The audience seemed to be ho-hum as artist Charles Ethan Porter’s beautiful yellow sunflowers went for $40,000. I didn’t observe much stirring when William H. Johnson’s jitterbug dancers sold for $90,000.
But when Elizabeth Catlett’s mournful face of an African American woman topped off at $170,000, the auction applauded.
It would not be the last time.
Catlett, known for her sculptures and paintings of black women, was one of a handful of African American artists whose works drew six figures at Swann Auction Galleries twice-yearly sale. Nicholas D. Lowry, the colorful principal auctioneer and president of Swann, said after the sale that this was the auction house’s best sale of African American art.
The highest price went to an untitled Norman Lewis oil on canvas – for $600,000. It had been a while since I’d been to a Swann art auction, but I recalled that Lewis’ works were beginning to sell remarkably well. Three years ago, one of his paintings pulled in $800,000. It was not always that way; for a long time very few people knew who he was.
When the painting came up for bids, Lowry started at $110,000 and was moving up incrementally when one of the staffers manning the phone called out $200,000. Someone really wanted that painting. Then the bid was upped to $300,000 and kept going until it stopped at $600,000. The room was ecstatic, and everyone applauded.
The audience consisted primarily of African Americans, many who likely attend all of Swann’s auctions because they love African American art and especially love it when it sells well. It’s always a proud moment when a painting sells big because it is an indication that maybe finally African American artists are being recognized and appreciated.
To a large degree, Swann has helped to make that happen, starting its African American art auctions more than 10 years ago. I used to go to both the art sale and manuscript sale often, and witnessed the rise in prices. But these art prices are still not on par with works of white artists.
A few years ago, I was at Swann when artist David Driskell dropped by. One of his paintings – as well as one by Lois Mailou Jones, one of my favorites – sold at reasonably good prices. His works, he noted, sell for much more at the gallery that represents him (not surprising since prices are always higher at galleries). I told him about an interview I had done with Jones in the 1990s during which she lamented that she was not properly recognized. Works by Jones, under whom he had studied, should be bringing in a lot more, he said.
At this auction, seven paintings attracted six figures, and I suspect that they were purchased by museums. Before the Museum of African American History and Culture opened a few years ago, its reps were at many Swann sessions bidding on and winning African American art and manuscripts.
One buyer at this auction, whom I recalled was bidding on Beauford Delaney’s “Untitled (Village Street Scene),” stuck with it until he won the piece at $460,000. When I looked back later to where he was sitting, he had gone. I suppose he came to buy one thing and left.
Catlett’s was an oil portrait titled “Head of a Woman (Woman),” 1944. It was a small painting (12″ x 10″) of a woman with sad eyes. It was a “very scarce” painting, according to the Swann catalog, created when she and her then-husband artist Charles White moved to New York.
After a premium was added, the Catlett painting cost $209,000; Lewis, $725,000, and Delaney, $557,000.
Here are some of the other paintings that scored big for Swann and their owners:
I’ve always loved Charles White’s larger-than-life works. The African Americans in his charcoal drawings tower majestically like kings and queens. This one was titled “O Freedom,” 1956. A huge painting, it sold for $420,000 ($509,000 with premium).
This painting by Lawrence, titled “19. Tension on the High Seas,” 1956, is one of 30 panels in his “Struggle Series.” The panels were painted in the early 1950s and focus on events from U.S. history. This one shows a scene on a British naval ship with an officer inspecting wounded Americans who had been captured.
“Primordial Landscape,” 1967, which, according to the catalog, shows Woodruff’s shift into abstract painting. It was quite different from any of the Woodruff pieces that I’d seen, which were more realistic. This one sold for $200,000 ($245,000 with premium).
“Untitled,” 1972, is an acrylic painting by Gilliam, whose works are easily identifiable to me. They are bursts of color, and this one uses what is called the “soak-stain” technique. Its edges were beveled. It sold for $190,000 ($233,000).
