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...
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,...
Christina Quarles, Simone Leigh, and Jennifer Packer Set Soaring New Records at Sotheby’s New Now Evening Auction, Kerry James Marshall Painting is Top Lot
INTRODUCED AS A COMPLEMENT to Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction, the New Now Evening Auction is distinguished by its currency. The auction “focuses on the art of our time, offering the most exciting, cutting-edge works on the market.” The second edition of the sale was an attention getter with works by women representing more than...
3 Body Prints by David Hammons, Privately Owned for Nearly Half a Century, Hitting Auction Block at Sotheby’s
NEXT WEEK, Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction will feature 28 premium art works, including three body prints by David Hammons. For about a decade, from the late 1960s to late 70s, Hammons used grease, pigment, and his own body to create the unique, signature works. All three of the untitled monoprints up for auction were...
Latest News in Black Art: Veronica Ryan and Ingrid Pollard Make Turner Prize Shortlist, Major Kerry James Marshall Painting Headed to Auction, Museum Surveys of Sam Gilliam and Frank Bowling Coming Soon & More
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Veronica Ryan is one of four artists shortlisted for the 2022 Turner Prize. | © Veronica Ryan. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert Awards & Honors On April 12, Tate Liverpool...
Evening Rhapsody: Norman Lewis Painting Owned by Playwright Lynn Nottage Sells for Near-Record $1.7 Million at Sotheby’s
TO THE EAR, the title “Evening Rhapsody” (1955) sounds like a jazz tune. To the eye, it is clear the work is in fact a painting by Norman Lewis (1909-1979), the Abstract Expressionist who was deeply influenced by jazz. Muted tones of golden yellow, grass green, and brick red mingle with one another in...
Lucas Museum Acquires Robert Colescott’s ‘George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware’ Painting for Record-Smashing $15.3 Million From Sotheby’s Auction
A PROFOUND AND PROVOCATIVE parody of American history painting by Robert Colescott (1925-2009) was acquired yesterday by the forthcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. “George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware: Page from an American History Textbook” (1975) sold for a record-breaking $15.3 million at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction in New...
Auction Records: Paintings Derrick Adams and Jammie Holmes Establish New Benchmarks at Christie’s, Works by Titus Kaphar and Henry Taylor Also Sold
CHRISTIE’S HOSTED A LIVE Post-War to Present auction this week, setting four artist records for Derrick Adams, Elaine de Kooning, Jammie Holmes, and Lucas Samaras. Two figurative paintings set new benchmarks for Adams and Holmes. The second lot in the auction, “Figure in the Urban Landscape 31” (2019) by Adams doubled expectations. The two-figure...
The Week in Black Art, Feb. 8-14, 2021: Alexis Johnson Takes Senior Role at Paula Cooper Gallery, Cummer Museum Appoints 4 Black Board Members, April Bey Now Repped by Gavlak Gallery
“Portrait of a Mother and Daughter” (1841) by Robert S. Duncanson. | Hammonds House Museum This post will be updated throughout the week Feb. 13, 2021 Oldest Robert Duncanson Painting The inauguration of President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris brought renewed attention to 19th century artist Robert S. Duncanson...
Eclipsing $4 Million, Barkley L. Hendricks Painting ‘Mr. Johnson (Sammy From Miami)’ Sets New Auction Record at Sotheby’s
A RECORD BREAKER opened the Impressionist, Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale conducted by Sotheby’s New York last week. The first lot was a 1972 portrait by Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017). His subject in “Mr. Johnson (Sammy From Miami)” wears a football jersey and a red visor atop a vertically impressive afro. He’s holding...
Auction Record: Betye Saar’s Mixed-Media Meditation on Black Education Sells for Nearly $82,000 at Sotheby’s
AN ASSEMBLAGE WORK by Betye Saar set a new artist record at auction recently. “ABCD Education” (2001) sold for $81,900 at an online sale hosted by Sotheby’s. The result was nearly three times the high estimate ($20,000-$30,000) setting a new benchmark. Saar’s work can be read as a meditation on Black education that comments...
