An outstanding selection of works by African American artists will be offered during the spring edition of Swann Auction Galleries’ African American Art sale, taking place April 4.
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Legend of John Brown, 1977. Complete portfolio with printed poem by Robert Hayden and 22 color screenprints, 20 x 35 in. each. Estimate: $100/150,000“Our auctions continue to bring important works to auction by overlooked African American artists—many worked in the figurative tradition in the post-war period, like Hughie Lee-Smith and Paul Keene,” says Nigel Freeman, Swann’s director of African American art.
Lee-Smith’s 1970 oil painting Ball Player, depicting a man engaging in a solitary game, is one of many highlights collectors should keep on their radar during the upcoming sale. “Ball Player, 1970, is a powerful painting that epitomizes the artist’s evocative depictions of African American youth in desolate urban settings,” says Freeman. “[The painting] has been widely exhibited and was in the personal collection of the artist before being acquired by the current owners.” The piece is estimated to bring in between $150,000 and $250,000.
Hughie Lee-Smith (1915-1999), Ball Player, 1970. Oil on canvas, 24 x 32 in. Estimate: $150/250,000
Another highlight, Freeman adds, is a vibrant scene of a carousel by abstract realist Paul F. Keene Jr., estimated at $30,000 to $40,000. “This large 1953 painting is one of his finest paintings we have seen—a wonderful synthesis of modernism and the Afro-Caribbean imagery Keene encountered in Haiti while on a John Hay Whitney Foundation fellowship,” says Freeman.
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Legend of John Brown, 1977. Complete portfolio with printed poem by Robert Hayden and 22 color screenprints, 20 x 35 in. each. Estimate: $100/150,000Swann Auction Galleries will also offer a complete set of Jacob Lawrence’s masterwork in printmaking, The Legend of John Brown, coming to auction for the first time since 2008. “The Legend of John Brown is a tour-de-force of printmaking in screenprint and an important collaboration between the artist Jacob Lawrence and the printmaker Ives-Sillmann from 1974 to 1977,” Freeman comments. “The 22 color screenprints reproduce Lawrence’s 1947 series of paintings in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Art, telling the narrative of the abolitionist John Brown in the most vivid colors. The DIA commissioned Lawrence to produce the suite in screenprint as the original gouache paintings were too fragile to travel. This is a pristine set and the first complete portfolio to come to auction since 2008. The set is found today in institutional collections, including the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, the Spencer Museum of Art, the University of Kansas, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the University of Washington Libraries, and the Yale University Art Gallery.” The complete portfolio has a presale estimate of $100,000 to $150,000.
Paul F. Keene Jr. (1920-2009), Untitled (Carousel), 1953. Oil on canvas mounted on board, 31¼ x 45½ in. Estimate: $30/40,000
The auction ends with a special evening session, Art for Life, in which a selection of contemporary art will be sold to benefit the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.
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