Margaret T. Burroughs, Museum Founder Passes

The New York Times has reported that the founder of Chicago's DuSable Museum of African American History has passed, artist, Margaret T. Burroughs.

Known for her work in printmaking, Margaret Burroughs was a champion of black visual arts and black historical objects. She was a member of the Arts Craft Guild and one of the founder's of the South Side Community Art Center.

Black Venus, 1957
Linoleum cut on imitation Japan paper
14x11 1/8 inches, full margins

Sale 2203, Feb 23 2010 Swann Auction Galleries, AFRICAN-AMERICAN FINE ART, Lot 63
Estimate: $1000 - $1500
Sold: $4,500

Carnival Masqueraders in Brooklyn: Photographs by Anthony Bonair

Carnival Masqueraders in Brooklyn, photographs by Anthony Bonair, is on exhibit at the Skylight Gallery at Restoration Plaza (Brooklyn, NY) from October 9th to January 5th, 2011.

Mr. Bonair is more commonly known for his extensive collection of Carnival images from the 1970s to the present. The exhibition was curated by Dulcie Ingleton and includes dynamic images of the Carnival costume and mas performers of Brooklyn's West Indian Carnival during Labor Day Weekend. His other portfolios of work include dance photography in New York (1970s to 1980s), multiple exposures of advertisement imagery and floral arrangements, and social documentary street photography. Bonair studied photography with Roy DeCarava at Hunter College, City University of New York.

Skylight Gallery
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Friday: 11:00AM – 6:00PM, Saturday: 12:00PM – 6:00PM
Date/time: Saturday, October 9, 2010 - Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Location: 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11216; The Skylight Gallery - 3rd Floor
More info: Contact Aisha at (718) 636-6976.

Contemporary African Art “Africa Scenes I” - Artcurial Auction, October 24, 2010

Sale 1900, Contemporary African Art “Africa Scenes I,” was held at Artcurial in Paris, France on Sunday, October 24, 2010. The sale totaled 266,444 USD. The following lots were found in the top five sales:

R. CHIWAYA (Ecole de Tingatinga) "GOLD SPOTTED LEOPARD & FRIEND THE SONGBIRD" circa 1970, 46,838 USD (see left);

Brahim EL ANATSUI, ANCESTORS GAZE, 1995, 44,876 USD;

Kay HASSAN, SISTER I, de la série "THREE SISTERS", 2004 and Seydou KEITA
SANS TITRE, 1952-56, 25,148 USD;

Malick SIDIBE, COMBAT DES AMIS AVEC PIERRES, 1976, 23,547 USD; and

Chéri SAMBA, MBONGO YA BA PATRONS, déc 2001, 11,692 USD.

All prices include buyer's premium and taxes.

Seydou KEITA, SANS TITRE, 1952-56

Cheri Samba, MBONGO YA BA PATRONS, déc 2001

Brooklyn Museum Advances Collecting of African-American Art

In the October 21st edition of the New York Times, art writer, Carol Vogel, announces that the Brooklyn Museum will advance the scope of its African-American art collection to pre-1945 works.

The museum is known for more than handful of exhibitions featuring African-American artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Martin Puryear, and Romare Bearden, among others. However, this new initiative will add to the museum's rich collection of mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century works. This is a smart move on the museum's part as public momentum grows and deepens in the area of collecting and studying African-American art.

Earlier this year, the museum hosted a panel discussion on Collecting African-American Art featuring gallery owners, Corinne Jennings (Kenkeleba Gallery) and Michael Rosenfeld (Michael Rosenfeld Gallery), and African-American art auction specialist, Nigel Freeman (Swann Galleries Auction).

Top Five Results of Swann's African-American Fine Art Auction

Of the 145 lots available for sale at the Thursday, October 7th African-American Fine Art auction at Swann Auction Galleries the following were the top five sales, including buyer's premium:

1. Lot #122: Robert Colescott's A Legend Dimly Told, 1992, sold for 132,000 USD;
2. Lot #8: Sargent Claude Johnson's Mask, 1933 and Lot # 23: Jacob Lawrence, Two Card Players, c. 1942, each sold for 67,200 USD;
3. Lot #72: Alvin Loving's 9 Septehedrons, 1969, sold for 36,000 USD;
4. Lot #18: William Edmondson's Squirrel, sold for 31, 200 USD; and
5. Lot #62: Bob Thompson's Echo and Narcissus, 1965 tied with Lot #103: Hale Woodruff's Yellow Landscape, 1970s, sold for 26,400 USD.
   

African-American Fine Art Auction

Swann Auction Galleries has announced their October 7, 2010 sale of African-American Art. "The sale contains 140 lots by many sought-after African-American artists, including many museum-quality works ranging from rare early 20th-century paintings and sculptures through desirable contemporary pieces."

Some of the works of note include William H. Johnson's Training for War, c. 1942, (see left) a hand-colored stencil and screenprint measuring 11 1/2x17 1/2 inches, depicting the contributions of African-American soldiers to the war effort. Johnson is known to have produced a handful of prints. The work is estimated at 75,000 - 100,000 USD.

The Ken Oden Collection of African-American Photography and Ephemera

On Tuesday, August 24th and Wednesday, August 25th, Jackson's International Auctioneers & Appraisers of Fine Art and Antiques held a notable and extensive sale of African-American photography and ephemera held by the collector, Ken Oden. As reported in an announcement posted on Auction Central News, Oden collected upwards of 40,000 pieces over two decades:

458-album collection of more than 42,000 pieces representing over 5,500 publishers and 125 different categories.

