A North Carolina artist once walked into a Goodwill store looking for inexpensive material for her own artwork and walked out with what would turn out to be a valuable piece of American abstraction.
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what → walk → abstraction
Beth Feeback paid just $9.99 for a large painting in 2012, not because she admired the artwork, but because she wanted to reuse its canvas for one of her own paintings featuring cats.
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she → pay → cats
Months later, a friend's suggestion to check the markings on the back changed the fate of the seemingly ordinary thrift-store find, according to a report by ABC News.
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suggestion → check → News
The painting turned out to be “Vertical Diamond” by Ilya Bolotowsky, a Russian-born American abstract artist whose work is held by major museums.
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work → turn → museums
It was subsequently authenticated and offered at Sotheby's in New York, where it sold for about $27,000 at auction.
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it → authenticate → auction
With the buyer's premium included, Sotheby's listed the final price as $34,375.
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Sotheby → include → 34,375
The extraordinary discovery began with a purchase that Feeback had no reason to regard as an art investment.
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Feeback → begin → investment
According to ABC News, Feeback, who lived in Concord, North Carolina, bought the painting in April 2012.
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who → accord → April
She was not particularly drawn to its abstract style.
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She → draw → style
Instead, she saw the large canvas as useful material for her own work.
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she → see → work
Her speciality was painting cat portraits, and she intended to paint over the existing artwork and create something of her own.
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she → paint → own
The painting reportedly sat on the floor of her art studio for several months.
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painting → sit → months
Then a friend urged Feeback to inspect the labels and markings on the back before putting a brush to the canvas.
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friend → urge → canvas
That small piece of advice proved crucial.
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piece → prove → advice
Feeback discovered the name Ilya Bolotowsky associated with the work and began researching the artist.
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Feeback → discover → artist
The painting was identified as “Vertical Diamond,” a geometric abstract work.
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painting → identify → Diamond
Rather than covering it with cat portraits, she decided to have it examined and pursue a sale.
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it → cover → sale
Contemporary reports said Sotheby's estimated that the painting could sell for between $15,000 and $20,000.
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painting → say → 15,000
That estimate was already dramatically higher than the $9.99 Feeback had paid, but the final result went beyond it.
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result → pay → it
When the painting went under the hammer in September 2012, Feeback watched the auction remotely with family and friends.
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Feeback → go → family
She had concerns that it might not sell at all, particularly because some other works at the auction were selling below estimates or failing to find buyers.
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works → have → buyers
Instead, the Bolotowsky painting attracted a successful bid of roughly $27,000.
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painting → attract → 27,000
Sotheby's reported the total sale price as $34,375, a figure that included the premium paid by the buyer on top of the hammer price.
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that → report → price
ABC News specifically clarified the distinction, making the $34,375 figure different from the amount Feeback actually received from the sale.
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Feeback → clarify → sale
For Feeback, the result transformed a $9.99 purchase into a significant financial windfall.
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result → transform → windfall
She told ABC News that she and her husband planned to use the money for long-delayed improvements to their home and to pay down debts.
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she → tell → debts
She also joked about the unlikely journey of the artwork: instead of painting cats over Bolotowsky's work, she planned to create her own versions inspired by “Vertical Diamond,” this time incorporating large cat heads.
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she → joke → heads
The artist behind the thrift-store discovery had a significant place in the history of American abstraction.
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artist → have → abstraction
Ilya Bolotowsky was born in St Petersburg, Russia, in 1907 and died in New York in 1981.
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Bolotowsky → bear → 1981
The Smithsonian's Archives of American Art describes him as a Russian-American abstract painter.
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Archives → describe → painter
He immigrated to the United States in 1923 and studied at the National Academy of Design.
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He → immigrate → Design
Bolotowsky became closely associated with geometric abstraction and was a founding member of the American Abstract Artists, an organisation formed to promote abstract art in the United States.
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Bolotowsky → associate → States
His work was strongly influenced by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian and the principles of geometric abstraction.
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work → influence → abstraction
His career also included work under the federal art programmes of the 1930s and teaching positions at institutions including Black Mountain College, the University of Wyoming and Brooklyn College.
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career → include → Wyoming
The Smithsonian records his involvement with the Public Works of Art Project and the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project.
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Smithsonian → record → Project
Bolotowsky's work later received institutional recognition, including a 1974 retrospective at New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, according to museum and gallery records.
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work → receive → records
“Vertical Diamond” itself is recorded as a 1966 oil-on-canvas work.
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Diamond → record → work
Art-market records identify its September 21, 2012 sale and its $34,375 result, consistent with the contemporary reports of Feeback's discovery.
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records → identify → discovery
The provenance of the painting also helped explain why such a significant work could eventually end up in a thrift store.
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work → help → store
Reports noted a Weatherspoon Art Museum sticker on the back, connecting the canvas to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro's museum.
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Reports → note → museum
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
