Installation view of “Ed Clark,” Turner Contemporary, Margate, Kent, UK (May 25–Sept. 1 2024). | © Courtesy Turner Contemporary, Photo by Thierry Bal AN ORIGINAL FIGURE in Post-War Abstraction, Ed Clark (1926-2019) is recognized for his innovation and experimentation. He made paintings distinguished by their energy, drama, and generous strokes of seductive color achieved...
MUSIC AND THE WAY it makes people feel and move is a recurring theme in the work of Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) and is on full display in a painting he started in 1990 and completed in 1994. “Club 55” was commissioned by Motown Records to mark the 10-year anniversary of the death of Marvin...
Lot 23: ED CLARK, “Gray Force,” 1972 (acrylic on canvas, 83 x 111 inches / 210.8 x 281.9 cm). | Estimate $400,000-$600,000. SOLD for $380,001 fees included. No. 2 lot sale AT PHILLIPS NEW YORK, the forthcoming New Now auction features dozens of works by new and rising talents, many of them African contemporary...
COMMERCIAL ART GALLERIES in New York are dedicating their September exhibitions to a variety of Black artists. Singular, mid-career figures Mickalene Thomas and Sanford Biggers are presenting new works. A survey of the late artist Ed Clark’s dynamic career is spread across two floors. The selections also include inaugural exhibitions of Brazilian artist Emanoel...
A CAPTIVATING AND MYSTERIOUS SCENE painted by Noah Davis (1983-2015) attracted a whirlwind of bids yesterday. “In Search of Gallerius Maximumianus” (2009) far exceeded expectations ($60,000-$80,000) and sold for $400,000, fees included. The price was five times the high estimate and established a new artist record. Set March 4 at Phillips New Now sale,...
ONCE RELEGATED TO THE MARGINS, artists of African descent continued to migrate toward the center of the art world in 2019, claiming space on just about every front as the decade came to a close. Black contemporary artists won many of the year’s most prestigious and lucrative international art prizes. They shared their work...
Installation view of Betye Saar at Museum of Modern Art FALL IN NEW YORK CITY is always a time of renewal and fresh new perspectives when it comes what’s next and relevant in art. This season there are an exceptional number of opportunities to experience the work of African American artists in museums, galleries,...
Artist Ed Clark (1926-2019) A SINGULAR FIGURE in post-war Abstraction, Ed Clark (1926-2019) died Oct. 18 in Detroit. He was 93. Clark is recognized for his innovation, experimentation, and seductive use of color. Over seven decades, he built a practice influenced by his education in Chicago and Paris, exposure to European modernists, and a...
PIONEERING PAINTER Ed Clark, 93, has joined Hauser & Wirth. A vital figure in post-war American painting and Abstract Expressionism, Clark has been based in New York and Paris over the course of his seven-decade career. Currently, he lives and works in Detroit. Hauser & Wirth shared news of its worldwide representation of Clark...
THE SPRING CONTEMPORARY AUCTIONS at Phillips New York featured a variety of works by critically acclaimed African American artists—emerging, mid-career, and long-established figures. Lots sold against the backdrop of Mark Bradford’s “Helter Skelter II” (2007), which was on display behind the auctioneer’s podium over the course of three sales spanning two days. On May...
Sotheby’s is auctioning “Ancient Mentor I” (1985) by Jack Whitten on Nov. 14 in New York. | Video by Sotheby’s WORKS BY SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR, expensive, and critically recognized African American artists are featured in this week’s auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips in New York. Several lots will arrive at the...
Installation view of “Frank Bowling: Make It New” at Alexander Gray Associates TEN DAYS AGO, “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” opened at the Brooklyn Museum. The groundbreaking traveling show “shines light on a broad spectrum of Black artistic practice from 1963 to 1983, one of the most politically,...
“Jonathan with Hands” (1997) by Rashid Johnson A DRAMATICALLY LIT, close-cropped portrait by Rashid Johnson covers the catalog for the African-American Fine Art sale at Swann Auction Galleries on Oct. 4. Johnson’s subject obscures his face with his hands, which are the focus of the image. The gesture is emotional and his fingers—their knuckles...
Gail Anderson of New York received the Cooper Hewitt Design Award for Lifetime Achievement. | Photo by Declan Van Welie; Paris-based Kapwani Kiwanga won the first Frieze Artist Award in New York. | Photo by Bertille-Chérot The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African...
BEAUFORD DELANEY, “Untitled (Village Street Scene),” 1948 APPLAUSE SWEPT THROUGH THE SALESROOM when a colorful mid-career canvas by Norman Lewis soared to $725,000*, three times the estimate. Bidders also clapped when a village street scene painted by Beauford Delaney (above) and “O Freedom,” a large-scale charcoal and crayon drawing by Charles White reached half...
IF JANUARY IS ANY INDICATION, 2017 will present plenty of opportunities to see new work, new ideas, and learn more about the practices of a range of artists of African descent. This selection of exhibitions opening this month, features some of the most productive artists in the art world, others whose well-established practices are...