The pieces collected draw from various aspects of black life in North and South America (including the Caribbean), Africa, Asia, and Europe. The images reflect moments of achievement (both personal and social), entertainment, cultural heritage, minstrelsy, and stereotypes, among others.

The top five items sold include lot 324, an ambrotype portrait of Frederick Douglass, c. 1870s. The item was estimated at 10,000-15,000 USD, and sold for 24,000 USD. A similar image sold at Swann Auction Galleries in their February 25, 2010 sale of Printed & Manuscript African Americana for 15,600 USD.

The second highest item was lot 104, an early twentieth-century image of the lynching of Jesse Washington (Waco, TX). The image sold for 7,200 USD.

The third best selling item, lot number 6, was a photo postcard of the all-black 24th Infantry Manila League Baseball Team based in Batangas, Philippines. The unused postcard, dated July 20, 1913, features ten team members, and sold for 6,600 USD, over seven times its high estimate of 900 USD.

The fourth best selling item is a tie between lot numbers 100 and 176, both selling at 5,760 USD. Lot number 100 is a postcard of a lynching, estimated at 800-1,200 USD, and lot number 117 is a interior view of a convict's cell, estimated at 200-400 USD.

The fifth highest selling item is an early twentieth-century lynching photograph "apparently of Benny Simmons". The image was estimated at 300-600 USD, and sold for 3,360 USD, nearly six times its high estimate.

Artists Speaking for the Spirits

Forty artists create murals at the ARTC-URI agency. "Artists Speaking for the Spirits" is located at Arthur Bennett Hall at downtown Brooklyn's Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation - Urban Resource Institute (ARTC-URI). The exhibition features veteran, emerging, and mid-career artists of African descent who explore the healing power of art through such subjects as the family, movement/performance, community, spiritual development/religion, folklore, history, politics, and satire. The artists include James Denmark, Ramona Candy, Linda Hiwot, Sonia Lynn Sadler, Karl McIntosh, Jean Dominique, Emmett Wigglesworth, among many notable others. Participating artists are collected and exhibited at the internationally-known museum level, and found in noted private collections.

Arthur Bennett Hall is located at 22 Chapel Street between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. Call 718-260-2909 for additional information and viewing hours.

Left to right: Carlton Murrell, "Fall in the Park" acrylic on canvas, 10' x 5'; Che Baraka, "If You Surrender to the Air, You Can Ride It." acrylic on canvas, 8' x 5' (partial view)

Left to right: Vivian Ara, "The Healers" acrylic on canvas, 5' x 5' (partial view); Brent Bailer, "Celebrating Obama" acrylic on canvas, 10' x 5'

Charlotte Ka, "Dance - Celebration of Life" acrylic on canvas, 10' x 5'

Otto Neals, "Time Changes Things" acrylic on canvas, 10' x 5'

Haiti Through Art

"Hope Springs Eternal: A Rebirth of Haiti Through Art" is currently on exhibit at the Summit Medical Group center in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. With over 110 works on display, the exhibition features Haitian-born artists now living in the United States. A portion of the sale proceeds will be donated for relief services to Haiti through LANBI Center for Humanities and Civics, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to enhancement and development of the Haitian community. Here's a sampling of the work on display.

Jean-Marie Eliscard, "Alphabetisation" 24 x 30, oil on canvas

and "L'Exile (Exile)" 24 x 30, oil on canvas

Out of the Blue: Modern Art and Jazz

At the Thursday, June 24th sale at Swann Auction Galleries, Out of the Blue: Modern Art and Jazz, Norman Lewis's Bassist was the highest selling lot at 40,000 USD. Lot number 13, an oil on canvas, measuring 29 5/8 x 11 7/8 inches, is noted as one of the earliest abstracted jazz images produced by the artist (1945-1946) that has come to auction. The auction estimate for Bassist was 50,000 - 70,000 USD.

Among the lots that sold in the early five figures just behind Bassist, were works by Romare Bearden, Jazz Musician at Piano, a work on paper owned by the artist's wife, Nanette Bearden, which sold for 25,000 USD; and Charles Alston's Untitled (Cityscape at Night), an oil on canvas circa early 1950s (see below), which sold at its low estimate, 20,000 USD.

Recent Sales of African-American Art: Part One

A few auction sales of note for those tracking the African-American art market.

At the March 9th auction of Contemporary Art at Sotheby's, Norman Lewis's Untitled (Doors Red) sold at hammer price of 25,000 USD. The oil on canvas work dated 10/20/1946 was estimated at 15,000-20,000 USD.

Two of Romare Bearden's work sold at the same auction:
* Dreaming About Mrs. Anne & Lulu Belle, a dye color and paper collage on board, sold for 34, 375 USD, twice its high estimate (10,000-15,000 USD); and

*Untitled (Woman Resting), sold for 31, 250 USD at hammer price. The acrylic, pencil and paper collage on board was estimated at 12,000-18,000 USD.

At the Sotheby's American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture auction held on March 3, 2010 yieleded sales results totaling 2,311,816 USD. Among the lots sold was Charles Ethan Porter's PEONIES AND ROSES IN A GREEN VASE. The painting sold for 7,500 USD, just below its high estimate (7,000 - 10,000 USD).

The Sotheby's Contemporary Art Day Sale in London, February 11, 2010, included Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled, c. 1986. The work (lot 230) sold for 244,948.32 USD. The same lot sold at Christie's NY's Post-War & Contemporary Art Sale on May 10, 2006 (Lot 514) to a private collection in Germany.

Help for Haiti

Today, let us focus our attention on Haiti.

The images show the devastating impact of the earthquake on buildings and the people.

Please consider donating your time or resources to relief efforts organized in your community.

Here's a place to begin investigating where you can donate funds.

Thank you.