Black women artists at fine art auction

Black women artists were in the house Tuesday at the Swann Auction Galleries African American Fine Art auction in New York. Their images were on paper and canvas staring from the walls, and their signatures were written notably on their own works.
 

In many instances, they stood as image and artist. Elizabeth Catlett – seemingly always there in lithographs – was all over the place. Meta Warrick Fuller was there for the first time. Laura Wheeler Waring – whose works I’ve only seen in art books – represented with two pieces. Selma Burke showed off  in sculptured stone.

Artist Camille Billops came in person; two of her prints were up for auction.

The black women artists were on hand, all right, but unfortunately, none of their artwork sold for the thousands of dollars that a Sargent Claude Johnson sculpture or a Norman Lewis abstract or a Malvin Gray Johnson or Jacob Lawrence painting can draw.

But isn’t that the story of black women artists? Or most women artists, for that matter? Their works have never been considered equal to that of male artists. Female artists can be a hard-sell, and some of that was the case at Swann (although some male artists didn’t do too well, either).

Black women artists have been struggling for recognition for decades. They were right there with the men painting and etching and carving during the years of and beyond the Harlem Renaissance, all trying to making a living and name for themselves. Some women do get their names mixed in with the men when historians talk about artists from that period: Laura Wheeler Waring, Meta Warrick Fuller, Edmonia Lewis, Augusta Savage, Lois Mailou Jones, Selma Burke, among others.

Like the men, some found patronage through groups like the Harmon Foundation, but they never really got their due.  And many of them, including Lois Mailou Jones – whom I interviewed in the 1995 for an article in Emerge magazine (I still have the interview on tape) – escaped to Europe for awhile to practice their craft among people who saw beyond their color.

Today, black women artists, galleries and museums have tried to fix the slight. Books have been published, exhibits have been mounted, and more words has been written about both the elder female masters and contemporary artists.

It was a joy to see Fuller’s two works at Swann, because her pieces rarely come up for auction. Swann noted in its catalog that this was the first time such pieces by her were being sold. 

They were gotten for surprisingly inexpensive and disappointing prices. One was a plaster sculpture painted gold called the “Peeping Tom of Coventry” from 1899. (The full photo is at left, from the Swann site.) It was estimated to sell from $10,000 to $15,000, and sold for $6,000. The other was a painted plaster plaque called “Ta Adoramus Domine (The Three Kings),” circa 1930-35, which needed some conservation work. It was estimated at 4,000 to $6,000, and sold for $3,600.

Fuller attended the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia, and studied in Europe under sculptor Auguste Rodin (“The Thinker”).

Another whose art I don’t often come across was Waring, whose lovely oil-on-canvas scene of a rural landscape near her studio in Cheyney, PA, outside Philadelphia went for $10,000. Swann said this was only the second Waring piece it had brought to auction. According to the catalog, Waring directed the music and art departments at Cheyney State Teachers College (now Cheyney University) after returning from Paris in 1928. She was there until her death in 1948. The painting was circa 1940s.

Here are some other prices paid for black women artists’ works and images at Swann, including some that didn’t sell. (These prices do not include the 20 percent gallery premium). You can see all of these on the Swann website:

Sargent Claude Johnson, terra cotta sculpture “Standing Woman,” pictured below, right. $44,000.

Selma Burke, sandstone head of Sierra Leone drummer “Asadata Dafora,” $22,000 (didn’t sell).

Elizabeth Catlett, lithograph, “Domestic Worker,” pictured far below, left. $13,000.

Elizabeth Catlett, lithograph, “Bello I (Black is Beautiful),” $2,200.

Margaret Burroughs, lino cut, “Black Venus,” $4,500.

Mavis Pusey, abstract lithograph, “Untitled,” $1,100.

Camille Billops, intaglio, “I am Black, I am Black, I am Dangerously Black,” $2,600.

Camille Billops, etching & aquatint, “For Japanese with Mirrors,” $1,000.

Betye Saar, screenprint, “Return to Dreamtime,” $800.

Phoebe Beasley, collage, “Conversation with Butterflies,” $6,500.

Margo Humphrey, lithograph, “The Last Bar-B-Cue,” $8,000.

Marie Johnson-Calloway, collage, “Family,” $5,600.

John Biggers, charcoal & crayon on paper, “Entering the Market,” $10,000.

Charles White, lithograph, “Juba,” $4,200.

Hughie Lee-Smith, oil on canvas, “Mabel (Portrait of the Artist’s Wife),” $19,000 (didn’t sell).

Thelma Johnson Streat, gouache, crayon/pencil on cardstock, “Mask,” $3,800 (didn’t sell). I had never heard of this artist before. She was born in 1911 in Washington state and was a primarily a West Coast artist. According to Swann, her 1941 painting “Rabbit Man” was the first work by a black woman to be exhibited and purchased by New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1942.

Barkley L. Hendricks, oil & acrylic on canvas, “Jackie Sha-La-La (Jackie Cameron),” $40,000.

The highest price painting at auction Tuesday? Malvin Gray Johnson’s “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” $190,000. It was an oil on canvas from 1928.
 

For a different perspective on Tuesday’s auction, check out Swann’s blog.