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Reader asks about James Van Der Zee signed poster

Posted in Photos, and Reader questions

Friday at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources to help them determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do some…

February 25, 2010

James Van Der Zee’s photos of Harlem

Posted in Photos

No one quite captured the culture, the love and the beauty of the people of Harlem like photographer James Van Der Zee. We all can conjure in our minds his iconic 1932 photo of a…

“ART WITH HEART: How I Built a Sweet Collection by Buying Cheap at Auction”

I collect art, but I’m not someone who has the means to pay $500,000 for a Charles White or $12 million for a Rembrandt. I’m one of the “rest of us” who want beautiful artwork in our homes but can’t afford to pay big bucks for it.

I found a novel way to build my collection – by buying art for very little money at mom-and-pop auction houses near where I live. I started out buying African American artists whose works spoke to me and were ignored by the mainstream art world. Then I discovered some other neglected artists who called out just as loud.

My book “ART WITH HEART” Is a selection of stories of how I found art that I loved, how I lost out on some, won others, learned some lessons that I share with you – and enjoyed every minute of it.

So, grab a seat next to me as I take you through the moments I spent building a collection that stirred my heart.

Watch the Book Trailer

Listen to and read an excerpt

Read more at sherryhoward.com

Buy the paperback

Contact me for presentations/book signings

I started going to auctions to fuel my love for African American art – but at a bargain. I wanted to find works of the masters and discover others whose art may have been hiding in an attic or basement, and forgotten.

I have amassed a collection of their works but also those of unknown and little-known artists of all stripes, many of them from Philadelphia. I have also uncovered black history intertwined with American history, showing that one did not happen without the other and demonstrating that my ancestors’ history was just as powerful and significant.

Auction Finds is filled with fascinating stories – from books to photographs to documents to artifacts – on subjects that are as diverse as we are as a country. I’ve learned some things that I think will excite you as much as they excited me.

Photo by Jimmy Baynes, Cleveland, OH.
Photo by Earl Ford.
Photo by Jimmy Baynes of Cleveland, OH.
Photo by Arthur Eddie Williamson, Kansas City, MO.
Photo by Mitchell Studios, Cleveland, OH.
Photo by E.F. Joseph’s Studios, Oakland, CA, 1942.
Photographer Jimmy Baynes.
Photo by Clement Perry
Photo by Jimmy Baynes, Cleveland, OH.
Photo by Jimmy Baynes, Cleveland, OH.
Photo by Moorer.
Photo by James. E. Smith, Muskegon Heights, MI.
Photo by Jimmy Baynes, Cleveland, OH.