Faith Ringgold was an artist from Harlem, New York, who created provocative artworks that responded to the civil rights and feminist movements. In honor of what would have been Ringgold’s 95th birthday, today we’re sharing 5 facts you might not know about her life and practice!
1: In her series “American People” that she began in 1963, Ringgold used a style that she dubbed “super realism” to explore the civil rights movement from a woman’s point of view. She considered this to be the start of her mature artistic work.
2: In 1970 Ringgold co-founded the Ad Hoc Women’s Art Committee, a group that advocated for equal inclusion of women artists in the Whitney Biennial.
3: Ringgold’s famous story quilts, which pay tribute to a range of historical time periods and noted cultural figures, were inspired by her fashion-designer mother and Tibetan scroll paintings.
4: In addition to being an acclaimed visual artist, Ringgold was also an award-winning author. She wrote and illustrated numerous children’s books, including “Tar Beach” (1991) and “Harlem Renaissance Party” (2015).
5: She was also a huge fan of playing Sudoku, which inspired her to create a visual art variation of the game in the form of an app called Quiltuduko. It rolled out on iTunes in 2014 when Ringgold was 84 years old.
New York—Swann Galleries’ sale of African American Art is set for Tuesday, October 7. The fall offering features a strong selection of artists from the Post-War and Contemporary eras with exceptional examples of abstract paintings, assemblage and sculpture, and works on paper. The auction will also feature works from the collection of Lucinda H. Gedeon, as well as a selection of works on offer to benefit the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation and The Friends of the Tanner House.
The sale is led by post-war abstraction with an important 1951 oil painting by Norman Lewis—Untitled (Exaltation) ($700,000-1,000,000).The work is an exceptional example of Norman Lewis' early abstraction, an important painting, and the pinnacle of his first abstract period. Lewis found his creative breakthrough in describing the nocturnal urban landscape of New York City within his black paintings. The work was exhibited in the artist's 2016 retrospective, Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis.
Also by Lewis is a scarce 1944 figurative painting, The Dishwasher ($120,000-180,000).
Other abstract highlights range from Charles Alston's 1959 color field painting Blue Haze ($100,000-150,000), to a monumental 1981–82 pigment work on paper by Ed Clark ($100,000-150,000), as well as Primeval Image, a circa 1970 abstraction by Hale Woodruff.
Figurative highlights include two small 1961 Bob Thompson oil paintings from his Paris period ($20,000-30,000, apiece); a 2001 Richard Mayhew portrait, Waiting for Reparation, Justice, Restitution, Inclusion ($30,000-40,000); James A. Porter’s The American Family (The Family), 1940 ($40,000-60,000); and Winfred Rembert’s circa 2008-09 tooled leather portrait, President Obama ($25,000-35,000).
Prints are headlined by a 1968 trial proof of Elizabeth Catlett's iconic color linoleum cut Sharecropper ($25,000-35,000). Contemporary mixed media highlights include Noah Purifoy's 2002 untitled assemblage of various found objects on board ($35,000-50,000), Glenn Ligon's 1995 Skin Tight, a dynamic screenprint printed on a punching bag ($50,000-70,000), and Ebony G. Patterson's …bearing witness…, 2017, a fiber arts piece using embroidery, hand-knotted threads and assorted embellishments with archival dyes on jacquard ($40,000-60,000).
A small selection from the Collection of Lucinda H. Gedeon—a distinguished art historian and museum director— also feature in the sale. The offering will include Charles White prints, as well as two works by Dan Concholar, and Melvin Edwards’ Prepared (Lynch Fragment), welded steel, 1995 ($40,000-60,000).
The auction will close with a special evening session featuring contemporary art to be sold to benefit the 30th Anniversary of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. The Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, established in 1995 by Danny Simmons, Russell Simmons, and Joseph “Rev. Run” Simmons, aims to provide inner-city youth with access to the arts and exhibition opportunities for emerging and underrepresented artists, significantly impacting the landscape for artists of color and emerging talents. With support from a wide network, Rush Education programs annually serve 3,500 students, offering alternatives to high-risk behaviors and enhancing academic performance. Rush exhibits over 50 emerging artists yearly, attracting 12,000 visitors and providing career opportunities in the arts for young people. Operating galleries in Manhattan and Brooklyn, along with programs in five NYC public schools, Rush fosters artistic inspiration and education in underserved communities.
