Sold at Phillips Auction: Untitled Study by Alma Thomas Featured on Cover of Major Exhibition Catalog
Lot 4: ALMA THOMAS, Untitled, 1968 (acrylic on cut and stapled paper, 18 1/2 x 34 1/4 inches / 47 x 87 cm). | Estimate $250,000-$350,000. SOLD for $477,300 fees included EMPLOYING COUNTLESS DAUBS of acrylic paint, Alma Thomas produced expressive and radiant abstract works defined by rhythmic patterns and exuberant color. Inspired by...
Auction Results: New Records for Noah Davis and Antonio Obá at Sotheby’s, Major Paintings by Barkley L. Hendricks and Kerry James Marshall Went Unsold
Lot 121: NOAH DAVIS (1983-2015), “The Casting Call,” 2008 (oil and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 62 inches / 152.4 x 157.5 cm). | Estimate $1 million-$1.5 million. SOLD for $2,002,000 fees included. RECORD RESULTS WERE MIXED for exceptional works by Black artists featured in The Now & Contemporary Evening Auction at Sotheby’s New...
Lots to Watch: From the Davidson Collection, Works by Beauford Delaney, Charles White, Jacob Lawrence, and Romare Bearden Hitting Auction Block at Christie’s
Nov. 17 | Lot 20A: BEAUFORD DELANEY (1901-1979), “The Sage Black,” 1967 (oil on canvas, 35 ½ x 33 inches / 90.2 x 83.8 cm.). | Estimate $500,000-$700,000. SOLD for $1.525,000 RECORD, fees included BUILDING A COLLECTION of African American art for nearly half a century, Robert and Faye Davidson of Pasadena, Calif., acquired...
Estate of Harry Belafonte Headed to Auction at Julien’s in Los Angeles, Lots Include Art, Awards, and Civil Rights Ephemera
Lot 2: MICHAEL ESCOFFERY, Portrait of Harry Belafonte, 2012 (acrylic on canvas). Signed by Escoffery. | Estimate $400-$600. SOLD for $585 fees included CONCERT AND MOVIE POSTERS. Portraits of Harry Belafonte (1927-2023) by various artists. Signed “Belafonte at Carnegie Hall” album. Kennedy Center Honors award. Correspondence with President John F. Kennedy, President Bill Clinton,...
Swann Single-Owner African American Art Auction Features Collection of New York Lawyer, Works Acquired Directly From Artists and Black-Owned Galleries
Lot 51: SIR FRANK BOWLING, OBE RA (b. 1934), “Profile,” 2013 (acrylic on canvas with marouflage, 737 x 914 mm / 29 x 38 inches). | Estimate $50,000-$75,000. SOLD for ($32,000 Hammer Price) $40,000 fees included WORKS BY FRANK BOWLING, Norman Lewis, Alma Thomas, Beauford Delaney, Jack Whitten, and dozens more Black artists are...
Sotheby’s is Partnering With ARTNOIR and Artist Yinka Ilori, Tapped Rich Paul as ‘Curator’ and Titus Kaphar as Cover Star
Sotheby’s engages in partnerships, collaborations, and content creation to promote its international auction business. Recent projects feature Black artists and organizations, including a pop-up redesign of its London café Pride is Within My Story: Artist and Designer Yinka IIori at his Sotheby’s Cafe Pop Up. | Photo by Credit Chris McAndrew, Courtesy Sotheby’s...
Artists for Kamala: Dozens of Artists Donated Works to Auction Benefitting Harris-Walz Presidential Campaign
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a White House NCAA Sports Day event, Monday, July 22, 2024, on the South Lawn of the White House. | Official White House Photo by Oliver Contreras ARTISTS ARE COMING TOGETHER to help Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign for the presidency. Artists for Kamala announced that some of...
Auction Records: At Sotheby’s, Julie Mehretu, Barbara Chase-Riboud, and Barkley L. Hendricks Reach New Heights, Major Kerry James Marshall Painting Finds One Bidder
BLACK FEMALE ARTISTS had a great night at Sotheby’s New York. “Walkers With the Dawn and Morning” (2008), an intense storm of hazy grays by Julie Mehretu, set a historic new artist record, pushing the her high mark to more than $10.7 million. Pioneering sculptor Barbara Chase-Riboud also achieved a record result and young British...
Auction Results: Robert Colescott Painting Hits $3.9M at Christie’s 21st Century Evening Sale, New Record Set by Young British Painter Jadé Fadojutimi
Lot 10A: ROBERT COLESCOTT (1925-2009), “Eat dem Taters,” 1975 (acrylic on canvas, 59 x 79 inches / 149.9 x 200.7 cm). | Estimate $2 million-$3 million. SOLD for $3,922,000 fees included PAINTINGS BY SOME OF THE MOST PROMINENT and promising Black artists on the radar of collectors and institutions were among the offerings in...
