Having heard about an upcoming major motion picture “Big Eyes” in August 2014, I wondered what kind of impact it might have on this American artist’s market on Ebay. Ebay was chosen for its transparent nature.
By coincidence, a painting offered on Ebay on August 31, 2014 by Keane featuring a single “big eye” found no buyers. It is pictured below. However on November 30, 2014, once promotion of the movie began to ramp up a bit, this same painting was purchased for $8,500. Three months earlier, the same painting offered on Ebay by the same seller found no takers at $8,500.00 or best offer.
Margaret Keane born in 1927 is alive. “Big Eyes” the movie exposes her regrettable decision to allow her husband to take credit for executing Margaret’s paintings. It is a compelling story that any feminist will applaud, once she reversed that decision. Over the last few decades Margaret Keane’s standing in the erudite fine art tier of the art market was not enviable. Her work often fell into the “cute” category amongst art historians and beyond. I will continue to chart the price profile of her paintings in the months ahead out of curiosity.
Stimulation of art prices can be predictable and then sometimes it isn’t. We don’t always experience an acceleration of demand following a major museum exhibition or following the publication of a coffee table book filled with richly printed illustrations.
Corinne Cain of SavvyCollector.com
To date the painting by Margaret Keane selling for the highest price sold for Best Offer against an asking price of $14,995.00 We only know its price was greater than the tiny painting above measuring 4″ height X 5″ width (canvas size). The higher priced painting measured 24″ height X 18″ width (canvas size) and it sold on December 15, 2014.