Auction Record: With a ‘Symbolic’ Canvas, Henry Taylor Achieves a New Benchmark at Christie’s London
Lot 207: HENRY TAYLOR, “Untitled (Symbol),” 2007 (oil on canvas). | Estimate £30,000-£50,000 / $39,210-$65,350. Sold for £230,750 / $301,590 (including fees) RECORD OVER THE PAST SEVERAL AUCTION SEASONS, paintings by Henry Taylor have been selling at steadily increasing prices, regularly setting incremental new records for the artist. Another benchmark was set on Oct....
Hurvin Anderson Paintings Attract Record-Breaking Interest at London Auctions
Lot 18: HURVIN ANDERSON, “Country Club: Chicken Wire,” 2008 (oil on canvas). | Estimate $700,000-$1 million. Sold for $3,461,916 / £2,648,750 (including fees) RECORD OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS, paintings by Hurvin Anderson were featured at Phillips, Sotheby’s, and Christie’s London auctions. The lots garnered record-breaking interest. On Oct. 6, Phillips sold “Peter’s...
Auction Record: At Phillips London, Barbershop Painting by Hurvin Anderson Soars to Nearly $2.4 Million
Lot 6: HURVIN ANDERSON, “Peter’s Series: Back,” 2008 (oil on canvas). Estimate £600,000-£900,000. Sold for £1,809,000 / $2,387,880 (including fees) RECORD A MAJOR PAINTING by Hurvin Anderson, a finalist for the 2017 Turner Prize, sold for nearly $2.4 million (including fees) at Phillips London last night. “Peter’s Series: Back” (2008) is an important work...
Auction Results: Painting is Alive and Well at Latest Swann African-American Fine Art Sale
“Flight Into Egypt” (circa 1910) by Henry O. Tanner BUYERS AT THURSDAY’S African-American Fine Art auction at Swann Auction Galleries in New York expressed significant interest in modern and contemporary painting. There was a broad selection to choose from with multiple offerings by celebrated painters Ed Clark, Beauford Delaney, Sam Gilliam, Lois Mailou Jones,...
Oct. 3: Culture Type Joins Swann Auction Galleries for a Discussion About ‘New Voices in African American Fine Art’
From left, Robert E. Holmes, Victoria Valentine, Nigel Freeman. BEYOND THE INCONTROVERTIBLE INFLUENCE and authority of curators and scholars, professionals from a variety of backgrounds are playing increasingly important roles in preserving art and culture. To explore this phenomenon, Culture Type is joining Swann Auction Galleries for an Oct. 3 discussion about “New Voices...
Mixed Media: $2 Million Flag by David Hammons is a Work of Art, Political Statement, and Art World Commodity
Lot 2: DAVID HAMMONS, “African-American Flag,” 1990 (dyed cotton, edition of 5). | Estimate $700,000-$1,000,000. Sold for $2,050,000 (including fees) NEARLY THREE DECADES AGO, David Hammons hoisted his newly created red, black, and green “African-American Flag” (1990) above Museum Overholland. He was participating in “Black USA,” a group show organized by Christiaan Braun, director...
May Contemporary Auctions Feature 4 Works by Henry Taylor, 2 ‘Couch’ Paintings Far Exceed Expectations
Sotheby’s New York Contemporary Art Day Auction, May 19, 2017 – Lot 416: HENRY TAYLOR, “Miss Kelley,” 2010 (acrylic on canvas). | Estimate $50,000-$70,000. Sold for $231,250 (including fees) THIS MONTH, FOUR PAINTINGS by Henry Taylor were auctioned at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York. As recognition of Taylor increases—his work is displayed prominently...
Henry Taylor’s Portrait of Black Panther Bobby Hutton is a Record Setter
Lot 75: HENRY TAYLOR, “‘The Young, the Brave, Bobby Hutton’ R.I.P. Oakland, California,” 2007 (acrylic, charcoal and graphite on canvas). Estimate $35,000-$45,000. Sold for $235,500 (including fees) IN MARCH, TWO PAINTINGS by Henry Taylor set artist records at auction. A couple of weeks after Henry Taylor‘s 2011 painting “Terri Philips” sold for $182,078 (including...
Basquiat’s Moment: Record-Shattering $110.5 Million Painting is Most Expensive Ever by an American Artist Sold at Auction
Lot 24: JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988), “Untitled,” 1982 (acrylic, spray paint and oilstick on canvas, 72 1/8 x 68 1/8 inches). | Bids began at $57 million. Sold for $110,487,500 (including fees) THE MOST EXPENSIVE WORK OF ART by an American artist ever sold at auction was painted by a black man. A large-scale canvas...
Sotheby’s Posthumous Sale of 3 Paintings by Barkley L. Hendricks Yields Artist Record
Lot 187: BARKLEY L. HENDRICKS, “Yocks,” 1975 (acrylic on canvas). | Estimate $300,000-$400,000. Sold for $942,500 (including fees) WEARING A GREEN LEATHER COAT with wide, white fur lapels, the “Boston-based brother” who appears in a triple portrait by Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017) was among the subjects for which the artist “felt one pose was...
