I was waiting for the art auction at Freeman’s Auctioneers to end after about two hours, tired, when up on the video screen flashed a lovely painting with a dark face smack in the middle.…
Category: Art
I didn’t see much that moved me on the box-lots table in the back room of one of my favorite auction houses recently. Not until I spotted a light beige vase interspersed among some small junk…
That first buy – a Carl Sorensen bowl
Posted in Art, collectibles, and Crafts
Recently, I was talking to the sister of a regular auction-goer who had tagged along with him to the biweekly auction. She had joined him at other auctions, but she had never bought anything. This time,…
Black women, voiceless no more
Posted in Art
The terracotta figurine was decidedly a black woman. Full lips, wide nose, fashionable tip of the head. I spotted her almost hidden among some larger items on the auction table recently. The skirt of her…
I can’t imagine having the stuffed head of a black bear hanging over my fireplace mantle. I can see it now: When I move left, its eyes stalk me. When I move right, they still…
For years, I collected children’s books illustrated by African American artists. I imagined that that these artists found it liberating to be painting for children, their stories simple yet imaginative. I’ve never found any of…
Do you remember Rickie Tickie Stickies? I didn’t when I first found a bunch of them in packages while inspecting a box lot from auction a couple weeks ago. I was going to toss them until…
I first learned about Dave the Potter when Winterthur, the former DuPont estate that is now a museum, held an exhibit of his stoneware pieces. The exhibit was called “‘I made this jar’ The Life…
Belated look at sale of Louis Sloan’s art
Posted in Art
Back in April, I wrote about a tug-of-war within the family of the late Philadelphia artist Louis B. Sloan over his artwork. At age 75, the artist died in 2008 on his way out to…
It’s hard to imagine the voice of James Earl Jones coming out of some of the Vader Project pop-inspired helmets at auction last weekend. Carmen Mirandarth (with fruit as hair). Darth Mushroom (baby-girl pink), Hanus…