WHEN THE HAMMER CAME DOWN at Phillips London, Mark Bradford’s “Biting the Book” sold for more than $3.8 million, a record for the Los Angeles-based artist. A large-scale, mixed-media painting created in 2013, it was featured in Bradford’s “Through the Darkest America by Truck and Tank” exhibition at the Bermondsey location of White Cube...
WHILE THE ART WORLD GATHERS IN MIAMI BEACH for Art Basel, those interested in work by African American artists should be attuned to what is happening in Chicago. Tomorrow Treadway Toomey Auctions is offering paintings, drawings, photography and sculpture by 74 black artists. The group includes well-known 20th century figures Charles Alston, Richmond Barthe,...
KERRY JAMES MARSHALL HAS JOINED the million dollar club. His 2003 painting “Vignette” sold for more than $1 million (including fees) at Christie’s on Nov. 13. It was a record for the artist, according to sales results and auction records kept by multiple sources including Blouin Art Sales Index and Iris Index. “Vignette” was Lot...
ALL THAT STANDS BETWEEN YOU and owning works by some of the most highly regarded artists practicing today is the wave of a paddle. Major auction houses are staging their fall contemporary sales this week. Works by El Anatsui, Chris Ofili, Mickalene Thomas and Glenn Ligon are up for consideration. Bidding is underway already with...
IT WAS THE FIRST LOT OF THE NIGHT, a white-on-white text painting by Glenn Ligon. Originally executed in 1990 and repainted in 2003, “Untitled (I Was Somebody)” opened Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction and sold for more than $3.9 million, according to sales results. The price was well over twice the estimate of $1 million...
BROWSING EBAY, LOTS FEATURING Hale Woodruff, Alma Thomas, Jacob Lawrence and Kara Walker appear. Better known for selling collectibles, resale designer clothing and used books and magazines, eBay is launching a live bidding product with several New York auction galleries today. An offering of African American Fine Art at Swann Galleries is the debut...
BEFORE SETTLING IN ATLANTA in 1968, Richard A. Long (1927-2013) visited Alain Locke’s home and viewed his art collection, sat for portraits in Paris with Beauford Delaney and directed the College Museum at Hampton Institute. In Atlanta, where he essentially became dean of the black arts community, Long founded the African American Studies program...
Lot 48: DAVID HAMMONS, “Moving to the Other Side,” 1969 (silkscreen on wove paper). Estimate $100,000-$150,000. Sold for $112,000 (including fees) WHEN PHILLIPS CONTEMPORARY ART AUCTION gets underway tomorrow morning, a central highlight of the show will be an early work on paper by David Hammons (b. 1943). “Moving to the Other Side,” one...
LOS ANGELES-BASED ARTIST Mark Bradford is among the 10 most expensive living West Coast artists, according to artnet News. Last year, his 2008 mixed-media collage “Mithra,” sold for more than $2.6 million at auction, a record for the artist. The impressive price earned him a No. 7 ranking among artists including Ed Ruscha, Mark Grotjahn,...
NEXT WEEK, SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES is selling African American art from the 1960s and 1970s. Paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures and mixed-media works are up for bid, with estimates for most of the 157 lots averaging $1,000-$7,000 and select offerings ranging up to five and six figures. Paintings by Barkley L. Hendricks and William T....
TODAY, AN ARTNET NEWS HEADLINE asked “Who are the Top 10 Most Expensive Women Artists?” The answer includes Julie Mehretu, the Ethiopian-born abstract painter who lives and works in New York. She ranks No. 5, earning the spot when her 2001 work “Retopistics: A Renegade Excavation” (above) sold for $4.6 million at Christie’s New...
A BASKETBALL HOOP with a frosted glass backboard adorned with lights and chandelier crystals by David Hammons sold for more than $8 million last fall. Created in 2000, the untitled work was the cover lot for Phillips Contemporary Art Evening sale on Nov. 11, 2013, and the hammer price ($8,005,000 with fees included) was...
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ART MARKET experienced a sea change seven years ago when Swann Auction Galleries began dedicating sales to African American fine art. Few auction records existed for African American artists at the time. Most sales were handled privately by galleries and dealers, making values hard to discern because prices were not disclosed to...