5 Works by Njideka Akunyili Crosby are For Sale at This Week’s New York Art Auctions. Will They Surpass $3.1 Million Artist Record?
Christie’s New York, May 17, 2017 – Lot 64B: NJIDEKA AKUNYILI CROSBY, “I Refuse to be Invisible,” 2010 (ink, charcoal, acrylic and transfers on paper, 117 3/4 x 82 inches). | Estimate $1.5 million-$2 million. Sold for $2,647,500 (including fees) THIS EVENING, A MAJOR PAINTING by Njideka Akunyili Crosby is going on the auction...
Bringing Attention to Wide Selection African American Artists Since 2007, Swann Marks Decade of Sales with 8 Auction Records
Lot 112: ALVIN D. LOVING JR. (1935-2006), “Untitled,” 1968 (diptych of acrylic on shaped cotton canvas). | Estimate $80,000-$120,000. Sold for $130,000 / $161,000 (including fees). RECORD KNOWN FOR THEIR UNIQUE APPROACHES to abstraction, painters Alvin D. Loving Jr. (1935-2005) and Frank Bowling reached new benchmarks at Swann Auction Galleries last month. A geometric...
A ‘Passionate Experimentalist,’ Painter Phillip J. Hampton Began His Career as a Trailblazer
Lot 38: PHILLIP HAMPTON, “Untitled,” (mixed-media, watercolor and enamel on illustration board). | Estimate $2,000-$3,000. Sold for $2,000 including fees A SHORT MENTION in the May 22, 1952, edition of Jet magazine documents a historic first. The headline reads: “Missouri Art School Graduates First Negro MA.” The pathbreaker was Phillip J. Hampton (1922-2016), an...
In Response to Exponential Increase in Market Demand, Sotheby’s Announces Its First-Ever Contemporary African Art Sale
Lot 2: CHÉRI SAMBA (b. 1956), “Une Vie Ratée ( A Successful Life), 1995 (acrylic on canvas). | Estimate 20,000-30,000 pounds ($25,844-$38,766). Sold for 52,500 pounds ($67,841 including fees) SOTHEBY’S IS HOLDING ITS FIRST-EVER modern and contemporary African art sale May 16 in London. Featuring more than 60 artists from 14 countries, the selection...
Auction Results: New Records Set for Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Henry Taylor, and Alma Thomas, Compelling Works by El Anatsui Among Many Others by Black Artists Sold Too
ACROSS THE UNITED STATES and in London, auctions of post-war, modern and contemporary art were held at the end of February and early March. Records were set in Los Angeles, where an Alma Thomas painting was offered, and London where Henry Taylor and Njideka Akunyili Crosby achieved new benchmarks. Auction values for Nigerian-born, Los Angeles-based...
Njideka Akunyili Crosby Painting Sells for Record $3.1 Million at Christie’s, Nearly Three Times Her Previous High Mark
Lot 3: NJIDEKA AKUNYILI CROSBY, “The Beautyful Ones,” 2012 (acrylic, pastel, colour pencil and Xerox transfer on paper). | Estimate $488,800-$733,200. Sold for $3,075,774 (including fees). RECORD ONLY THREE WORKS by Njideka Akunyili Crosby have come to auction and they have all been record breakers. In the span of six months, sales for the...
Auction Record: Alma Thomas’s 1969 Vision of ‘Spring Flowers’ Yields More Than $300K
PAINTED NEARLY 50 YEARS AGO, Alma Thomas‘s ode to “Spring Flowers in Washington D.C.” set an artist record yesterday, topping more than $300,000 at Los Angeles Modern Auctions. Grounded in pink, the mesmerizing square canvas is a rhythmic composition of pattern and color. Nearly four hours after the Modern Art & Design Auction started...
Backstory: Half a Century Ago, a California College Student Visited Alma Thomas in Washington and Bought a Major Painting
ALMA THOMAS, “Spring Flowers in Washington D.C. (1969) is being offered at LA Modern Auctions on March 5. IN A HANDWRITTEN LETTER, Alma Thomas (1891-1978) thanked an aspiring young African American physician for sending his final payment to purchase one of her paintings. The California college student visited Thomas’s studio in 1969 and decided...
Body Prints by David Hammons Headline New York Auctions at Christie’s and Swann
A post shared by CHRISTIE'S (@christiesinc) on Feb 26, 2017 at 11:46am PST SITUATED BETWEEN “Love in the Night,” by Yayoi Kusama and John Baldessari’s “Exulting Figure (With Coins) and Witness,” a masterful body print by David Hammons is on display at Christie’s New York at Rockefeller Center. Depicting a lone figure executed...
For Netherlands-based Sam Middleton, Posthumous New York Exhibition is a Homecoming of Sorts
SAM MIDDLETON, “Jazz is Free As a Bird,” 1972 (mixed media oil and collage on board). | Courtesy GP Contemporary LAST FALL, LEAFING THROUGH the catalog for the Oct. 6, 2016, African-American Fine Art sale at Swann Auction Galleries, an abstract painting by Sam Middleton (1927-2015) stood out. Titled “Jazz Is Free As A...
