Swann Galleries: African-American Fine Art Sale 2378

Swann Auction Galleries will feature Ascension: A Century of African-American Art on April 2, 2015. This auction, Sale 2378, is the latest in a series of Swann's African-American Fine Art auctions, and it consists of 178 lots. The theme of Ascension, the act of rising to an important position or a higher level, continues the recognition and elevation of African-American art to its rightful place in American art history. 

As we celebrate Women's History Month, this post highlights works by select women artists featured in Sale 2378 as representative samples of a broader spectrum of African-American women artists. It is a tribute to all African American women artists, acknowledging and recognizing the contributions that they have made to the field of American art. 

As time passes, I hope to see more female artists included in auctions such as this, as well as main stream art auctions. As one of the crucial vehicles in bringing awareness to the collector, auctions play a crucial role; and through this awareness, the collector can make a significant impact in changing the structure of the art world. For the future, lets envision a newly informed collector, wielding power in collection building, that moves in the direction of more female and racial inclusion. This newly informed collector will deconstruct the existing western structure, emphasizing American white males. The end result leads to a more representative and inclusive sample of  American art in our galleries and museums.     

In addition to the artists highlighted in this post, Ascension: A Century of African-American Art, features works by Barkley L. Hendricks, Charles White, Romare Bearden, Edward Bannister, Thomas Watson Hunster, Henry Ossawa Tanner, James A. Porter, Delilah William Pierce, Richmond Barthé, Betye Saar, Allan Freelon, Hale Woodruff, Dox Thrash, Sargent Johnson, Jack Whitten, Faith Ringgold, Eugene J. Martin, Sam Gilliam, Edward Clark, Hank Willis Thomas, and others. 

Beulah Woodward, Maudelle. Painted terra cotta, mounted on a wood base, circa 1937.
Approximately 12" high. Image: Swann Galleries

Lot 21, Beulah Woodward, Maudelle

This beautiful bust is a very scarce example of this early Californian sculptor's work. In this sensitive portrayal, Woodard displays a powerful realism - particularly in the careful modelling of her subject's features. Maudelle Bass (1908 - 1989) was a professional dancer and artist's model. Lot 21 has an estimate of $10,000 - $15,000. Price Realized with Buyer's Premium: $12,500.

Loïs Mailou Jones, Lobsterville Beach. Oil on linen canvas, 1945. 26" x 32". 
Signed and dated in oil, lower right recto.
Signed and inscribed "Howard University, Washington, DC"
in ink, and titled in chalk on the upper stretcher bar, verso.
Image: Swann Galleries

Lot 39,  Loïs Mailou Jones, Lobsterville Beach   

This painting, Lobsterville Beach, is an impressive Impressionist canvas and one of the largest landscapes by Jones that Swann Galleries has located of a Martha's Vineyard subject. This lot has an estimate of $30,000 - $40,000. Price Realized with Buyer's Premium: $62,500.

Laura Wheeler Waring, Untitled (Still Life with Tulips and Figurine).
Oil on canvas board, circa 1940-45. 23 3/4 " x 19 3/4".
Signed in oil, lower left. Image: Swann Galleries

Lot 40,  Laura Wheeler Waring, Untitled (Still Life with Tulips and Figurine)

During her distinguished career Waring created a number of landscapes and still lifes. This painting, Still Life with Tulips and Figurine, is in the impressionistic style characteristic of a large portion of her works. From a private collection in Massachusetts, this lot has an estimate of $8,000 - $12,000. Lot was Unsold.

Mavis Pusey, Untitled. Oil on burlap canvas, circa 1968. 42" x 52½".
Signed in oil, lower left recto. Signed in pencil, lower right verso. Image: Swann Galleries

Lot 89,  Mavis Pusey, Untitled

This striking modernist abstraction, Untitled,  is typical of Mavis Pusey's distinctive late 1960s canvases. She was born in Jamaica and immigrated to New York at the age of 18 to study at the Art Students League. Lot 89 has an estimate of $15,000 - $25,000. 
Lot was Unsold.

Elizabeth Catlett, Glory. Cast bronze with a copper-colored patina, on a wooden base,
1981. 14" x 9½" x 10". From the first part of the total edition of 9,
which was later completed in 2006.
Initialed "EC" and dated, rear lower edge. Image: Swann Galleries

Lot 146, Elizabeth Catlett, Glory  

The sitter for this bust is Glory Van Scott, performer, dancer and educator, who gained fame as the principal dancer with the Katherine Dunham, Agnes DeMille, and Talley Beatty dance companies and as a performer on Broadway in the 1960s and 1970s. Lot 146 is the fourth known cast of this bust and it has an estimate of $25,000 - $35,000. Price Realized with Buyer's Premium: $57,500

Carrie Mae Weems, You Became Playmate to the Patriarch and Their Daughter.
Diptych of Chromongenic prints, with etched text on glass, 1995.
Both: 23½" x 19½". Both signed, dated and numbered 2/10 (left panel) and
1/10 (right panel) in pencil on the flush mounts, verso.
From the series From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried. Image: Swann Galleries

Lot 167, Carrie Mae Weems, You Became Playmate to the Patriarch and Their Daughter

Another set (each numbered 7/10) of these images were offered in the Photograph auction, April 24-25, 2006, at Christie's New York. In that sale the pair had an estimate of $3,000 - $5,000, and reached a realized price of $15,600. 

