|
ABOUT SSL CERTIFICATES |
|
AFRICAN AMERICAN FINE ART
Interview with Nigel Freeman, Director, African-American Fine Art Department, Swann Galleries I came to the auction business from the fine art world, as a painter and printmaker. It's been useful to have a sense of the process and technique associated with aesthetic materials as well as have knowledge about the history of art. These dual perspectives have given me a better sense of what is involved in actually creating a work of art; the decisions or limitations an artist accepts by selecting a certain medium are useful in understanding their work. Of course, I've researched and studied the roster of artists but working at Swann Galleries has been the largest part of my art education and is an education in itself. At Brown University, I majored in modern history and studio art. Later on, I studied studio art at Columbia University, where I earned my M.F.A. in painting. These programs incorporated a high level of coursework in art history and critical theory. I don't think it's surprising that there are more artists working as experts at auction houses. Today, art specialists from non-traditional, non-academic backgrounds are employed in both the primary and secondary marketplaces.
I had been working in the Prints and Drawings Department at Swann Galleries and noticed that, when works on paper by African-American artists were offered at auction, they created quite a buzz among collectors and performed very well. I started to follow the market more closely, and saw how few major African-American artists actually had auction records. But, the big breakthrough came about when a law firm, which was representing the estate of the writer Harry Henderson, contacted me. Henderson and Romare Bearden wrote the well-known volume, A History of African-Amerian Fine Art, which was published in 1988. Henderson had a small, but great collection of art works by Bearden, including two early collages, which were included in his retrospective at the National Gallery of Art in 2004-05, and an important large abstract painting. We waited for the tour to finish and they agreed to sell all the works. Both collages broke the $100,000 ceiling in a Works on Paper auction. Setting new records always gets everyone's attention, including important collectors of African-American Fine Art. Subsequently, clients were ready to consign significant works. Therefore, it seemed like the time was right to move ahead into this "new" market. As a result, I proposed starting a department to the president of Swann, and organized my first sale in February of 2007. Another thing that's really interesting is that the breakthrough has happened for many artists. In examining historical auction records one would find very few works by major African-American artists, except for Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden, which resulted in the fact that many works were turned away by the other auction houses. Yet, passionate collectors knew they were holding artworks by important artists that were of great value--even if their appraisal value was stunted. At this point we've broken through that impasse. I've been able to offer excellent examples of various artists' works and see records be broken many times over. Within the first year, we saw works by Jacob Lawrence, Charles White, Hale Woodruff, Elizabeth Catlett and Hughie Lee-Smith sell for six figures, either setting new records or breaking their previous records many times over. For example, the previous auction record for White was $38,000 in 2001, and for Lee-Smith, $39,000 in 2004. In our second auction, Swann broke the Charles White record with a sale of $360,000 and the Lee-Smith record with a sale of $216,000. In our second year of auctioning African-American Fine Art important works by Aaron Douglas, Al Loving, Norman Lewis followed, breaking records and selling, again, for six figures. It's been very exciting for me to watch this market, which has tremendous potential, develop because there's so much material coming to Swann from private collections that have never been on the market. Many of the artists worked outside the gallery world. We find so many of their best pieces in private collections. Therefore, the works are fresh, undisturbed and often still in the original owners' homes. I think that's why we're seeing so many museums buying at auction.
It hasn't been easy. We started by applying a few auction records and had to rely on information from our colleagues, dealers and galleries specializing in this area. Many times appraising works is complex since one needs to research records and reinterpret them based on the specifics and scope of a particular artwork. So, while I'm looking at the activities of galleries and dealers, I have to also look at artists of equal stature as well as comparable time periods to evaluate a work. It's rare to have more than a few comparables. Many of these artists didn't have museum exhibitions or regular gallery representation. I've dealt primarily with families and estates, which often control large amounts of work. Artists' exhibitions have traditionally been few and far between. The same holds true with publications. There are many fine works in museum collections but only a few artists have been the subject of comprehensive scholarship. Jacob Lawrence has a complete catalogue raisonné published, but there are a few print catalogues raisonné for other artists.
There are a number of factors: for one, historically it's been undervalued and under-recognized. A generation of collectors and artists are now passing on, and there's genuine excitement about what may come to market. Swann Galleries stepped in at the right time to meet this demand when there were few avenues for selling. In addition, there have been many more museum exhibitions and published monographs, both of which have helped raised awareness about African-American Fine Art. Well-known and important private collections are touring at national museums. Celebrities such as Bill Cosby and Grant Hill, and those quietly assembled by pioneering collectors such as Dr. Walter O. Evans of Detroit, MI, and Dr. Harmon and Harriet Kelley of San Antonio, TX are some examples. There have also been significant museum exhibitions with substantial new scholarship for such artists as Beauford Delaney, William H. Johnson and Dox Thrash. Last year Aaron Douglas finally had a national touring retrospective, which traveled from the University of Kansas to the Smithsonian Institute and the Schomburg Center here in New York. Other artists' monographs, retrospectives and exhibitions are now in the pipeline.