A selection of five works will be sold to benefit The Friends of the Tanner House. Friends of the Tanner House is committed to the preservation and growth of the rich Black cultural wealth of North Philadelphia, and the revitalization of the historic property once owned by Henry Ossawa Tanner and his family. “Friends of the Tanner House is grateful to come into community with Swann Galleries for this upcoming auction, with a nod to Rush Arts who initially made the connection. We owe an honor to our artists (Jay Golding, Jamel Shabazz, Danny Simmons, LeRone Wilson) who offered their work to benefit our emerging cultural heritage non-profit as we steward, revitalize, and re-open the family home of the forerunning Black American visual artist Henry Ossawa Tanner. We know this is a time for uplifting the enduring value and power of Black artistic practice to inspire collective possibilities for social change,” board member, Christopher R. Rogers noted of the organization and sale.
Donated works benefitting the Friends of the Tanner House will feature such artists as Jamel Shabazz with The Other Face of Vietnam, c-print, 1988 ($1,000-1,500), and LeRone Wilson with (Light) RA, beeswax and honey sculpture, 2004 ($6,000-9,000), as well as works by Danny Simmons and Jay Golding.
Works benefitting the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation are led by David Shrobe with Hug From Above, mixed-media, 2025 ($20,000-30,000). Additional highlights include Derrick Adams with Where My Girls At?, color screenprint, 2024 ($10,000-15,000); Dawoud Bey’s Man on the B26 Bus, New York, NY, silver print, 1986 ($7,000-10,000); Alexandria Smith’s The ones that time forgot, mixed media on paper, 2022 ($7,000-10,000); Dianne Smith’s Catalyst, oil on canvas, 2007 ($6,000-9,000); and Sana Musasama’s Untitled (Pottery Doll Series), glazed stoneware with beads, glass and mixed media, circa 2022 ($2,000-3,000).
Exhibition hours are 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, October 2, through Saturday, October 4, and Monday, October 6. Bidding is available through online platforms, absentee, the phone, and live in-person. Live online bidding platforms will be the Swann Galleries Website, Invaluable, and Live Auctioneers. The complete catalogue and bidding information is available at www.swanngalleries.com.
IMAGES
Lot 24
Norman Lewis (1909-1979), Dishwasher, oil on canvas, 1944.
Estimate: $120,000-180,000
Lot 62
Hale Aspacio Woodruff (1900-1980), Primeval Image, circa 1970.
Estimate: $120,000-180,000
Lot 121
Ed Clark (1926-2019), Untitled, 1981-82.
Estimate: $100,000-150,000
Lot 39
Charles Henry Alston (1907-1977), Blue Haze, 1958.
Estimate: $100,000-150,000
Lot 21
William H. Johnson (1901-1970) Off to War, circa 1941-42.
Estimate: $60,000-90,000
Lot 123
Sir Frank Bowling, OBE RA (1934-), To Crab Island, 1980.
Estimate: $40,000-60,000
Lot 223
Ebony G. Patterson (1981-), ...bearing witness..., 2017.
Estimate: $40,000-60,000
Lot 188
Noah Purifoy (1917-2004), Untitled, 2002.
Estimate: $35,000-50,000
Lot 185
Belkis Ayón (1967-1999), Untitled, 1999.
Estimate: $30,000-40,000
Lot 194
Richard Mayhew (1924-2024), Waiting for Reparation, Justice, Restitution, Inclusion, 2001.
Estimate: $30,000-40,000
Lot 171
Kara Walker (1969-), The Means to an End...A Shadow Drama in 5 Acts, 1995.
Estimate: $25,000-35,000
Lot 65
Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012), The Sharecropper, 1968.
