WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
An Antiques Roadshow expert was thrilled with a “special” appraisal of two paintings with a tragic ending for their creator. Expert Charlotte Riordan was present at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh to film Antiques Roadshow when she was presented with two simple yet effective paintings by Kim Tschang-yeul.
The BBC star began: “So I know that most of our production team has been praying that raindrops stay away today but I was delighted to see these two paintings of droplets of water. So thank you very much for bringing them. Can you tell me how you came by the paintings?”
The wife explained: “My brother-in-law is French and his first cousin was married to Kim, the artist. We met them when we were first married back in 1974.
“My sister said, ‘You really want to see his paintings. They’re pretty special.’ I think we probably had no money at the time but we bought two because we loved them.”
Riordan was then ready to provide plenty of background information on the artist, saying: “Kim Tschang-yeul is Korean originally and was from unified Korea, as it was at the time.
“In the north was where he was born. Sadly, he had to flee Korea during the Communist regime taking hold.
“He actually served in the military during the Korean War. Went to New York and then eventually settled in Paris which is where he began painting his raindrops.”
She did point out there was a “little bit of water damage” to one of the canvases but shared that it was actually a wet canvas in his studio which inspired him to paint droplets.
Riordan went on to comment: “I believe that’s also not uncommon for the school of Korean artists that he came from. A lot of them went in for this kind of very repetitious, obsessive kind of mark making, and it’s seen as being a kind of result of the trauma of the war that they experienced, that this was a therapy.
“This was something they used to get out of themselves, to erase traumatic memories. As we can see, the works are both signed and dated. We think 1974 in both cases which is just a couple of years after he discovered the raindrop.
“So already by this stage, he was a complete virtuoso at creating this amazing three-dimensional effect.”
Tschang-yuel mostly worked in oils on “Hessian-like canvases” as well as with wood and sand which he had glued to one of the two paintings to create a “sharp relief”.
Riordan then had some upsetting news to share, stating that Tschang-yuel had died earlier that year at the age of 91.
She commented: “He had Parkinson’s and was having to hold his hands steady by the end to paint these drops that he never stopped painting.
“He’s a very, very well-regarded artist in Korea, he’s considered one of their pre-eminent artists and his career has thrived in America and France as well.”
When questioned how much they spent on the paintings, the wife said: “We’ve talked about it and I can’t imagine we paid more than £150 each at the time.”
It was then time for the appraisal but little did the couple expect what the expert had to say, as she revealed: “This is exactly the kind of period that gets people particularly excited about his work.
“And I can say that individually, possibly the piece with the sand would be worth a bit more but they’re probably worth at auction around £80,000 to £120,000 each in the current market.
“Upwards of that potentially, I think, for the sand piece.”
The woman paused for a moment, eyes bulging, as she stated: “Wow.”
Smiling, her husband admitted: “We actually thought you was going to say £2,000.”
“Nope. Bit more than that”, Riordan replied as she added: “I’m so delighted to see them and it’s been really special having this conversation with you.”
Despite the life-changing sum, the paintings’ owner stated that the sum wasn’t going to have an effect on them.
“I love them and that’s why we have them and the value doesn’t actually change anything,” the owner reflected.
“The only problem is that we have four children and I’m not sure we can cut them in half.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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