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.