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.
