Three paintings from famously chill public television legend Bob Ross sold Tuesday for more than $600,000 at auction. The paintings were the first of 30 Ross works being sold to benefit public TV stations hurt by cuts in federal funding. <\/p>\n
At the live auction at Bonhams in Los Angeles, a serene, snow vista called \u201cWinter’s Peace\u201d that Ross painted entirely during a 1993 episode of \u201cThe Joy of Painting\u201d went for $318,000 to a bidder on the phone. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor a good cause \u2014 and you get the painting,\u201d auctioneer Aaron Bastian said during the bidding. He invoked a common sentiment of Ross, who died in 1995, during a brief lull. \u201cBob would remind you that this is your world, and you can do anything you want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another painting done on a 1993 episode, a lush, green landscape called \u201cHome in the Valley,\u201d went for $229,100. A third, \u201cCliffside,\u201d sold for $114,800. <\/p>\n
The final prices include a charge for the auction house added to the final bid known as the buyer’s premium. The identities of the buyers weren’t immediately revealed. <\/p>\n
Bids for all three paintings went well past pre-auction estimates of their value, which topped out around $50,000. <\/p>\n
Three more Ross paintings will be up for auction at Bonhams in Marlborough, Massachusetts, on Jan. 27, with others to follow in New York and London. <\/p>\n
All profits are pledged to stations that use content from distributor American Public Television. <\/p>\n
Ross, a public television staple in the 1980s and ’90s, was known for his dome of hair and warm demeanor. <\/p>\n
The special sales seek to help stations in need of licensing fees that allow them to show popular programs that along with Ross’ show include \u201cAmerica’s Test Kitchen,\u201d \u201cJulia Child’s French Chef Classics,\u201d and \u201cThis Old House.\u201d Small and rural stations are particularly challenged.<\/p>\n
The stations \u201chave been the gateway for generations of viewers to discover not just Bob\u2019s gentle teaching, but the transformative power of the arts,\u201d Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc., said in a statement. <\/p>\n
As sought by the Trump Administration, Congress has eliminated $1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting, leaving about 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations.<\/p>\n
Ross died at age 52 of complications from cancer after 11 years in production with the therapeutic how-to show, \u201cThe Joy of Painting.\u201d The former Air Force drill sergeant was a sort of pioneer, known for his calm \u2014 and calming \u2014 manner and encouraging words. <\/p>\n
Ross spoke often as he worked on air about painting happy little clouds and trees, and making no mistakes, only \u201chappy accidents.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has only became more popular in the decades since his death, and his shows saw a surge in popularity during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three paintings from famously chill public television legend Bob Ross sold Tuesday for more than $600,000 at auction.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":373686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1034,1582,276,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-373685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-art-and-culture","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115536837741629805","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}