Julie Mehretu Painting Sells for $9.3 Million, Setting Auction Record For a Work by an African-Born Artist, Also New Benchmark For Black Female Artist Living or Dead
A LARGE-SCALE, ABSTRACT, two-part painting by Julie Mehretu set a new auction record. The untitled work made in 2001 sold earlier this month in the Contemporary Evening Auction at Sotheby’s Hong Kong for more than $9.3 million (HKD 72,979,000), establishing a new high-mark for an African-born artist. Mehretu was born in Ethiopia, grew up in...
Auction Record: ‘Six Birds in the Bush’ by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Reached $3.6 Million at Sotheby’s London, Nearly Doubling Artist’s Previous High Mark
PORTRAYING A MAN who appears to have just turned his reluctant, yet penetrating gaze to the viewer, “Six Birds in the Bush” (2015) by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye set a new auction record for the British-Ghanaian artist at The Now Evening Auction at Sotheby’s London on Oct. 13. Bidding started at 850,000 pounds and blew past...
Lots to Watch: From Notable Collections, ‘Club 55’ by Ernie Barnes and Works by Artists Winfred Rembert, Betye Saar, and Melvin Edwards Up for Auction at Sotheby’s
MUSIC AND THE WAY it makes people feel and move is a recurring theme in the work of Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) and is on full display in a painting he started in 1990 and completed in 1994. “Club 55” was commissioned by Motown Records to mark the 10-year anniversary of the death of Marvin...
Lots to Watch: Works by 20th Century Pioneers Ed Clark, Norman Lewis, Peter Bradley, and Romare Bearden Featured in ‘New Now’ Auction at Phillips
Lot 23: ED CLARK, “Gray Force,” 1972 (acrylic on canvas, 83 x 111 inches / 210.8 x 281.9 cm). | Estimate $400,000-$600,000. SOLD for $380,001 fees included. No. 2 lot sale AT PHILLIPS NEW YORK, the forthcoming New Now auction features dozens of works by new and rising talents, many of them African contemporary...
Lots to Watch: Quilts by Sarah Mary Taylor and Other African American Quilters Featured in North Carolina Folk Art Auction
Rare art, fascinating objects, and significant collections can be found at local auction houses, from California to North Carolina THREE-DOZEN HANDS seemingly waving this way and that create a joyful pattern on a large, undated quilt by Sarah Mary Taylor (1916-2000) of Yazoo City, Miss. Known for her appliqué style and laying her quilts...
Lots to Watch: 400+ Items From André Leon Talley’s Estate Up for Auction in Hudson, N.Y.
Rare art, fascinating objects, and significant collections can be found at local auction houses, from California to Hudson, N.Y. A CUSTOM, BLACK SILK Ralph Rucci evening kimono worn to the Met Gala in 2003. Rhinestone-embellished NAACP t-shirts. Silver-plated serving ware previously owned by Joan Crawford. Six monogrammed L.L. Bean tote bags. Books on fashion...
Auction Record: Henry Taylor’s Epic Painting ‘From Congo to the Capital, and Black Again’ Sells For Nearly $2.5 Million
SHORTLY AFTER HE ARRIVED IN PARIS in 2007, Henry Taylor made an epic painting on a wood shipping crate panel. In a moment of inspiration, he painted a riff on Pablo Picasso’s celebrated “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907), replacing the artist’s white figures, five female nudes, with images of Black women. A comment on Picasso’s...
Culture Talk: Lisa Edmiston on Auctioning Major Artworks by Norman Lewis, Sam Gilliam, and Romare Bearden From Estate of Her Father, a Black Gallery Owner in Harlem
MAJOR PAINTINGS by Norman Lewis, Sam Gilliam, Charles Alston, Edward Bannister, and Romare Bearden are among the auction highlights at Bonhams in New York this week. The premium works by key figures of 19th and 20th century African American art represent the legacy of a family and a longstanding Black-owned gallery. Featured in the...
Depicting Black Bodies in Motion, Noel W. Anderson’s Tapestries Reinvent Images From Iconic TV Show ‘Soul Train’
NOEL W. ANDERSON, “Patsey,” (stretched tapestry, 83.3/4 x 110 inches / 213 x 279.4 cm). | From the artist’s studio WORKING PRIMARILY WITH ARCHIVAL PHOTOGRAPHS, Noel W. Anderson reproduces images of police brutality, Black masculinity, and Black love on jacquard tapestries. He reinvents and manipulates both the images and the surfaces of the textiles,...
Ernie Barnes Iconic ‘Sugar Shack’ Painting on Loan to Houston Museum One Month After Record-Shattering Auction Sale
THE VICTOR IN A FIERCE BIDDING WAR, art collector Bill Perkins paid a record-shattering $15.3 million for “The Sugar Shack” (1976) by Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) at Christie’s New York on May 12. The iconic painting was estimated to sell for about $200,000, so the staggering price made international news and brought long overdue, widespread...
Top Lot by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Portrait by Amy Sherald, and Record-Setting Painting by Reggie Burrows Hodges Factor in Most Successful Auction in Phillips History
PHILLIPS LATEST 20th Century & Contemporary Evening Sale featured 36 lots and totaled $225 million. The result, Phillips said, made it the most successful auction in the company’s history. A huge share of the auction value on May 18 in New York came from a 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988). The top lot...
