July 30, 2015Swann CommunicationsAfrican American Art Biography of Dr. Maya Angelou (1928-2014) Read more about Biography of Dr. Maya Angelou (1928-2014) On September 15, 2015 Swann Galleries offered The Art Collection of Maya Angelou. Author, poet, actress and champion of civil rights, Dr. Maya Angelou was one of the most dynamic voices…
Read more about The Art Collection of Maya Angelou – A Foreword to the Auction Catalogue July 30, 2015 African American Art The Art Collection of Maya Angelou – A Foreword to the Auction Catalogue Swann Galleries is very proud to be offering for sale the art collection of one America’s great cultural heroes, Dr. Maya Angelou. Dr. Angelou’s homes were filled with paintings, sculpture…
Read more about Notes from the Catalogue: Dr. Amalia Amaki on Dr. Richard A. Long October 7, 2014 African American Art Notes from the Catalogue: Dr. Amalia Amaki on Dr. Richard A. Long Dr. Amalia Amaki, noted art historian and artist, wrote the catalogue introduction for The Richard A. Long Collection of African-American Art. Dr. Amaki, a native Atlantan, received her Ph.D in…
Read more about Must-See Fall Show: Norman Lewis & Lee Krasner at the Jewish Museum September 16, 2014 African American Art Must-See Fall Show: Norman Lewis & Lee Krasner at the Jewish Museum Last week, From the Margins: Lee Krasner and Norman Lewis opened at the Jewish Museum. The exhibition combines the works of an unlikely pair: Lee Krasner, a female Jewish artist…
August 4, 2014 African American Art African-American Artists on Martha’s Vineyard Martha’s Vineyard, an affluent summer colony located on an island south of Cape Cod, has long attracted African American artists. The town of Oak Bluffs has been a favored vacation…
Read more about The Richard A. Long Collection of African-American Art Comes to Swann July 25, 2014 African American Art The Richard A. Long Collection of African-American Art Comes to Swann On October 9, as part of our Fall African-American Fine Art auction, Swann will offer the collection of Richard A. Long. Among these 60 works are pieces by early pioneers…
Read more about Barkley L. Hendricks in Conversation with Nigel Freeman at Swann June 13, 2014 African American Art Barkley L. Hendricks in Conversation with Nigel Freeman at Swann Last week Swann Galleries had the pleasure of hosting an artist talk with Barkley L. Hendricks, whose “unique work resides at the nexus of American realism and post-modernism, a space…
Read more about Records & Results: African-American Fine Art June 12, 2014 African American Art Records & Results: African-American Fine Art An auction focused on the politically charged and artistically fertile period of the 1960s and 70s, Swann Galleries’ African-American Fine Art auction titled The Shape of Things to Come on…
Read more about Assemblage Artist Noah Purifoy at Auction for First Time June 5, 2014 African American Art Assemblage Artist Noah Purifoy at Auction for First Time Swann Galleries is pleased to offer the first significant work by assemblage artist Noah Purifoy to come to auction in our upcoming sale of African-American Fine Art titled The Shape of Things…
Read more about Kara Walker: The Talk of the Town May 22, 2014 African American Art Kara Walker: The Talk of the Town Swann’s African-American Fine Art Department discusses art-world sensation Kara Walker. Kara Walker is one of the most well-known, respected and controversial artists of her generation. She’s been a star in…
Read more about Moneta Sleet, Jr. and Coretta Scott King May 5, 2014 African American Art Moneta Sleet, Jr. and Coretta Scott King On this date in 1969, Moneta Sleet, Jr. won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for this image of a mourning Coretta Scott King, with daughter Bernice, at the funeral…
January 30, 2014 African American Art James Amos Porter, The Father of African-American Art History Swann’s African-American Fine Art Department, writes about the catalogue cover image for the upcoming auction Shadows Uplifted: The Rise of African-American Art. The cover for our February 13 auction catalogue is…
Read more about California Artists Pauline Powell Burns and Beulah Woodard January 16, 2014 African American Art California Artists Pauline Powell Burns and Beulah Woodard Among the featured artists in Swann’s February 13, 2014 auction, Shadows Uplifted: The Rise of American-American Fine Art, are Pauline Powell Burns and Beulah Ecton Woodard. These early Californian artists…