John Wilson (American, 1922–2015).My Brother, 1942. Oil on panel, 12 x 10 5/8 in. (30.48 x 26.9875 cm). Smith College Museum of Art, Purchased, (SC 1943.4.1) Courtesy of the Estate of John Wilson
This fall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will presentWitnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson, the largest exhibition of this artist’s work and his first solo museum show in New York. For over six decades, American artist John Wilson (1922–2015) made powerful and poetic works that reflected his life as a Black American artist and his ongoing quest for racial, social, and economic justice. His art responded to the turbulent times in which he lived, with a focus on such subjects as racial violence, labor, the writings of Richard Wright, the Civil Rights Movement, and street scenes, and also captured intimate images of family life, with a particular focus on fatherhood. Drawing from the collections of The Met, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and a dozen other lenders, this exhibition will feature over 100 artworks made over the course of Wilson’s career, including paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture, as well as illustrations for children’s books and archival material; many of the works have not been shown before.
The exhibition is made possible by the Enterprise Holdings Endowment, the Mellon Foundation, and Dave Williams in memory of Reba Williams
The exhibition is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA
“While the powerful impact of John Wilson’s art and the enduring relevance of the themes he explored are undeniable, he has not yet received the recognition his work so deeply deserves,” said Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer of The Met. “This landmark exhibition honors Wilson’s extraordinary artistic achievements—illuminating the incredible range of work he produced over five decades—and affirms his place in art history as one of the foremost artists devoted to social justice and portraying the experiences of Black Americans.”
Jennifer Farrell, exhibition co-curator and Jordan Schnitzer Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Met, said, “Wilson’s art is imbued with compassion and empathy while conveying his anger and distress at the wrenching effects of disenfranchisement, racism, and economic inequality. Challenging deep-seated prejudices and omissions within our national history, Wilson centered the experiences of Black Americans to create images that convey strength, resilience, and humanity. Deeply personal yet widely resonant, his work continues to offer a powerful lens through which to consider today’s urgent dialogues about race, equality, and representation.”
Leslie King Hammond, exhibition co-curator and art historian, professor emerita, and founding director of the Center for Race and Culture at Maryland Institute College of Art, said, “John Wilson was an artist of profound resilience and passion for the innate essence of dignity, beauty, and humanity of Black Americans, which he witnessed in families, community, and all humankind. He was intentional and relentless throughout his life to create imagery that demanded respect for the Black body in an America struggling with its contested legacy of slavery.”
Working in a figurative style, Wilson sought to portray what he called “a universal humanity.” While still a teenager, he was struck by the absence of positive representations of Black Americans and their experiences in both museums and popular culture. To counter such prejudices and omissions, Wilson put the experiences of Black Americans at the center of his work and created images that portrayed dignity and strength.
The exhibition begins with work Wilson made while in art school in Boston, where his subjects included the horrors of Nazi Germany and American racial violence, as well as portraits of his family and neighborhood. It continues through his time in Paris, Mexico City, and New York, capturing the humanity and scope of Wilson’s art. The exhibition concludes with Wilson’s return to Boston and his focus on portraiture. Included are maquettes and works on paper for two of Wilson’s most celebrated works—his sculpture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the United States Capitol and the monumental sculpture Eternal Presence.
Credits and Related Information
Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson is co-curated by Jennifer Farrell, Jordan Schnitzer Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints at The Met; Leslie King Hammond, art historian, professor emerita, and founding director of the Center for Race and Culture at Maryland Institute College of Art; Patrick Murphy, the MFA’s Lia and William Poorvu Curator of Prints and Drawings; and Edward Saywell, the MFA’s Chair of Prints and Drawings.
The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue, jointly authored and edited by the MFA and The Met, and produced by MFA Publications. Reproductions of artworks and photographs accompany critical essays and personal reflections, including analyses by art historians, interviews with Wilson’s peers, remembrances from fellow Black creatives, and a full chronology by the late artist’s gallerist.
he Art Institute of Chicago opened Elizabeth Catlett: “A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies” on view August 30, 2025 through January 4, 2026
A defining Black woman artist of the twentieth century, Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) has not received the mainstream art-world attention afforded many of her peers. The Brooklyn Museum, in partnership with the National Gallery of Art, closes this gap with Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies, an exhibition of over 200 works that gives this revolutionary artist and radical activist her due.
