Two of my drawings done in 1964 were found in 2013 in an old, abandoned locker of a tenant who had had died quite a few years before. The locker was full of frames and paintings, dirty, dusty and bug infested.
Bernie, an elevator mechanic and art lover, who had just finished his job in that building, was allowed to take one of the paintings, knowing that all the rest would go to the trash. Amazingly, rather than chose a large, framed painting, he chose those drawings, even though they were in very bad shape, yellowed, torn and covered with bug droppings.
Only two years later did he find out that I was the artist who had done them, and got in touch with me. He found my website and bought the Ted Lindberg book PNINA GRANIRER: Portrait of an Artist, where he discovered reproductions of the drawings.
I met him much later, in 2022. It was a most emotional reunion with these works, saved by Bernie from a sure death. But I’ll never know who was the first owner and why they ended up in that storage locker.
Recently, Mike McCardell of CTV ‘s The Last Word heard the story and did a short presentation. Please watch below.