LIVE SALES AT THE BIG AUCTION HOUSES have returned and at Phillips works by several black artists stood out in the results. On July 2, the Phillips New York 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale featured 25 premium lots and all found buyers. Seven black artists were represented including Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Hammons,...
ARTNOIR IS AN INVALUABLE RESOURCE for artists, and serves as a nexus for curators and cultural producers. The global collective organizes artist talks, exhibition tours, studio visits, and a variety of other experiences designed to engage and educate a new generation of creatives and collectors. ARTNOIR has partnered with museums and brands, Aperture, For...
THE LATEST AFRICAN-AMERICAN FINE ART SALE at Swann Auction Galleries was five-and-a-half hours. There were 187 lots and the high point came early on when Lot 10, a cast bronze sculpture by Richmond Barthé (1901-1989) sold for more than half a million dollars. “Feral Benga” garnered sustained interest and was bid up to about...
PROTESTING POOR WORKING CONDITIONS, Memphis sanitation workers walked off their jobs in February 1968. More than 1,300 black men went on strike. Carrying signs that declared “I Am A Man,” they demanded recognition of their union, better wages, and improved safety standards. Two months later, Martin Luther King Jr., went to Memphis to support...
AN IMPORTANT PLATFORM for artists of African descent, the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco is facing a funding shortfall and possible interruption of operations in the wake of the COVID-19 virus. To help raise funds, the museum is launching its first-ever benefit auction with Artsy. Artists, galleries, and collectors from...
LOS ANGELES was a site of inspiration and productivity for a number of artists represented in the forthcoming African-American Fine Art sale at Swann Auction Galleries in New York. (Originally planned for April 2, the auction was postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for June 4, the sale is online only.) The sale features lots...
SPRING IS A RECURRING THEME in the abstract paintings of Alma Thomas (1891-1978), who lived and worked in Washington, D.C. Her rhythmic compositions were inspired by the rustling leaves on the Holly Tree outside the bay window in the front room of her home. Thomas also visited the National Arboretum to “get impressions,” as...
A CAPTIVATING AND MYSTERIOUS SCENE painted by Noah Davis (1983-2015) attracted a whirlwind of bids yesterday. “In Search of Gallerius Maximumianus” (2009) far exceeded expectations ($60,000-$80,000) and sold for $400,000, fees included. The price was five times the high estimate and established a new artist record. Set March 4 at Phillips New Now sale,...
AFTER HEARING HER SING HIS SONGS on national television, composer Irving Berlin (1888-1989) sent a note to Diahann Carroll. Typewritten on his personal letterhead, it was dated Feb. 7, 1968. Berlin wrote: “Dear Diahann Carroll, The way you sang those songs last night on the Tonight Show made me feel awfully good. With my...
“Mitchell’s Point, Looking Down the Columbia” (1887) by Grafton Tyler Brown A MIDWEST AUCTION HOUSE is selling more than 300 items of African Americana from the collection of art dealer Steve Turner. In addition to operating a contemporary art gallery in Los Angeles, Turner has been collecting rare objects documenting African American history since...
THE CHICAGO PUBLIC ART PROGRAM commissioned a seven-panel series of historic images by Carrie Mae Weems nearly 25 years ago. Composed of framed chromogenic prints and sandblasted text on glass, the untitled work was made in 1996-97 in an edition of three. The first set went to the Bee Branch of the Chicago Public...
IN LONDON, when Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale got underway on Feb. 12, the first lot was a serene, painterly portrait of a black woman. “Mom” (2013) by Jordan Casteel, is a portrait of Lauren Young Casteel, the artist’s mother. Expected to yield 180,000-250,000 British Pounds, the painting sold for twice the...
A RECENT PAINTING by Amoako Boafo portrays a woman with gray hair gathered on top of her head in a loose Afro puff. She’s lounging on a pool float, wearing a white one-piece bathing suit covered with a leafy lemon print. Her lips are red and a pair of sunglasses shields her eyes from...
THREE GIANTS of 20th century American art were represented in the evening auctions of contemporary art at Sotheby’s and Christie’s for the first time in November. The auction houses offer only a few dozen works in their evening auctions and the coveted slots are reserved for premier works by important artists. Significant works by...
BEFORE HE TURNED 50, Grammy award-winning music producer, entertainment mogul, and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs bought the most expensive painting by a living African American artist at auction. Earlier this month, Combs threw himself a huge 50th birthday bash and the painting, “Past Times” (1997) by Kerry James Marshall, served as a backdrop for...
AN IMAGE OF BLACK LOVE by Kerry James Marshall was highly sought this week. Nearly six-feet tall, “Vignette 19” (2014) depicts three couples captured in a park-like vignette framed with strokes of pink and a glittery heart. Offered at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction on Nov. 14 in New York, the painting was expected...
A CARVED MAHOGANY sculpture by Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) set a new artist record in New York this week. “Seated Woman” (1962) sold for $389,000 (fees included) at Swann Auction Galleries African-American Fine Art sale on Oct. 8. “Elizabeth Catlett was especially deserving of a new record, and ‘Seated Woman’ was the perfect work to...
FAMILY EXPERIENCES inspire much of Hurvin Anderson‘s work. A mix of figuration and abstraction his paintings draw on memory and often depict specific places and singular moments. Anderson’s sister emigrated to Canada from the UK. “Beaver Lake” (1998) portrays her and her child at the Alberta lake. Made early in the artist’s career, “Beaver...
PHILLIPS BEGAN the fall auction season with its New Now sale and the results yielded an artist record for Derek Fordjour. “Agency and Regulation (study)” (2016) was estimated to sell for $40,000-$60,000, and the painting more than doubled high expectations reaching $137,500 (fees included). The new benchmark was established Sept. 24 in New York....
IT’S NO SURPRISE Q-Tip is a serious record collector, given his vocation. When Gail King visited the renowned member of A Tribe Called Quest at his New Jersey home for a CBS This Morning segment, he told her he had about 9,000 records. Footage from the segment indicated Q-Tip has an interest in...