RESULTS: Swann's African-American Fine Art Sale 2442

There was a standing-room only crowd at Swann Galleries' spring auction of African-American Fine Art on Thursday, April 6, 2017. Sale 2442, the most recent Swann Auction Galleries' African-American Fine Art Sale brought in $2,522,705 with Buyer’s Premium, exceeding its pre-sale low estimate of $1,982,300 by over $540,000. Of the 181 lots that were offered at auction, 138 sold (76% sell-through rate by lot). Nigel Freeman, founder and director of the African-American Fine Art department at Swann Galleries, said “I am thrilled with this sale’s strong results. We saw great activity with bidding often exceeding the high estimate, and several record prices. We continue to build on our strengths with both modern and post-war artists, surpassing our previous records with artworks from the 1930s through the ‘70s.” 

Lot 102: David Hammons, Untitled (Double Body Print Collage),

pigment and ink on paper and printed  paper collage on cardboard,

1976. 30"x 40". Photograph: Swann Auction Galleries

  

Six of the top lots either reached or exceeded $100,000; this post will focus on those lots. Lot 102, David Hammons' Untitled (Double Body Print Collage), had a pre-sale estimate of $200,000 - $300,000 and sold for $389,000 with Buyer's Premium. "This striking body print is an excellent example of David Hammons' mid-1970s incorporation of collage, and only the second double body print by the artist to ever come to auction." The Double Body Print Collage was purchased by a collector. 

 

Lot 101: David Hammons, Untitled (Body Print), pigment and graphite on wove paper,

circa 1975-77. 26" x 21". Photograph: Swann Auction Galleries

Another piece of art by David Hammons appeared in the top selling category of artworks sold in sale 2442. Lot 101, an Untitled (Body Print), dating circa 1975 -1977 had a pre-sale estimate of $60,000 - $90,000; it sold with a Buyer's Premium for $161,000 to a collector. This body print which is a colorful work on paper includes three impressions of the artist's face.

  

Lot 112: Alvin D. Loving, Jr. Untitled, diptych of acrylic on shaped cotton canvas, 1968. Approximately

59½" x 69" and 62"x 69" (two irregular hexagons); together 62" x 138". Photograph: Swann Auction Galleries

All five works by graphic abstractionist Alvin D. Loving, Jr. found homes, with nearly all selling above their estimates. A monumental untitled diptych of two hexagonal canvases broke the artist’s previous auction record, selling to a phone bidder (collector) for $161,000. Lot 112 had pre-sale estimate of $80,000 - $120,000. 

Lot 139: Frank Bowling, Morning Light, acrylic on cotton canvas,

1974. 76½" x 46½". Photograph: Swann Auction Galleries

Morning Light, a brilliantly colored abstraction by Frank Bowling, is an early example of his mid-1970s series of poured paintings. Lot 139, which was a luminous poured painting, sold for $161,000 and was a record for the artist. Morning Light, an acrylic on canvas, had a pre-sale estimate of $60,000 - $90,000; it was purchased by a collector. 

Lot 169: Hughie Lee-Smith, Silhouette, oil on  linen canvas,

1995. 42" x 50". Photograph: Swann Auction Galleries

Lot 169: Silhouette, a large oil on linen canvas, epitomizes the Surrealism found in Hughie Lee Smith's late-career painting. This paining had a pre-sale estimate of $60,000 - $90,000; it sold to a dealer for $161,000. 

Lot 13: Sargent Johnson, Untitled (Negro Mother), copper with paint,

1935 -36. Approximately 12" x 6½"x 2". Photograph: Swann Auction Galleries

"Untitled (Negro Mother) is an excellent and very scarce work in copper repoussé by Sargent Johnson from the mid-1930s. In this defining mid-career body of work, Johnson incorporated themes from African sculpture and modernist design to create powerful representations of African-American womanhood...." Lot 13, Untitled (Negro Mother), had a pre-sale estimate of $80,000 - $120,000. Attaining an artist record, it was sold to a dealer for $100,000.  

