I’m always on the lookout at auction for works by African American artists whom I’ve never heard of before. And I’ve been lucky to have picked up a few pieces from time to time. It’s always a…
A sorry fight over black artist’s works
Posted in Art
Category: Art
Doing the cakewalk – in bronze
Posted in Art, collectibles, and Postcards
Back in November, my auction buddy Janet found four neat postcards among a lot of cards she had just bought. They were images of two black couples demonstrating how to do the cakewalk around 1904.…
A treasure trove of African masks
Posted in Art, Carvings, and collectibles
They were lying almost cheek to cheek on a long table, in double rows, at the auction house. Some of the nicest African masks I’ve seen in a while. Some years ago, I was into…
Needle packs: Too classy for sewing
Posted in Art, collectibles, and Sewing
When my auction buddy Janet saw a needle pack among others on an auction table recently, she hunted me down to tell me that it was one that she wanted. She knew that I tended to…
Whenever I spot a sampler at auction, I always pause a minute to look it over. I wonder about the girl behind it – boys didn’t often stitch them – and what it says about…
Norman Rockwell’s make-believe world
Posted in Art
I spent an afternoon this week in Norman Rockwell’s America. I wasn’t at an auction, but inside an exhibit of his Saturday Evening Post magazine covers and some 3-D life-size sculptures of scenes from them.…
Pyramid Club’s black arts legacy
Posted in Art, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
I was checking out the upcoming auction at one of my favorite places when I spotted it: A program for the Philadelphia Pyramid Club’s art exhibition from the 1940s. Was it possible? I had wanted…