Auction Results: Sotheby’s Evening Sale Featured Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Kerry James Marshall, and Jordan Casteel, Acclaimed Painters Who Focus on the Figure
WORKS BY THREE BLACK ARTISTS, who are among the most critically recognized painters focused on figuration and Black subjects, were featured in Sotheby’s latest Contemporary Art Evening Auction, held on Oct. 28 in New York. The sale included 41 lots showcasing premium artworks by highly regarded artists. “Barbershop” by Jordan Casteel opened the auction....
Decade After Portrait by Barkley L. Hendricks Sold for $48,000 at Swann Auction, Sotheby’s is Asking More Than $2 Million
A PAINTING MADE 45 YEARS AGO by Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017) is being offered next week at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Auction in New York. “Jackie Sha-La-La (Jackie Cameron)” (1975) is a seated portrait of a female subject. The painting sold for $48,000 (fees included) at Swann Auction Galleries in 2010. A decade later,...
Contemporary Curated: Works by Kerry James Marshall and Barkley L. Hendricks Top Sotheby’s Sale, New Auction Records for Titus Kaphar, Romare Bearden, Simone Leigh
WORKS BY AN ECLECTIC MIX of artists were offered at Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated auction on Oct. 2 in New York. Important figures from the second half of the 20th century were featured alongside today’s most critically recognized contemporary artists. Five African American artists were ranked among the 10 top-10 highest-priced works by Kerry James...
Kerry James Marshall Painting Goes For Nearly $18.5 Million at Sotheby’s, Second-Highest Price at Auction for a Work by a Living African American Artist
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...
Sotheby’s Contemporary Sales in New York Yielded Records for Kevin Beasley, McArthur Binion, Michael Ray Charles, Charles Gaines, Rashid Johnson, and Alma Thomas
SOTHEBY’S ANNOUNCED LAST WEEK that it was being acquired by French-Israeli telecommunications billionaire Patrick Drahi in a $3.7 billion deal. The purchase would take the publicly traded auction house private, again, after 31 years on the New York Stock Exchange. (Other major auction houses are privately held, including Christie’s, its chief rival, Phillips, and...
‘Selective Histories’ by Toyin Ojih Odutola Set Auction Record in London, Forthcoming Lot in New York May Surpass Benchmark
SOTHEBY’S RECENT Contemporary Art Evening Auction in London featured 65 lots. Only 13 of the works were by women artists, but the representation was a milestone. According to Sotheby’s, it was the highest proportion of works by women the auction house has ever offered in an evening sale. Each season, the evening sale is...
Artist Record: ‘Special Checking’ by Jack Whitten Sells for $2.6 Million at Sotheby’s
A DRAMATIC AND TRANSFIXING painting by Jack Whitten (1939-2018) set a new artist record at Sotheby’s on Friday. Whitten’s “Special Checking” (1974) sold for for $2,660,000 including fees. (The hammer price was $2.2 million.) Given Sotheby’s set the estimate for the painting at $300,000-$500,000, the sales price was about five times the high estimate....
Soaring Past $7 Million, ‘Untitled (Painter)’ by Kerry James Marshall is Top Seller at Sotheby’s New York
A ROUND OF APPLAUSE emerged from the auction floor Friday afternoon when “Untitled (Painter)” by Kerry James Marshall sold for well beyond its estimate. The 2008 painting, a portrait of a distinguished black painter in her studio, was estimated by Sotheby’s to sell for $1.8 to $2.5 million. When bidding concluded, the hammer price...
Crushing Decade-Old Auction Record, ‘The Businessmen’ by Jacob Lawrence Soars to $6.1 Million, Placing Him Among the Most Expensive African American Artists
BEST KNOWN FOR HIS HISTORY PAINTING—multi-panel series about Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and the Great Migration, among many others—artist Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) has made auction history. “The Businessmen,” a 1947 painting by Lawrence sold for more than $6.1 million (including fees) last night at Sotheby’s New York. The price far exceeded the estimate which...