The next sale of African-American Fine Art at Swann Galleries will be held in October 2017. For more information, contact Nigel Freeman at nfreeman@swanngalleries.com. 

RESULTS: Swann Auction Galleries: The Printed and Manuscript African Americana Sale 2441

The Printed and Manuscript African Americana Sale 2441 was held on March 30, 2017 at Swann Auction Galleries. This was the 22nd annual Printed and Manuscript African Americana Sale, and it was the first time that the sale exceeded $1M in the department's history. Sale 2441 included 530 lots, still demonstrating that there is a continual on-going strong and growing market of available African American historical items; a market that is driven by private collectors, as well as institutions. Of the 530 lots that were offered for sale, 421 of them sold; this was a 79% sell-through rate by lot. The Sale's total was $1,248,121 with Buyer's Premium.

Photograph: Swann Auction Galleries

The success of this sale was, in a large part, due to interest surrounding a carte-de-visite album from the 1860s that contained a previously unknown photograph of Harriet Tubman. The album (Lot 75) had a pre-sale high estimate of $30,000; however, it sold  for $161,000 with Buyer's Premium. Specialist Wyatt Houston Day discovered the photograph of Tubman in an extraordinary album presented to Quaker school teacher Emily Howland in the 1860s by her friend and mentor, Carrie Nichols, both of whom taught at Camp Todd, The Freedmen's School in Arlington, Virginia. The album contained 48 photographs, including 44 cartes-de-visite of noted abolitionists, politicians and friends of Howland. The list of images in the album is truly impressive, and there are two photographs of Harriet Tubman; one, featured in this post, showing a considerably younger Harriet Tubman than normally seen in known images of her.

Sale 2441 also featured "the strongest selection of Civil Rights material we've offered," according to Wyatt Day. Lot 256, an archive of documents relating to the formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association, included checks endorsed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Association's archive is rich in detail with hundreds of pieces, shedding light on this seminal community movement, which heralded the beginning of the modern civil rights struggle. Lot 256 had a pre-sale estimate of $20,000 - $30,000, and it sold for $18,750 with Buyer's Premium.

Lot 260, Draft of Letter from Birmingham Jail. Photo: Swann Auction Galleries

Half of the top selling lots were institutional purchases, including a rare working draft (Lot 260) of Dr. Martin Luther King's famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963; and a West African cast

Lot 5, Kuduo. Photograph: Swann Auction Galleries

bronze Kuduo ritual burial jar (Lot 5), circa eighteenth to nineteenth century. The draft of the Letter from Birmingham Jail, offering a defense of King's methods of peaceful and passive resistance had a pre-sale estimate of $10,000 - $15,000; it sold for $40,000 with Buyer's Premium. The Kuduo in Lot 5 has images of slave shackles applied to the sides. The images of slave shackles suggest the person to whom this belonged was a slave dealer. The pre-sale estimate was $10,000 - $15,000, and it sold for $10,625 with Buyer's Premium.

Other highlights from Sale 2441 featured in this post 

Lot 83, Photograph: Swann Auction Galleries

focus on books. Lot 83, a signed and inscribed copy of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Written by Himself (1845) set an auction record. It had a pre-sale estimate of $3,000 - $4,000, and sold for $37,500 with Buyer's Premium. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass... was purchased by a dealer.

Lot 150, Photograph: Swann Auction Galleries

Lot 150: Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack for the year of our Lord 1795 was purchased by a collector. This lot had a pre-sale estimate of $30,000 - $40,000, and it set an auction record, selling for $55,000 with Buyer's Premium. 

Lot 382: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were

Lot 382, Photograph: Swann Auction Galleries

Watching God (1937) inscribed to Mollie Lewis had a pre-sale estimate of $600 - $900. It sold for $7,800, breaking a record for an inscribed first edition copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Look for the next sale of Printed and Manuscript African Americana at Swann Galleries in Spring 2018. For more information, or to cosign works to future auctions, contact David Rivera with consignment inquiries. The Printed and Manuscript African Americana Department at Swann Galleries, the only one of its kind, has been holding sales since 1996.