My friend Valorie pulled me aside as I stood listening to a curator expounding on artist Henry Ossawa Tanner’s painting “The Annunciation,” its brilliant light and shadows illuminating not only the painting itself but its message.…
Tag: Art
The distinct art of Sarai Sherman
Posted in Art
Sarai Sherman was about 26 years old when she exhibited a painting called “Hericane Time” in an art show at Philadelphia’s Pyramid Club back in 1948. I found her name and the piece listed in…
A stack of paintings by Haitian artists
Posted in Art
The auction house was cold as usual as I walked through the door despite a heater blasting full force near the front. The auctioneer had threatened a few times to take his auction elsewhere to escape this freezer…
The ceramic art of Lisa Larson
Posted in Art
The little boy and girl looked so demure and playful as they stood there on the auction table. Their innocent faces were almost apologetic as they held white and blue petal flowers seemingly for someone special. I didn’t…
The prints on the picture racks at the auction house had a decidedly 1960s look. They were intriguing, so I answered their call and drew closer for a better view. The images in some of the…
Tips for the new art collector
Posted in Art
When I started collecting African American art, the first piece I bought was a signed and numbered print by a Washington, DC, artist named John Anderson. I didn’t know much about who to collect and what…
As soon as I saw the painting propped against a wall at the auction house, that infamous opening line from many a bad novel immediately seized me: “It was a dark and stormy night.” This…
The wooden sculpture was taller than me, and thicker. The wood was dark, heavy, rough to the touch. It stood in a corner just beyond a wide door that led to another room in the…
I was making my way among the tables of beautiful high-grade colored glassware when I decided to check out the equally high-grade furniture at the auction house. This was one of its Modern Design sales,…
The southernness of Tanya Murphy’s art
Posted in Art, and Black history
The first time I saw the artworks of Tanya Murphy, they felt very familiar. Their earthiness took me back to my southern roots, her old photographs on top of old photographs, sealed in a shellac that…