September 14, 2020Corey SerrantAfrican-American Fine Art Artist Profile: Faith Ringgold Read more about Artist Profile: Faith Ringgold A consummate artist, Faith Ringgold has developed a practice that consists of painting, mixed media sculpting, performing, and quilting. Born October 8, 1930, in Harlem, New York, Ringgold’s mother was…
Read more about Artists Reclaiming the Queer Black Male Form August 7, 2020 African-American Fine Art Artists Reclaiming the Queer Black Male Form Richmond Barthé, Beauford Delaney, Kehinde Wiley, Freddie Styles, and Glenn Ligon produced artworks that are in sole ownership of the manifestation of their physical entities. They chose these modes of representation that best suit them, without the gaze of the heteropatriarchy and white cis-gendered gay men.
Read more about Records & Results: June 2020 Fine Art Sales July 7, 2020 African-American Fine Art Records & Results: June 2020 Fine Art Sales A Full Month of Fine Art Sales at Swann Delivers Record Prices Swann offered four sales of Fine Art this June, each one proving audiences are undeterred by the remote…
Read more about New Record for Richmond Barthé in June 4, 2020 Sale of African-American Fine Art June 11, 2020 African-American Fine Art New Record for Richmond Barthé in June 4, 2020 Sale of African-American Fine Art Our sale of African-American Fine Art on June 4, 2020 was met with much fanfare, despite an online-only format due to social distancing guidelines in New York City. The sale…
Read more about Collecting Photographs by African-American Women June 1, 2020 African-American Fine Art Collecting Photographs by African-American Women Swann Auction Galleries’s June 4, 2020 sale of African American Fine Art features five lots from contemporary women photographers who use the lens to document, critique and challenge their societies and their institutions. Here Corey Serrant takes us through the artists and their work.
Read more about The Elegant Sculptures of Richmond Barthé May 27, 2020 African-American Fine 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 Artist Profile: Ernie Barnes May 26, 2020 African-American Fine Art Artist Profile: Ernie Barnes Ernie Barnes was the first American professional athlete to become a noted painter. From his sports experience and the study of anatomy, Barnes’ unique style of elongation captures the movement, energy and grace of his subjects.
Read more about Nigel Freeman on the Legacy of Emma Amos, 1937-2020 May 22, 2020 African-American Fine 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 Printed & Manuscript African Americana: Rescheduled for May 2020 April 16, 2020 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Printed & Manuscript African Americana: Rescheduled for May 2020 Among the highlights will be an 1836 autograph book with inscriptions by noted early African-American orators Moses Roper and Peter Williams. The large section on slavery and abolition will include several runaway broadsides and a miniature printing of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (the only one produced in pamphlet form) intended for soldiers to distribute among the freedmen in the south. Military papers include material written by African-American soldiers, including a Civil War letter and a Spanish-American War diary.
Read more about A Brief History of AfriCOBRA April 14, 2020 African-American Fine Art A Brief History of AfriCOBRA The AfriCOBRA movement was borne from the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. The collective was founded in 1968 by Chicago based artists: Jeff Donaldson, Wadsworth Jarrell, Jae Jarrell, Barbara…
Read more about Etched in History: Printmakers of the Federal Art Project April 2, 2020 African-American Fine Art Etched in History: Printmakers of the Federal Art Project As jobless Americans eventually found work with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA), George Biddle, an artist and childhood friend of the president, pushed for significant government…
Read more about Nigel Freeman on the Legacy of David C. Driskell, 1931-2020 April 2, 2020 African-American Fine 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 Romare Bearden’s Letters to Art Historian Harry B. Henderson, Jr. March 26, 2020 African-American Fine Art Romare Bearden’s Letters to Art Historian Harry B. Henderson, Jr. Here we take look at letters, postcards and greeting cards from Romare Bearden to his longtime friend and collaborator Harry Henderson, as well as touch on the 2005 sale of Henderson’s art collection that made the establishment of our African-American Fine Art Department possible.
Read more about Swann in Profile: Corey Serrant March 17, 2020 African-American Fine Art Swann in Profile: Corey Serrant Corey Serrant is the newest member of our African-American fine art department – in fact, he started the week of our white-glove sale of the Johnson Publishing Company collection! We…
Read more about African-American Fine Art: June 2020 Highlights March 6, 2020 African-American Fine Art African-American Fine Art: June 2020 Highlights At Auction June 4, 2020* *This auction has been rescheduled from its original date, and will now be held on Thursday, June 4, 2020 at 1:00 PM ET, previewing online…
Read more about Historic Auction for African-American Art from the Johnson Publishing Co. January 31, 2020 African-American Fine Art Historic Auction for African-American Art from the Johnson Publishing Co. Our Thursday, January 30 sale of African-American Art from the Johnson Publishing Company was an all-around success. The packed auction room saw all 87 lots find buyers, bringing $2.9 million—over twice the high-estimate for the auction—29 new auction records were established, and 22 artists made their market debuts.