Read more about A Previously Unknown Norman Lewis Painting September 30, 2013 African American Art A Previously Unknown Norman Lewis Painting The image chosen for the cover of Swann’s upcoming sale Point of Departure: Postwar African-American Fine Art is a circa 1957 Untitled oil on canvas by Norman Lewis. The previously unrecorded painting was acquired…
Read more about The Chicago Renaissance: Eldzier Cortor, Hughie Lee-Smith, & Charles White October 18, 2012 African American Art The Chicago Renaissance: Eldzier Cortor, Hughie Lee-Smith, & Charles White Figurative artists Eldzier Cortor, Hughie Lee-Smith and Charles White stayed true to their roots in social realism as their work evolved in the post-war decades. Unlike contemporaries Charles Alston, Norman…
Read more about Robert Scott Duncanson’s East Coast Debut May 11, 2011 African American Art Robert Scott Duncanson’s East Coast Debut Robert Scott Duncanson was the first African-American landscape painter to achieve international recognition. The son of a biracial tradesman from Virginia, and the grandson of a freed slave, Duncanson apprenticed in…
January 21, 2011 African American Art Romare Bearden: Celebrating One Hundred Years Romare Bearden is undoubtedly one of America’s greatest artists. Today, his collages are viewed as some of the most unique and significant contributions to 20th century American art. Born during…
Read more about David Hammons Garners International Recognition for African-American Art September 29, 2010 African American Art David Hammons Garners International Recognition for African-American Art Contemporary African-American artist David Hammons is known for his body prints and assemblages of found objects, such as his fly swatter. His oversize version of an African-American flag hangs outside the Studio…
Read more about Bob Thompson and the 1960s New York Art Scene June 17, 2010 African American Art Bob Thompson and the 1960s New York Art Scene Bob Thompson stood apart from most of his contemporaries in the early 1960s. On one hand, he was the epitome of a New York bohemian artist working in a Clinton…
Read more about Hammons, or World’s Most Expensive Fly Swatter? February 25, 2010 African American Art Hammons, or World’s Most Expensive Fly Swatter? Among the top lots in the February 23, 2010 auction of African-American Fine Art was a unique Fly Swatter created in 1992 by contemporary artist David Hammons, which sold for…
Read more about Malvin Gray Johnson Painting in Swann African-American Fine Art Auction February 2010 December 22, 2009 African American Art Malvin Gray Johnson Painting in Swann African-American Fine Art Auction February 2010 Swann Galleries’ auction of African-American Fine Art on February 23, 2010, will offer approximately 160 lots from many notable collections and estates, including several museum-quality works. The sale’s top lot,…
October 14, 2009 African American Art Alma Thomas Paintings Hang in White House A painting by Alma Thomas will be hung in the White House during the Obama administration! Sky Light, 1973 (left), and Watusi (Hard Edge), 1963 (right), by Alma Thomas,…
Read more about Spotlight on John Biggers’s ‘Shotguns’ September 23, 2009 African American Art Spotlight on John Biggers’s ‘Shotguns’ The image that graces the cover of the auction catalogue for Swann Galleries’ sale of African-American Fine Art on Thursday, October 8, 2009, is John Biggers’s powerful 1987 oil and…
Read more about Richard L. Brown Painting to be Offered in October 2009 September 17, 2009 African American Art Richard L. Brown Painting to be Offered in October 2009 Our October 8, 2009 auction of African-American Fine Art featured the Richard L. Brown painting Mt. Monadnock, 1911, which sold for $7,200.
Read more about Cornelius Marion Battey Photographic Portraits Discovered September 16, 2009 African American Art Cornelius Marion Battey Photographic Portraits Discovered Our October 8, 2009 African-American Fine Art auction marks the first time that early photographer Cornelius Marion Battey’s photographic portraits will come to auction. These photographs were recently discovered in…
Read more about Elizabeth Catlett Speaks at MoMA May 20, 2009 African American Art Elizabeth Catlett Speaks at MoMA Conversations: Among Friends – May 19, 2009 On May 19, 2009, 94-year-old Elizabeth Catlett and David C. Driskell shared “Conversations: Among Friends,” at the Museum of Modern Art. Driskell, a…