A deft sculptor and printmaker, devout feminist, and lifelong social justice advocate, Catlett was uniquely committed to both her creative process and political convictions. Growing up during the Great Depression, she witnessed class inequality, racial violence, and U.S. imperialism firsthand, all while pursuing an artistic education grounded in the tenets of modernism. Catlett would protest injustices for nearly a century, via both soaring artworks and on-the-ground activism.
Born in Washington, DC, Catlett settled permanently in Mexico in 1946 and for the rest of her life she worked to amplify the experiences of Black and Mexican women. Inspired by sources ranging from African sculpture to works by Barbara Hepworth and Käthe Kollwitz, Catlett never lost sight of the Black liberation struggle in the United States. Characterized by bold lines and voluptuous forms, her powerful work continues to speak directly to all those united in the fight against poverty, racism, and imperialism.
Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies is organized by Dalila Scruggs, Augusta Savage Curator of African American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Catherine Morris, Sackler Senior Curator, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum; and Mary Lee Corlett, Associate Curator of Modern Prints and Drawings (retired), National Gallery of Art; with Rashieda Witter, Curatorial Assistant, National Gallery of Art, and Carla Forbes, Curatorial Assistant, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum. The exhibition is organized by the Brooklyn Museum and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago.
Silver Linings: Celebrating the Spelman Art Collectionuplifts the legacy of artists of African descent spanning the twentieth century through the contemporary moment who were overlooked by mainstream art museums.
The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art was founded in 1996 and the mission is to uplift art by and about women of the African diaspora.
After two years of closure, the Spelman Museum reopened with a permanent collection exhibition marking its 25th anniversary, Silver Linings: Celebrating the Spelman Art Collection.
Silver Linings celebrates the legacy of artists of African descent spanning the twentieth century through the contemporary moment. It includes
Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Christ and His Disciples Before the Last Supper (1908 – 1909) and the museum’s recent most acquisition of
Carrie Mae Weems’s Color Real and Imagined (2014).
Silver Linings includes an array of media spanning sculptural works by Elizabeth Catlett and Selma Burke, and photographic works by Lorna Simpson and Renée Cox. It also displays the museum’s holdings of abstract paintings by Sam Gilliam and
Betty Blayton, as well as works on paper by Samella Lewis and Herman “Kofi” Bailey. This exhibition is critical to understanding the importance of art collecting within Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and includes work by Black artists across genders who were overlooked by mainstream art museums.
Silver Linings features approximately 40 works by Amalia Amaki, Emma Amos, Benny Andrews, Firelei Báez, Herman “Kofi” Bailey, Romare Bearden, Betty Blayton, Beverly Buchanan, Selma Burke, Elizabeth Catlett, Floyd Coleman, Renée Cox, Myra Greene, Sam Gilliam, Samella Lewis, Glenn Ligon, Howardena Pindell, Lucille Malkia Roberts, Deborah Roberts, Faith Ringgold, Nellie Mae Rowe, Lorna Simpson, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Lina Iris Viktor, Carrie Mae Weems, and Hale Woodruff.
Adelson Galleries is thrilled to announce the upcoming solo exhibition Black Ties, featuring the work of Robert Freeman.
Black Ties marks Freeman’s first solo exhibition at our New York gallery, following two shows at our former Boston location. The exhibition will run from October 24 to December 6, 2024.
Adelson Galleries New York The Fuller Building 595 Madison Avenue, 4th Floor New York, NY 10022 (212) 439-6800
Robert Freeman, Party Lines, 2016, Oil on canvas, 56 x 42 inches
Robert Freeman is celebrated for his oil paintings depicting the jubilant social lives of the Black diaspora middle class. His gestural brush strokes, bold use of color, and layered paint application create vibrant scenes that toe the line between figurative and abstract. These dynamic compositions reflect the artist’s internal conflicts with the role of race in America and Black culture. They explore the distinctions of his experience as a child in Ghana and as an adult navigating the complex social dynamics within the African American community. Freeman employs a literary approach to painting, allowing the characters in each work to reveal their personalities to him and develop a narrative of their own.