Read more about Market Debuts: Artists to Watch in our January 30 Auction January 27, 2020 African-American Fine Art Market Debuts: Artists to Watch in our January 30 Auction Our January 30 sale of African-American Art from the Johnson Publishing Company features nearly 30 market newcomers. Here we’ve assembled a selection of ten artists whose work is set to cross the auction block for the first time.
Read more about Introduction to the Catalogue for the Johnson Publishing Co. Collection January 16, 2020 African-American Fine Art Introduction to the Catalogue for 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 2010-19: The Decade in Review January 13, 2020 Swann 2010-19: The Decade in Review The 2010s brought Swann a number of notable moments including memorable sales, the establishment of two new departments, and the celebration of the 75th anniversary of our first sale. Here we take a look at some of favorite highlights from the last ten years.
Read more about African-American Art from the Johnson Publishing Company December 7, 2019 African-American Fine Art African-American Art from the Johnson Publishing Company We welcome a new decade with 100 fine artworks from the collection of the Johnson Publishing Company, a great institution of American publishing and an icon of African-American culture. The sale will feature paintings, sculpture and works on paper from diverse periods, with 75 artists featured,
Read more about Artist Profile: Kehinde Wiley October 28, 2019 African-American Fine Art Artist Profile: Kehinde Wiley Who builds a statue of a young man with locks, perched on a horse ready to ride into the ranks of Confederate statues in Virginia? Kehinde Wiley does. Who let this dude into the building? Who turned him loose on the rest of us, asking “Why not?” then answering himself with art that breaks molds, blending, for example, British Romanticism with urban power.
Read more about 9 New Auction Records in Fall 2019 Auction of African-American Fine Art October 10, 2019 African-American Fine Art 9 New Auction Records in Fall 2019 Auction of African-American Fine Art Swann Galleries’ Fall 2019 auction of African-American Fine resulted in nine new auction records, supported by a room brimming with bidders—in fact, there were just enough chairs for everyone.
Read more about Artist Profile: Aaron Douglas October 7, 2019 African-American Fine Art Artist Profile: Aaron Douglas New York was waiting for Aaron Douglas, though no one knew just how much, including the artist himself. By the time he arrived in 1925 he had no idea what was waiting, not the lifetime of work and certainly not the eventual reputation as the Harlem Renaissance’s father of African-American art.
Read more about Collecting Works by African-American Photographers October 1, 2019 African-American Fine Art Collecting Works by African-American Photographers A superb selection of images by African-American photographers is set to come across the block in our Fall 2019 sale of African-American Fine Art. Here we take a look at the offering that includes artists from the Harlem Renaissance through today.
Read more about Artist Profile: Vincent D. Smith September 30, 2019 African-American Fine 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 McArthur Binion: An Artist of “Simplicism” September 27, 2019 African-American Fine Art McArthur Binion: An Artist of “Simplicism” Describing himself as a “Rural Modernist,” McArthur Binion is known for his paintings that encapsulate both simplicity and complexity. Our Fall 2019 sale of African-American Fine Art on October 8 features a stunning mid-career work by Binion that captures his laborious technique and beckons the viewer in for a closer look.
Read more about Augusta Savage to Zoë Charlton: Women of Color at Auction August 26, 2019 African-American Fine Art Augusta Savage to Zoë Charlton: Women of Color at Auction At Swann, we’re lucky to contribute to an overall market correction, offering exceptional art by women of color, whose work on the themes of feminism and identity is increasingly being recognized by a more equitable marketplace.
Read more about From Abstract Expressionists to Color Field Painters—African-American Fine Art: Fall 2019 August 26, 2019 African-American Fine Art From Abstract Expressionists to Color Field Painters—African-American Fine Art: Fall 2019 Abstraction features heavily in our October 2019 sale of African-American Fine Art, including first-generation abstract expressionist Norman Lewis, alongside artists Sam Gilliam and Kenneth Victor Young of the Washington Color School.
Read more about Fine Sculpture by African-American Artists August 26, 2019 African-American Fine Art Fine Sculpture by African-American Artists A strong section of fine sculpture coming on October 8 includes works by Selma Burke, Elizabeth Catlett, Sargent Johnson, Richard Hunt and Augusta Savage.
Read more about Fall 2019: African-American Fine Art August 6, 2019 African-American Fine Art Fall 2019: African-American Fine Art Highlights this fall from the African-American Fine Art department: sculptures by Elizabeth Catlett, Sargent Johnson and Augusta Savage, iconic works by Carrie Mae Weems, paintings by Allan Rohan Crite, Henry Ossawa Tanner and Hughie Lee-Smith.
