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Friday, December 10, 1999 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER 37 O rig in a l 1 9 th c e n tu r y a rt a t r e a so n a b le p r ic e s I have been thinking about a topic that magazine ad which showed the work of French artist Louis Aston Knight (1873would be of interest to close out the twen tieth century and it occurred to me that a 1948), a fine oil painter who did beautiful paintings of life in the late 19th century, question, albeit posed some time ago via concentrating on pastoral and country life. an e-mail, addresses an interesting issue. These high calibre paintings are available, The question was simply: "How does a and they can be had for an amazing price, person start collecting art?" since the artist passed away over 50 years The e-mail w ent on to say that the writ ago. ers had spent many years collecting a vari The thing to remember when collecting ety of reproductions and, although they still enjoyed them, they wanted to look these pieces is that most often the artists into acquiring some original pieces from weren't amateurs. They were usually high the 19th and early 20th centuries. ly trained and painted in styles that took the public flavour of the time into consid The implication was that since they had eration, as did Constable and many others. acquired more disposable income they The key point is that they were very quali were prepared to buy more "serious" art, fied and skilled and most made their livbut they felt the museums in the world had all the "good" pieces so what is a person to do? Well, I will now let the cat out o f the bag there are tons of paintings avail able to the pub lic, painted since the mid-19th century, in a variety o f loca tions. Any rep utable gallery can come up with catalogues o f these paint ings and frankly they are quite good. They may 2 0 0 0 M o d e ls n o w c not be in a muse um, but they also don't cost a m il d i s p l a y a t H e a r t h 'l a n d lion dollars. M ost o f these paintings can be had from $2,000 to $ 1 0 ,0 0 0 .1 agree it's much r / , fn m m more than the price o f a repro duction, but it's one-of-a-kind C fa rn p and you own it. 3The most Two recent Warm your exam ples I locat realistic family's hearts ed were in a pop ular decorator fire on « S a n d ila n d s Art Quest ings their entire lives by painting. Some thing that few artists can say today. Critics often point out that if they were any good, art museums would have already bought them up. Good point. However, where do you think art museums will eventually start to look since, like the rest of us, there isn't enough to go around? The other point to remember when heading down this road is that time often makes an artist into someone who is col lectible. I think everyone knows that van Gogh sold only one painting in his entire life, and that was to his brother. Consider the peels of laughter if he knew that his paint ing of the Iris's went for a cool $50 mil lion. Well, there you have it, a quest for the new millennium. Find an artist and do some research on him or her, or find art that appeals to you, then have the time of your life, after all, that's why this column is called "Art Quest" . H earth lan cL .K eep in g You C om fortab le A ll Year Long! V IE N N A G A S NEW! YEAR La -Z -B oy® ers R ecun . F riday , S aturday , S u n d a y only enjoy TREMENDOUS SAVINGS ON QUALITY FROM Contest for writers and your Home. La-Z -B oy® Sa t io n a r y S o f a s from La -Z -B oy f u r n it u r e . The Inkwell writers group, together with Bookers Book store and The O akville Beaver , invite aspiring writers and song writers o f all ages to partici pate in a comedy writing contest. Original works o f comedy should be sub mitted to Book ers Bookstore, 172 Lakeshore Rd. E. by Jan. 31st. Indicate if you are under 18 years of age. The entry fee is $5 per submis sion. Cash is pre ferred. La -Z -B oy® R e c l in in g S o fa s G U A R A N TEED OUR FROM BIGGEST F IN A N C IN G OFFER , O F T H E YEAR1, So u d W o o d B e d r o o m / D in in g R o o m S e ts R e lia b le , P ra c tic a l, B e a u tifu l NO GST g L A -Z -D O Y & ^ M B u t h u r r y in BECAUSE WHEN t h e w e e k B e g in s THIS OFFER ENDS. NO INTEREST FOR ONE YEAR' NO DOWN PAYMENT Hearthland **-- Onl y minutes from your h om e M l 319-0474 He.irtlttafttl 1 0 0 's o f M o d e l s I n S t o c k F o r C h r is t m a s D elivery ! B U R L IN G T O N P O W E R CEN TRE r ^ T Q.E.W . & BRANT ST R E E T M O (905)331-7600 P j Mon.-fri. 9:30 om-9 pm, Sat. 9:30 am-6 pm, Sun. 10 om-5 pm 5450 M a in w a y - Just w est of Bronte Park, Burlington, w w w .h e a r th la n d .c o m