NEW YORK, NY.- This fall marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the African American Art department at Swann Auction Galleries. The Thursday, October 1 auction will highlight a rich diversity of artists whose auction market was established by this trailblazing department.
Leading the sale is Elizabeth Catlett's important I Am the Black Woman, a complete set of 14 linoleum cuts (with three printed in color), 1946–47 ($120,000-180,000). These prints were first shown in the artist's first solo exhibition at the Barnett-Aden Gallery. Each print in this set, printed in 1989, is numbered 9/20. This is only the second time a complete set has appeared at auction; the last one was sold at Swann in 2013. Another important set featured in the sale is Jacob Lawrence's The Legend of John Brown, the complete portfolio of 22 vivid color screenprints from 1977 ($75,000-100,000).
Additional important prints of note include Wadsworth Jarrell’s Revolutionary, color screenprint, 1972 ($20,000-30,000); Kerry James Marshall’s A Black Death: Portrait of the Artist’s Mother, archival digital print, 2012 ($10,000-15,000); Belkis Ayn's Untitled, collograph, 1998 ($10,000-15,000); and #11 and #11a from Charles White’s Wanted Poster Series, two 1970 lithographs ($10,000-15,000).
Sculpture highlights include Richmond Barth's 1969 Black Majesty ($30,000-40,000). Cast during his brief time in Florence, Italy, it is a striking figure and a scarce example of a large female bronze by Barth. Also of note is Leslie Garland Bolling’s Untitled (Figure with Ball), carved poplar, circa 1931-35 ($10,000-15,000), and Elizabeth Catlett’s The Immortal, bronze, circa 1944 ($7,000-10,000). Ceramics include a 2012 salt-fired porcelain cowry shell by Simone Leigh ($40,000-60,000), and a 1981 glazed earthenware table lamp ($10,000-15,000).
Post-war paintings by David Driskell and Thomas Sills, and modernist works from the estates of Felrath Hines and Walter Augustus Simon, including his impressive 1971 acrylic on canvas, Musawwarrat es-Sufra (Sudan) ($20,000-30,000), are also featured in the sale. Contemporary highlights include Blue Black Boy, an iconic toned photograph with printed text by Carrie Mae Weems from her 1987-88 Colored People series ($25,000-35,000). House favorites are also featured, including Richard Mayhew, Howardena Pindell, Beauford Delaney, and Betye Saar, among others.
The auction includes a significant group of prints from the collection of Russell & Rowena W. Jelliffe, produced at Karamu House in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1915, the Jelliffes founded this important, integrated arts center, which they also directed; Karamu House is now the nation's oldest center for Black theater. The group includes scarce prints by Elmer Brown, Charles Sallee, Hughie Lee-Smith, William E. Smith, and other artists of the WPA era.