Read more about 2019 Spring Season in Review July 1, 2019 Swann 2019 Spring Season in Review A season of firsts. The 2019 spring auction season at Swann Galleries delivered an impressive range of sales, rife with auction premiers and record prices. We started our season off…
Read more about Cataloguing History: Why we hold specialized auctions. June 10, 2019 Auctions 101 Cataloguing History: Why we hold specialized auctions. Auctions offer a moment where the sometimes-incalculable significance of an object is quantified. The price is reached through collaboration: specialists, consignors, the market, and finally, bidders convene in the room,…
Read more about Records & Results: African-American Fine Art April 9, 2019 African-American Fine Art Records & Results: African-American Fine Art Artist Records for Amos, Leigh, Lovelace O’Neal, Pindell & More We saw strong results for African-American Fine Art on Thursday, April 4. Nigel Freeman, the house’s director of African-American Fine Art, noted, “I was happy to see…
Read more about Notes from the Catalogue: Howardena Pindell March 26, 2019 African-American Fine Art Notes from the Catalogue: Howardena Pindell Howardena Pindell is among the contemporary artists included in our April 4, 2019 sale of African-American Fine Art. Her work explores texture, color and structures often incorporating punched circles and…
Read more about Market Debuts: Artists to Watch in our April 4 Auction March 22, 2019 African-American Fine Art Market Debuts: Artists to Watch in our April 4 Auction Our April 4 sale of African-American Fine Art features four market newcomers, artists whose work has never before appeared at auction. Their work comes in a variety of mediums and…
Read more about Swann Galleries’ Guide to Rare Book Week 2019 in NYC February 26, 2019 Books & Manuscripts Swann Galleries’ Guide to Rare Book Week 2019 in NYC Rare Book Week kicks off March 5 in NYC. We gathered a selection of our favorite events happening throughout the week, as well as several not-to-be-missed exhibitions. See you there!…
Read more about Specialists in the Field: Nigel Freeman at the Wallach Art Gallery February 8, 2019 African-American Fine 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 2018: Year in Review December 21, 2018 Swann 2018: Year in Review A year of records, debuts and rediscovered works. As we reflect on 2018, we look back at an excellent year of auctions. In April we held our highest-grossing African-American Fine Art…
Read more about How to Consign to an Auction December 14, 2018 Auctions 101 How to Consign to an Auction Thinking about selling at auction? Allow us to be of assistance. Swann is a third-generation family business and the oldest specialty auction house in New York City, known for our…
Read more about Upcoming Highlights: African-American Fine Art December 3, 2018 African-American Fine Art Upcoming Highlights: African-American Fine Art At Auction April 4 Complete Catalogue A powerful charcoal drawing by Charles White, Caliban, 1950, is one of the top lots in the sale. Never exhibited publicly, this rediscovered…
Read more about A Contemporary Collection Highlights African-American Women September 19, 2018 African-American Fine Art A Contemporary Collection Highlights African-American Women Selections from the Dr. Robert H. Derden Collection of Contemporary Art are featured in our October 4 African-American Fine Art sale, a private collection located in Chicago, Illinois. The works…
Read more about A Look Inside the Catalogue: African-American Fine Art August 10, 2018 African-American Fine Art A Look Inside the Catalogue: African-American Fine Art At Auction October 4 Complete Catalogue Highlights from our upcoming selection of fine art by African-American masters. Elizabeth Catlett Works by figurative greats include the earliest sculpture…
Read more about 2017-18 Year in Review June 25, 2018 Swann 2017-18 Year in Review The 2017-18 auction season at Swann Galleries was replete with record prices and rediscovered paintings, offering works created as early as the fifteenth century and as recently as last year.…
Read more about Records & Results: African-American Fine Art April 9, 2018 African-American Fine Art Records & Results: African-American Fine Art We held our highest-grossing auction to date on April 5, totaling $4.5M—more than $1M over the high estimate of the sale. The 160 works that made up the highly curated…
Read more about William Johnson’s Jitterbugs March 30, 2018 African-American Fine Art William Johnson’s Jitterbugs Two extremely scarce prints from William H. Johnson’s Jitterbugs series will make their auction debut with African-American Fine Art on April 5. The series was conceived and executed during Johnson’s tenure in New York…
Read more about A Look Inside the Catalogue: African-American Fine Art January 30, 2018 African-American Fine Art A Look Inside the Catalogue: African-American Fine Art Two highlights of this sale on April 5 are significant, vibrant paintings by modernist New York artists. Beauford Delaney’s large Untitled (Village Street Scene), 1948, depicts a Greenwich Village corner in…
Read more about 2017: Year in Review December 28, 2017 Swann 2017: Year in Review In our diamond anniversary year, we offered a star-studded roster of 30 auctions, setting nearly 100 records and introducing countless items to the market, including a previously unknown photograph of Harriet…
Read more about Records & Results: African-American Fine Art October 11, 2017 African-American Fine Art Records & Results: African-American Fine Art Four works exceeded $100,000 at our sale of African-American Fine Art on Thursday, October 5. A wealth of unique paintings, drawings and monotypes distinguished the sale of approximately 150 lots, nearly…
Read more about Four Unique Works by Charles White Debut at Auction October 2, 2017 African-American Fine Art Four Unique Works by Charles White Debut at Auction The highlight of our October 5 auction of African-American Fine Art is a series of unique works by Charles White that have never before appeared at auction. We spoke to our…
Read more about Alma Thomas’s Journey to Abstraction September 27, 2017 African-American Fine Art Alma Thomas’s Journey to Abstraction Alma Thomas is renowned for her brightly colored abstract works that seem to dance across canvas and paper, but how did she develop that iconic style? Two paintings that reveal…