DeCosta’s works were highly expressive and described as “reminiscent of the grand master painters.”

GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) – She needed a frame…and that is what caught Georgie-Ann Waddell’s eye first when she saw the painting displayed in the thrift store. The frame was colorful, a unique size and was just what she needed. After purchasing it for a mere $3.49, Waddell inspected the painting it framed a little closer. The modern landscape done in oil was quite beautiful, was originally priced at $500, and had been signed by the artist – Frank DeCosta. Her historian’s curiosity peeked, Waddell decided to investigate the painting’s artist and origins, discovering it was one of DeCosta’s lost works.

Research into DeCosta revealed a highly publicized and profitable art career, with numerous articles written on his works and shows. The New York native spent time living and working on both East and West Coasts after graduating from Newark School of Fine Art and Industrial Arts and the Brooklyn Museum Art School. It was in his teens that he discovered his love for painting after being banished to the attic for punishment. It was there he discovered some lost art supplies and the rest was history. DeCosta completed his first painting at the age of 15 and sold it to his art teacher for just $2.00. His later paintings would sell for upwards of $5,000 apiece.

DeCosta’s works, often depicting mythical themes, sometimes theological, were highly expressive and described as “reminiscent of the grand master painters.” DeCosta was once quoted as saying, “I dream that one day in my tottering old age, I’ll paint at least one picture that is maybe half as good as Rembrandt’s. That is my dream.”

Delving deeper, Waddell was able to locate his daughter, Selena De Costa-Edmonds in North Carolina and add personal details to the story. DeCosta-Edmonds’ walls are covered in the works of her father – her own personal gallery in his honor. She shares that the painting which Waddell rescued had hung in a relative’s home in California that recently passed away, the painting thought lost forever. “I’m ashamed that one of his pieces ended up in a thrift store,” says DeCosta-Edmonds, but that it was fate for Waddell to discover it and “rescue his legacy”. Waddell’s interest and passion for reuniting the lost piece of work with the artist invoked an emotional response from his daughter. “Thank you so much for keeping him alive. It’s wild that you found this painting and are the type of person who wants to know more. You saw something that you knew was MORE, and there is….”

Unfortunately, the artist Frank DeCosta passed away in 2002 as he traveled through Europe arranging the sales of his work there. Intrigued and impassioned, Waddell wishes to preserve and promote his artistic legacy with the help of his daughter and dreams of returning the found painting to DeCosta-Edmonds’ personal gallery. DeCosta himself said in an interview “A great dramatic theme is a good foil for the kind of intensity that I try to arrive at in my own day at work.” No doubt DeCosta himself would approve of this poetic return home of his lost work.