Dear Meghan,

Thank you for contacting Mearto. I will help you as much as I can with these. The calligraphy is a sort of poem, but doesn’t give me a clue to the artist’s name. I have a rough translation for you below. I apologize- my Chinese isn’t fluent, but this is the gist of the poem. It’s in traditional Chinese characters, which means it could be Chinese or Japanese (in fine art, kanji characters are often used).

The block wash backgrounds of these paintings is not something I’ve seen before in this genre. I wish I could match it to an artist; it’s so unique. As far as dating these paintings, my thoughts are that they’re 20th century. I see influences from cubism and mid-century art.

As for their Fair Market Value, I am referencing other Chinese/Japanese 20th century paintings. Works like this usually sell for between $100 and $300.

You might try to send images to an auction house to see if they can give you any more information. I think that Christie’s and Sotheby’s allow you to do that.

景毛青天鳥秋心: bright clear sky bird autumn heart

Please contact me if I can help you more with this,

Leah