September 23, 2024Nigel FreemanAfrican American Art Suzanne Jackson & Bill Russell: There is Something Between Us Read more about Suzanne Jackson & Bill Russell: There is Something Between Us Suzanne Jackson’s painting There is Something Between Us brings together two legendary figures from two very different worlds. The arenas of professional sports and contemporary art have little in common…
Read more about Auction Highlights: African American Art — October 3, 2024 September 4, 2024 African American Art Auction Highlights: African American Art — October 3, 2024 Our October 3 auction of African American Art features exceptional and innovative post-war painting.
Read more about The Art of the Harlem Renaissance, in Print and Plaster March 25, 2024 African American Art The Art of the Harlem Renaissance, in Print and Plaster The landmark exhibition The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism at the Met here in New York has brought deserved new attention to the visual art achievements of Harlem Renaissance. Many…
Read more about Auction Highlights: African American Art — April 4, 2024 March 6, 2024 African American Art Auction Highlights: African American Art — April 4, 2024 This season’s African American Art auction features an array of Harlem Renaissance pieces, post-war figurative art, and contemporary art.
Read more about First Impressions: Elizabeth Catlett & Charles White at the Taller de Gráfica Popular October 3, 2023 African American Art First Impressions: Elizabeth Catlett & Charles White at the Taller de Gráfica Popular In 1946, in what would become the last year of their brief marriage, Elizabeth Catlett and Charles White shared a career-changing experience living and working in Mexico City. They had…
Read more about Auction Highlights: African American Art — October 19, 2023 September 14, 2023 African American Art Auction Highlights: African American Art — October 19, 2023 The October 19, 2023, sale of African American Art will feature exceptional modern and contemporary works of abstract and figurative art. The top lot in the auction is Moon Madness,…
Read more about African American Art: April 6, 2023 Auction Highlights March 10, 2023 African American Art African American Art: April 6, 2023 Auction Highlights Our April 6 African American Art auction features an exciting range of scarce and significant art from the Harlem Renaissance to the contemporary. We are thrilled to offer an outstanding…
Read more about Artist Profile: Alma Thomas & the Washington Scene November 28, 2022 African American Art Artist Profile: Alma Thomas & the Washington Scene Alma Thomas: Early Life & Career Born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1891, Alma Thomas was the eldest of four daughters in a family immersed in art and culture. The Thomas…
Read more about African American Art: October 6, 2022 Auction Highlights August 30, 2022 African American Art African American Art: October 6, 2022 Auction Highlights Our October 6th African American Art auction features an outstanding group of abstract paintings led by the excellent 1967 Untitled (Abstraction in Orange) by Norman Lewis—the large canvas comes from…
Read more about Artist Profile: Elizabeth Catlett March 16, 2022 African American Art Artist Profile: Elizabeth Catlett I Am a Black Woman: Elizabeth Catlett & Representation in Art Elizabeth Catlett’s landmark contributions to twentieth-century art begin in the 1940s with a new representation of African American women.…
Read more about African American Art: March 31, 2022 Auction Highlights February 28, 2022 African American Art African American Art: March 31, 2022 Auction Highlights Our spring auction of African American Art features many scarce and significant postwar and contemporary artworks. The sale’s top lot is a large 1948 painting by Norman Lewis—Lewis’s striking organic…
Read more about Elizabeth Catlett & the Art of Stone Carving September 27, 2021 African American Art Elizabeth Catlett & the Art of Stone Carving “Stone imposes a certain discipline which cannot be ignored.” The October 7, 2021 African American Art auction includes two impressive carved sculptures by Elizabeth Catlett which bookend her half-century practice…
Read more about Bohemian Brothers: Beauford and Joseph Delaney April 19, 2021 African American Art Bohemian Brothers: Beauford and Joseph Delaney The Delaney brothers became well-known painters in the downtown New York art scene in the 1930s and 40s—while each followed their own distinct artistic path. Sibling artists both finding success in the New York art world is a scarce but not unheard of occurrence, yet there are very few African American visual artist siblings known today, and no other pair quite like Beauford and Joseph Delaney.
Read more about The Elegant Sculptures of Richmond Barthé May 27, 2020 African American Art The Elegant Sculptures of Richmond Barthé Three fascinating sculptures by Richmond Barthé feature in our June 4 sale of African-American Fine Art. Each embody his interests in the 1930s, themes that would continue to define his later body of work. They demonstrate the range of a young artist who was coming into his own, embarking on a career in New York, gaining critical and commercial successes. Newly arrived from his debut in Chicago, and soon a sensation in Harlem, Barthé was one of the first African-American artists to develop a commercial career in New York.
Read more about Nigel Freeman on the Legacy of Emma Amos, 1937-2020 May 22, 2020 African American Art Nigel Freeman on the Legacy of Emma Amos, 1937-2020 We are sad to hear the news yesterday of Emma Amos’s passing. Emma Amos was a painter, printmaker, weaver and educator—a great artist and innovator who helped broaden greatly American art in the late twentieth century, challenging inequalities in both art and society with a bold figurative message. I would like to remember her life and work as best we can—through the artworks we have handled here at Swann as they introduced me to her many facets as an artist.
Read more about Nigel Freeman on the Legacy of David C. Driskell, 1931-2020 April 2, 2020 African American Art Nigel Freeman on the Legacy of David C. Driskell, 1931-2020 We are greatly saddened to hear the news of David Driskell’s passing yesterday with the email announcement from the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland. An incredibly influential figure in the history of African-American art, Driskell was a leading curator, collector, historian, painter, printmaker and writer.
Read more about The Johnson Publishing Co. Collection January 16, 2020 African American Art The Johnson Publishing Co. Collection In an introduction to the catalogue for our January 30 sale of African-American Art from the Johnson Publishing Company, Nigel Freeman, director of Swann’s African-American Fine Art department, touches on the legacy of the publishing house, their art collection and Johnson Publishing Co.’s impact on African-American culture.
Read more about Artist Profile: Vincent D. Smith September 30, 2019 African American Art Artist Profile: Vincent D. Smith Born in 1929, Vincent D. Smith was a Brooklyn native and innovative African-American artist. By the late 1950s, he incorporated various modern approaches into his figurative painting practice, including expressionism, collage, politically- and socially-conscious subject matter.
Read more about Specialists in the Field: Nigel Freeman at the Wallach Art Gallery February 8, 2019 African American Art Specialists in the Field: Nigel Freeman at the Wallach Art Gallery Nigel Freeman, our African-American Fine Art director, stopped by the Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University to view Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today. Here are Nigel’s takeaways on the exhibition: Posing Modernity is a…
Read more about Specialists in the Field: Nigel Freeman at the Tate August 1, 2017 African American Art Specialists in the Field: Nigel Freeman at the Tate Nigel Freeman, founder and director of our African-American Fine Art department, is in London this week visiting some familiar images. Two of the works in the Tate Modern’s latest exhibition, Soul of…
Read more about The Art Collection of Maya Angelou – A Foreword to the Auction Catalogue July 30, 2015 African American Art The Art Collection of Maya Angelou – A Foreword to the Auction Catalogue Swann Galleries is very proud to be offering for sale the art collection of one America’s great cultural heroes, Dr. Maya Angelou. Dr. Angelou’s homes were filled with paintings, sculpture…