Robert Freeman was born in New York City in 1946 and lived on the East Coast until 1955 when his father relocated the family to the Gold Coast of West Africa. Freeman's father worked for Kwame Nkrumah, a revolutionary and politician who led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957, becoming Ghana's first Prime Minister and President. In Ghana, Freeman grew up seeing Black faces like his own in positions of power, on monuments, and on the new country's currency. This experience fueled a feeling of empowerment in the artist, which he had not felt in America. Freeman spent his formative years between Ghana and Washington D.C., where he graduated from Calvin Coolidge High School in 1965. Freeman recalls his impulse to put pen to paper at a very early age, scribbling free-flowing lines until the entire page was black. His desire to create led him to study under the influential artist Loïs Mailou Jones at Howard University for two years before transferring to Boston University in 1967. Freeman earned a BFA in 1971 and an MFA in 1981 from Boston University, where he had the opportunity to train with renowned artists Reed Kay, Richard Yarde, James Weeks, and John Wilson.
During that time, Freeman studied under Philip Guston. Similar to Guston, Freeman emphasizes shape, color, and movement over technical precision to create a sense of completeness, utilizing thick and heavy brushstrokes that foster a connection with the subject. According to Freeman, “I never explored my personal subject matter until I started graduate school with Philip Guston. He gave me the opportunity to explore what was in my heart and my mind in ways that I had never done before, and it just opened up a world.” After his education, Freeman taught art at several institutions, including Harvard University, where he lectured from 1986-1992.
Despite his impressive resume and unwavering commitment to his practice, Freeman struggled to make headway in the commercial art world during the ‘70s and into the ‘80s as a Black artist. Freeman remembers carrying his canvases from gallery to gallery, only to be told that there was no demand or clientele interested in paintings of this ‘subject matter.’ By 1982, he caught his first break with an exhibition at Chapel Gallery in Newton, MA. The show was comprised of a new series that he called the Social Season, which explored the social lives of middle-class African Americans: a subject that was deeply personal and reflected his sense of alienation within his own community. The show made the front page of the arts section of the Boston Globe and precipitated the sale of his monumental painting “Black Tie” (1981), which was later donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by the Flather family. Currently, “Black Tie” is on loan: displayed in Governor Maura Healey’s office in the Massachusetts State House.
Robert Freeman’s paintings have continued to be exhibited nationally for over 40 years and included in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the National Center of Afro-American Artists, Boston Public Library, Brown University, and DeCordova Museum. His paintings have been featured in exhibitions at Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Williams College Museum of Art. Freeman has explored a variety of themes and subject matter throughout his career, including European and regional landscapes, Mardi Gras Indians, American Regatta, and most recently, America’s Past-Time: observations of our country’s current racial divides. Since 1981, Freeman has periodically and compulsively returned to the Social Season series, a subject that continued to resonate and evolve throughout the course of his life.
The compositions of paintings in the Social Season series are intricately layered, showcasing a vibrant interplay of figures that capture the essence of social interaction. The figures are rendered in varying degrees of abstraction, some with more defined features and others with just enough detail to suggest their presence. This blend of abstraction and figuration invites viewers to engage with the paintings on multiple levels, appreciating both the individual characters and the collective atmosphere they create. Freeman's choice to blur the boundaries between the figures and the background adds to the paintings’ dynamic quality. The figures seem to emerge from and recede into the abstract background, symbolizing the fluidity of social interactions and the interconnectedness of the individuals within the scene. Each invite viewers to experience the vibrancy and complexity of the social lives of the Black middle class in America, a community to which the artist belongs yet from which he feels a sense of separation.
Adelson Galleries has represented Robert Freeman since 2016, hosting two exhibitions at our prior Boston location. This exhibition marks our first solo exhibition of Freeman’s work in our New York gallery. The collection of 15 paintings was created over the past eight years and is a continuation of the Social Season series. The paintings explore and celebrate the beauty, elegance, and grace of the Black community. Freeman’s persistence with this subject matter throughout his career demonstrates how deeply personal these paintings are to his identity. More broadly, the theme can be applied to any individual in their quest for a sense of belonging. We hope these paintings will resonate with all who visit the exhibition.
