy with "World's Best Dad" and such.

    Is this the final act of a "bad luck comes in three" scenario?
    Way back when I did the Very first "Antiques at Carlisle" show at the Carlisle Pa. fairgrounds where one of the biggest antique automotive swap meets in the country takes place annually. They were trying to expand their scope.

    Anyway, it was a 4 day show. On the first day I sell an odd tennis racket with a knob carved on the end of the handle. I got it at a yard sale for a buck so I was more than happy with the 30 bucks I got for it. On the second day I sell a model rail road car mounted on a piece of marble. On the bottom of the marble it is marked Marklin. As I had picked it up for 10 bucks at the local flea I was thrilled to get $400 for it (I knew Marklin was blue chip.)
    Sunday morning, the last day of the show, dawns and we slowly start breaking things down. As I'm puttering about a guy walks by our booth carrying THE TENNIS RACKET I had sold earlier. I stop him and ask about the racket. He tells me all about it, how early, circa 1890-1900, how rare the "fish tail" on the handle was, and how he'd NEVER seen one made in the U.S.A.. I ask about value. He tells me he paid $500 for it but he would have paid whatever he had to to get it, it was SOOOO rare. (To little to late...I now did my research, probably around 2 grand.)

    OPPPS....oh well, that's the way it goes...

    But wait, there's more...

    The FOLLOWING week I'm out at Black Angus and Renningers in Pa. (Antiques country USA) The talk of the whole place (toy guys anyway) is this SUPER RARE MARKLIN PRESENTATION PIECE of a PROTOTYPE rail car that turned up at Carlisle. It sells at auction a couple of months later for over $3000.

    These are perhaps the two BIGGEST mistakes I've made in this game...ever.

    Wellll, one of the other things I remember about that show was a buddy of one of my booth partners stopping in for awhile. He's on the hunt for those very figurines I mentioned and any Big Eye art he can find. (this is, like, 1990) He sez we should buy all we can and stash it as it would be BIG someday. I thought "you're nuts" but held my tongue. Over the years I'd see these pieces all the time and always get a chuckle remembering that conversation, even to the point of almost buying an odd piece here or there but never quite taking the plunge. I guess I should have listened.

    So, is this that triumvirate of misfortune finally drawn to completion?
    Had I listened would I now have a valuable stash ready to cash in?
    (Nah...I could never bring myself to hoard such dreck...but still....)

    I guess that show will haunt me to the day I die.
    On a MUCH better note though I met one of my VERY BEST friends to this day at that show, and those memories easily outweigh the bad.
     
    42Skeezix, Dec 17, 2014
    #15 + Quote Reply
  16. verybrad

    verybrad Well-Known Member

    Good stories ..... Regrets we have a few......

    I have never had a chance to buy a real Keane so have no regrets to recount in that area. Have seen a bunch of the mass produced prints but, rightfully, passed them by. Made an internet acquaintance once who expressed interest in any of the Keane works. This was maybe 12 years ago or so. I remember making some snide comment and had to quickly back-track when I found he was a serious collector. Consequently, I looked into the works then and have been aware of the works and story since. I suppose I would have bought a Keane if I ran across one cheap enough but am just as thankful I never did. It would have caused me too much angst to have to ponder such a purchase. :vomit:
     
    verybrad, Dec 17, 2014
    #16 + Quote Reply
    42Skeezix and Messilane like this.
  17. Lucille.b

    Lucille.b Well-Known Member

    Brad, thanks for posting this whole business. The Big Eye phenomenon is right up my alley -- I'm drawn to certain kinds of kitsch, love observing odd trends, this whole thing is so American or something. Confession: I find myself wishing I had a Keane right now...and not for resale, gasp!

    But not just a print. I'd want an oil! In fairness, it would fit in w/my MCM living room nicely.

    I was talking about this movie and the painting prices with some girlfriends last night, thanks to this post. After hearing the back story to the art regarding the husband taking credit for the work because no one would buy art from a woman back then, the following was suggested by one of my friends. Maybe the big eyes, the sunken woeful eyes, often with tears coming down, the stray cats, the orphans, this was Keane manifesting her own angst about what was going on, not getting credit for her work, etc. Hmmm?

    Or maybe as Terry suggested, drugs.

    (And as a side note for those collectors racing out to the thrifts, it is ONLY the Keane versions that seem to be selling. Not all big-eye, just Keane.)
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2014
    Lucille.b, Dec 17, 2014
    #17 + Quote Reply
  18. Lucille.b

    Lucille.b Well-Known Member

    Just had a follow-up thought. If the movie is a dog, these prices will plummet.
     
    Lucille.b, Dec 17, 2014
    #18 + Quote Reply
  19. Mark London

    Mark London Well-Known Member

    The paintings are enjoying 15 minutes of fame. In other words now is a great time to sell em if you got em.
     
    Mark London, Dec 17, 2014
    #19 + Quote Reply
  20. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    Just from looking at the movie trailer it would seem that part of the story is the phenomena, and another considerable part about her doing the work and him taking the credit. Don't know if that's how it plays out or not.

    You can sort of imagine how the Big Eyes would fascinate Tim Burton.
     
    moreotherstuff, Dec 17, 2014
    #20 + Quote Reply
24 more messages...
Page 1 of 3
Draft saved Draft deleted
Similar Threads: Eyes
Forum Title Date
Art Need help pricing Keane Big Eyes Oct 29, 2022
Art Signature? Need some new eyes on it. Feb 10, 2021
Art Antique Leather Head of Monkey Glass black eyes Aug 1, 2020
Art ART? CARVED FROM METAL(?) SKULL w/XMAS LIGHTS OUTLINE & EYES Dec 10, 2019
Art I need some eagle eyes and a bit o luck for this one Jan 30, 2019

Share This Page