Celebrating African American Art Throughout the Year, 2025 Calendars Focus on Richard Mayhew, Alma Thomas, Faith Ringgold, Romare Bearden, Feature Barkley Hendricks
THE POWERFUL PORTRAITS of Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017) are in a category of their own. Key elements characterize the late artist’s paintings, including his masterful use of color. “Miss Brown To You” (1970) by Hendricks, pictures his subject wearing a red top against a red background. When he employed this stylized approach, Hendricks described the...
Auction Results: Swann’s First Sale Since COVID-19 Shutdown Features Printed & Manuscript African Americana and Art-Related Ephemera
PROTESTING POOR WORKING CONDITIONS, Memphis sanitation workers walked off their jobs in February 1968. More than 1,300 black men went on strike. Carrying signs that declared “I Am A Man,” they demanded recognition of their union, better wages, and improved safety standards. Two months later, Martin Luther King Jr., went to Memphis to support...
Swann Auctions Johnson Publishing Art Collection, Yielding Countless Records and Closing Final Chapter of Iconic Company
THE CHICAGO PUBLIC ART PROGRAM commissioned a seven-panel series of historic images by Carrie Mae Weems nearly 25 years ago. Composed of framed chromogenic prints and sandblasted text on glass, the untitled work was made in 1996-97 in an edition of three. The first set went to the Bee Branch of the Chicago Public...
Celebrating African American Art Every Month of the Year, 2020 Calendars Showcase Charles White, Ernie Barnes, Alma Thomas, Basquiat and Bearden
OVER THE PAST YEAR, an “African American Art” wall calendar has featured a succession of 19th and 20th century artists, each month showcasing works by William H. Johnson, Robert S. Duncanson, and James A. Porter, among others. Expressing support for Angela Davis, Charles White‘s “Love Letter” (1971) presided over October and this month Laura...
Corcoran Collection Art Goes to Howard University, and Smithsonian African American and Anacostia Museums
Sam Gilliam’s 1969 painting, “Light Depth” will be added to the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. | Courtesy Corcoran Collection THE REMAINING ART from the Corcoran Gallery of Art has been distributed. More than 10,750 works were given away. Nearly all of it went to 22 institutions in Washington, D.C. The...
Art Capital: Nearly 500 Gather at National Gallery of Art to Discuss African American Art in 20th Century Washington
Detail of ALMA THOMAS, “Red Rose Cantata” 1973 (acrylic on canvas). | Courtesy National Gallery of Art Symposium gives a nod to Howard University and local artists, scholars and curators who shaped the field WASHINGTON, D.C. — For decades, Howard University in Washington, D.C., was at the center of the African American art world....
Fund for African American Art Transforming Brooklyn Museum’s Holdings, Will Honor Collector Pamela J. Joyner at Annual Benefit
THE FUND FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN ART at the Brooklyn Museum is honoring collector Pamela J. Joyner at its annual benefit March 16. The fund concentrates on gifts and purchases of pre-1945 works by important African American artists. Recent acquisitions include “Woman with Bouquet” (circa 1940) by Laura Wheeler Waring, Beauford Delaney’s 1945 “Untitled (Fang,...
Dec. 15: Next Swann African American Art Auction Features Diverse Slate of Significant Modern and Contemporary Works
SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES has released the catalog for its fall African American Fine Art sale on Dec. 15 in New York. The selection, which it describes as including its “strongest offerings to date,” features a number of Norman Lewis paintings, several works by Hughie Lee-Smith, Lois Mailou Jones, Beauford Delaney, and Charles White, along with...
Prominent African American Artists Break Records at Swann Auction
LAST THURSDAY WAS A HISTORY-MAKING DAY in African American art. Sales results show Swann Auction Galleries recorded $2.36 million in total sales (including fees), four lots sold for more than six figures and, most notably, seven artists achieved record prices. Swann Auction Galleries held its first African American fine art auction of the year on...
American Masters: 7 Exhibitions Feature Important 20th Century Artists Who Broke Barriers
JACOB LAWRENCE COMPLETED “The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture,” his first series of historic narrative paintings in 1938. It was the same year Talladega College commissioned Hale Woodruff to paint a series of murals depicting the Amistad uprising. Both projects document pivotal moments in black diasporic history and demonstrate the immense talent of important 20th century...
Ebay Live Auctions Debut with Swann African American Art
BROWSING EBAY, LOTS FEATURING Hale Woodruff, Alma Thomas, Jacob Lawrence and Kara Walker appear. Better known for selling collectibles, resale designer clothing and used books and magazines, eBay is launching a live bidding product with several New York auction galleries today. An offering of African American Fine Art at Swann Galleries is the debut...
Bartlett’s Black Quotations: New Volume Features Insight from Artists
HAPPY 2014! WHAT BETTER WAY to plunge into the new year than to study the wise words of black artists past and present? After years of establishing itself as the chief purveyor of notable quotes and sayings, Bartlett’s recently published “Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations: 5,000 Years of Literature, Lyrics, Poems, Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs from Voices...
