One afternoon last fall, Kara Spellman, a 55-year-old director of Estates and Acquisitions at Hollis Taggart Gallery, received a text message from her brother Glenn, a 58-year-old licensed appraiser and picker. The message contained a photo of a small abstract painting titled “Landscape Forms” that Glenn had found on ShopGoodwill.com. Both Kara and Glenn, who live in the same building on the Upper East Side, had a good eye for art, and they both had a feeling about this painting.
The painting, measuring 30 by 24 inches, had gestural brushwork and a color palette that felt just right. In the lower-right corner was a signature: E.H. Intrigued by the painting, they decided to do some research. They needed to consult the catalogue raisonné, the official compendium of an artist’s authenticated work, to confirm the authenticity of the painting.
Kara reached out to the Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and requested the volume by the end of the day. Miraculously, someone responded immediately and agreed to retrieve the book. Kara hurried to the museum and found the painting listed as “Landscape Forms” (1959), signed and documented, but marked as “Whereabouts Unknown.”
The painting was by the Jewish artist Eva Hesse, born in Hamburg in 1936, who escaped the Nazis as a child and eventually settled in New York. Hesse became one of the most influential figures of the postwar American avant-garde, known for her radical sculptural work in materials like latex, fiberglass, and cheesecloth. However, before her sculptural work, Hesse painted, and “Landscape Forms” was part of her early body of work created while she was an MFA student at Yale under Josef Albers.
The painting had been lost for decades until it resurfaced at a Goodwill warehouse in Frederick, Maryland. Glenn, an experienced treasure hunter and picker, recognized the painting’s potential and decided to acquire it. After partnering with Hollis Taggart Gallery, the painting underwent conservation and was shown at major art fairs. Now, it is set to be auctioned at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale with an estimated value of $60,000–$80,000.
The Spellman siblings, who grew up as bottle diggers in Ballston Spa, have been collaborating on finds for years. Glenn’s expertise as a picker and Kara’s research skills have led them to remarkable discoveries. Holding the Hesse painting for the first time was a magical moment for Glenn, who described the thrill of knowing he had found something truly special. The painting’s journey from obscurity to the auction block is a testament to the power of persistence and a keen eye for art.