Fast forward to Sale 2378. Lot 167, You Became Playmate to the Patriarch and Their Daughter, has an estimate of $15,000 - $25,000. Price Realized with Buyer's Premium: $23,750.

Kara Walker, The Emancipation Approximation (Scene 18).
Color screenprint on Somerset 500 gram paper, 1999-2000. 44" x 34".
Initialed, dated and numbered "XVII/XXV" in pencil, verso.
 Published by Jenkins Sikkema Editions, New York.
From The Emancipation Approximation portfolio.

Lot 169, Kara Walker, The Emancipation Approximation (Scene 18).  

Lot 169 is one screenprint (scene 18) from the set of twenty-six screenprints. Another edition of this print appeared in the Modern and Contemporary Editions auction at Phillips on June 8, 2011 with an estimate of  $6,000 - $8,000 and sold for $10,625. 

Lot 169, The Emancipation Approximation (Scene 18), has an estimate of $6,000 - $9,000. Price Realized with Buyer's Premium: $23,750.   

The works will be on public exhibition at Swann Galleries, to check dates, see Preview Dates.  An illustrated auction catalogue, with information on bidding by mail or fax, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online.

For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Nigel Freeman at 212-254-4710, extension 33, or via email at nfreeman@swanngalleries.com.                                                     

Live online bidding is also available via invaluable.com. Thanks to Swann Galleries for the use of images and written material in the catalogue.

Further Readings:
Elizabeth Catlett

Elizabeth Catlett / New York Times

Loïs Mailou Jones

Loïs Mailou Jones / Callaloo Interview with Charles H. Rowell

Loïs Mailou Jones / Smithsonian American Art Museum...

Mavis Pusey

Kara Walker / Sikkema Jenkins and Co.

Kara Walker / Walker Art Center

Laura Wheeler Waring

Carrie Mae Weems

Carrie Mae Weems / Shainman Gallery

Beulah Woodward

Results of Swann's Point of Departure: Postwar African-American Fine Art Sale

Swann Auction Galleries' African-American Fine Art Sale 2323 (Point of Departure: Postwar African-American Fine Art) on October 3, 2013 brought in $1,735,690 with buyer’s premium, exceeding its pre-sale low estimate ($1,504,000) for Sale 2323 as a whole. Of the 149 lots that were offered at auction, 111 sold (74% sell-through rate by lot). According to Nigel Freeman, Director of African-American Fine Art at Swann Galleries, “We are very pleased to set a new artist record for Norman Lewis at auction. This important work—previously unrecorded—far surpassed the prior record (also set at Swann, in October 2008) of $312,000. We also saw strong prices for abstract artists including Frank Bowling and Al Loving.”

Four artist records were set in Point of Departure: Postwar African-American Fine Art, Sale 2323. Those lots are highlighted in this post.

Norman Lewis, Untitled
Image: Swann Auction Galleries 

Lot 22: Norman Lewis, Untitled, oil on canvas, circa 1957. This piece exceeded its high estimate of $350,000 and sold for $581,000 to a collector, shattering the artist's previous record of $312,000. As stated in the auction catalogue, "This important mid-century painting is not only a truly exceptional example of Norman Lewis's painting, but an exciting discovery. This previously unrecorded painting is one of the most significant 1950s calligraphic figure paintings by Norman Lewis that we have seen, and yet it has never been publicly exhibited."

Frank Bowling, Karters Choice
Image: Swann Auction Galleries 

Lot 84: Frank Bowling, Karters Choice, acrylic on canvas, 1972. "This monumental Frank Bowling painting is a significant work from his important map paintings, and possibly one of the last major works from the series." Karters Choice exceeded its low estimate of $40,000, selling for $50,000 with buyer's premium to a collector. Bowling painted this in New York after his solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, which ran from November 4 - December 6, 1971.

Mavis Pusey, Nuvae
Image: Swann Auction Galleries 

Lot 79: Mavis Pusey, Nuvae, oil on canvas, circa 1968. Nuvae shows the sophistication of Mavis Pusey's late 1960s abstractions with its subtle palette and modernist composition. Its high estimate was $10,000; however, it tripled that estimate as it set an artist record with a realized price of $33,750 with buyer's premium. Nuvae was sold to a collector.

Robert Blackburn, Refugees
Image: Swann Auction Galleries 

Lot 2: Robert Blackburn, Refugees, lithograph, circa 1938. This is the final lot in which a work set an artist record in auction. This scarce, early print which is alternately titled People in a Boat was printed at the Harlem Community Art Center, where Blackburn studied lithography with printmaker Riva Helfond. Refugees sold for $17,500 with buyer's premium against a $7,000 - $10,000 estimate. As with the previously featured lots, Refugees was sold to a collector.

The Norman Lewis (Lot 22) and Frank Bowling (Lot 84) pieces featured earlier were among my personal favorites.  Adding to those favorites were the Elizabeth Catlett, Head, terracotta sculpture, 1947 (Lot 31) which sold for $173,000 to an institution, and Sargent Claude Johnson, Dancer, varnished terracotta, circa 1938-40 (Lot 1) which sold above its low estimate for $37,500 to an institution. The biggest surprise among favorites was the unsold lot by Hale Woodruff, Gathering Storm (Blue Landscape), oil on linen canvas, circa 1958-60, that had an estimate of $60,000 - $90,000. Because this modernist canvas is an excellent example of Hale Woodruff's postwar painting, I thought that it would have been a museum purchase.

To view the final results from Sale 2323, visit: Swann Galleries catalogue.