Swann Galleries spring 2024 African American Art sale will take place on Thursday, April 4, with a standout selection of house favorites from Hughie Lee-Smith, Jacob Lawrence and more, and features a special evening session to benefit the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.
The sale is led by a significant, mid-career oil painting by the great Hughie Lee-Smith—his Ball Player, 1970, a powerful painting, that epitomizes the artist’s evocative depictions of African American youth in desolate urban settings. Ball Player has been widely exhibited and was in the personal collection of the artist before being acquired by the current owners. The work is expected at $150,000 to $250,000.
Also on offer by Lee-Smith is Bather, oil on board, 1954 ($75,000-100,000), and Untitled (Study of a Woman in a Landscape), oil and pencil on canvas, 1991 ($30,000-40,000).
Lee-Smith’s figurative work is offered alongside
Kermit Oliver’s Hay Rolls, acrylic on board, 1983 ($100,000-150,000), a significant mid-career by this important Texas artist. Further works of note include a vibrant scene of a carousel from 1953 by Philadelphia artist Paul F. Keene, Jr. ($30,000-40,000), Benny Andrews’s Time for Church, oil with painted canvas, lace collage and staples on canvas, 1999 ($50,000-75,000), and Charles L. Sallée Jr.’s Swingtime, oil on canvas, 1985 ($20,000-30,000).
The house is excited to bring to auction—for the first time since 2008—a complete set of Jacob Lawrence’s masterwork in printmaking, The Legend of John Brown. With this 1977 portfolio, Lawrence translated his series of John Brown paintings into 22 stunning color screenprints. The complete portfolio comes to auction at $100,000 to $150,000.
Lot 27
NORMAN LEWIS (1917 - 1979) Tenement.
Estimate$120,000-$180,000
Lot 48
SAM GILLIAM (1933 - 2022) Untitled.
Estimate$80,000-$120,000
Lot 104
HOWARDENA PINDELL (1943 - ) Skowhegan Series: Lake Lillies for Karen.
Estimate$75,000-$100,000- Abstraction is represented by an example of the earliest abstractions by Norman Lewis with Tenement, oil on board, 1947 ($120,000-180,000), as well as Howardena Pindell with Skowhegan Series: Lake Lillies for Karen, mixed-media, 1980-81 ($75,000-100,000), and Untitled (#72), mixed-media including punched graph papers, 1975 ($30,000-50,000). Also of note is Sam Gilliam’s 1967 acrylic, dye pigments and metallic powder work on canvas ($80,000-120,000), and Alvin D. Loving, Jr.’s Wild Goose Lake, acrylic on canvas, 1981 ($25,000-35,000).
Sculpture spans from the Harlem Renaissance to the contemporary, with works by Augusta Savage, Richmond Barthé, Simone Leigh, and Wangechi Mutu. Highlights include Savage’s Head of a Young Black Man, painted plaster, 1931-35 ($35,000-50,000), and Gamin, plaster painted gold, circa 1929 ($10,000-15,000); Barthé’s Black Majesty, bronze with a brown patina, 1969 ($50,000-75,000); two glazed terracotta vessels circa 1990s by Leigh ($50,000-75,000, apiece); and a striking pair of assemblage sculptures by Wangechi Mutu—Untitled (Bottle People Series), mixed media and glass sculptures, 1997 ($20,000-30,000).
African American Art — April 4, 2024
Swann Galleries’ April 4, 2024 sale of African American Art brought crowds back to the sale room with a selection of standout modernist works alongside a contemporary selection sold to benefit the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. The auction earned $3.4 million with an 82% sell-through rate by lot. The sale established seven records and saw four market debuts.
“We are extremely pleased with the strong results of our spring sale. It is very satisfying to see a rising demand for the figurative modern and postwar masters whose auction market Swann developed; including Benny Andrews, Richmond Barthé, Aaron Douglas and Hughie Lee-Smith. The great interest we see in exceptional works by lesser artists like Paul Keene, Rose Piper and Renée Stout also demonstrates the breadth of our market.”
Nigel Freeman, Director of African American Art
Artist Records
Artist records from the top fifteen lots sold included Benny Andrews with Time for Church, oil on canvas, 1999, at $203,000; one of four surviving 1940s paintings by Rose Piper—Subway Nuns, oil on canvas, 1947—at $149,000; and Paul F. Keene, Jr. with a vibrant 1953 painting that combines modernism and the Afro-Caribbean imagery Keene encountered in Haiti, at $87,500. Additional artist records included those for Carrol Sockwell, Rene Stout, and Bernie Casey.
Auction Debuts
The sale boasted four auction debuts with Adebunmi Gbadebo, Joseph Lofton, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Dianne Smith.
Additional Highlights & Records
Additional sale highlights included print records a complete portfolio of Jacob Lawrence’s The Legend of John Brown, 1977, which brought $173,000; and Aaron Douglas’s extremely scarce proof impression woodcut of O, Lord!, circa 1926, at $100,000. Kermit Oliver’s Hay Rolls, acrylic on board, 1983, tied the previous record set by Swann at $112,000, and Hughie Lee-Smith’s Ball Player, oil on canvas, 1970, earned the second highest price for the artist at $341,000.
No comments:
Post a Comment