Who are the buyers? Right now we're seeing a good mix of private and institutional buyers. At Swann's last few sales many of our top lots were bought by museum curators, who are competing with private buyers at the top of the market, and setting new records for artists. These American art museums are filling-in gaps in their collections. Curators are looking for works by a certain artist or a work that represents one of the major periods of African-American art--from the Harlem Renaissance, the Works Progress Administration-era to Post-War Abstraction and the Civil Rights era. Most buyers focus on seminal, or scarce works by modern artists, figures who were born in the 1920s and came of age during the WPA period.
The WPA is so important for African-American fine artists because it provided unprecedented opportunities for many. While the Harlem Renaissance brought together a great pool of talent in New York, few artists had the chance to continue their careers. With the WPA funding a bigger and broader generation of talented artists could actually find employment as artists, such as paid commissions and or jobs as instructors, without facing discrimination in the market place. It was also a great breeding ground for these artists since they all worked so closely together. Artists taught in WPA-sponsored centers in Chicago, NY, Philadelphia and Cleveland. Such major urban centers contained large African-American populations. Suddenly, it was possible to find jobs, studio spaces, a cultural and social community, and also build a career. Do you also offer works by 19th-century artists? There are a few, exceptional artists who overcome great obstacles to succeed, who are important to this market. We have handled artworks by Edward Bannister, Charles Ethan Porter and Henry Ossawa Tanner. Tanner is really the grandfather figure for modern African-American art and the great success story, with his Biblical paintings accepted in the Grand Salon and bought by museums while living as an expatriate in Paris. Bannister and Porter are more rooted in the 19th Century as genre painters of landscapes and still-lifes. With his celebrity, Tanner was often the only role model that younger artists had heard of. Many modern artists such as Palmer Hayden, William H. Johnson and Hale Woodruff, followed in Tanner's footsteps and came to Paris.
Do you work with Outsider or Folk Artists? There are a number of African-American artists who are considered "outsider" or "folk" artists but this is considered a different field of collecting. Of course, one can always find some overlap with regard to a few 20th-century artists. I've kept the focus on the modern artists who were part of the fine art community. I generally don't handle works by Bill Traylor or Thornton Dial nor works by Caribbean or Latin American artists. Swann's specialty is North American, African-American artists who came of age during this particular era. There are certainly collectors who collect both groups and recognize the aesthetic and achievements of "outsider" of "folk" artists. I am making the separation made between artists who were working within a fine art canon, and those who are really "outsider." It's about both the training and content of the work, how the artists considered their own work, and how they were part of society and community of artists. I'm working with a remarkable generation of artists who had to overcome the tremendous barriers for African-Americans in our society that existed well into the 1960s, even during the early successes of the Civil Rights era. This is my area of expertise and I have focused on what I know and see first hand.
For some of the artists, it's easy to see the jump, and it's been a big jump in value these past few years. Even with artists who have a limited number of auction records, there's been a huge leap. Signature works continue to garner more and more attention, whether it be the Bearden collages, early Lawrence paintings from the 1940s-50s, monumental Charles White drawings or Elizabeth Catlett sculpture in wood or terracotta. Certain works or subjects or materials that collectors identify with the major artists they have been waiting for, and this is the first time they've been offered at auction.
Well, I think it's important to show the second wave of African-American artists and artists working today. First of all they're indebted to the first generation and their careers often overlap. Certainly the conditions are different but I think it's important to see how Kara Walker may be seen in the same context as Aaron Douglas, with regard to the use of silhouette and graphic design in their work. Or how now Kehinde Wiley is reintepreting figure painting as Barkley Hendricks did 30 years before. These connections are vital and show how African-American art is part of different histories and traditions.
What tools are useful in researching values? Evaluating art and working at an auction house go hand-in-hand. It's necessary to look at comparables for a work and connect the dots. Examine rare catalogues and historical museum monographs, and see what's been reproduced and written about. You get a better sense of the value by researching the work and seeing as much as you can. The monetary value is another aspect. Artnet might have just one or two prices, so it's not viable to rely on the databases alone.
The White House purchased a Jacob Lawrence painting in May 2007 (to hang in the Green Room) for a record price of $2.5 million. This figure is low compared to contemporary art prices. The Smithsonian Institution is opening the new National Museum of African-American History and Culture in the coming decade. They're currently building a collection of paintings, photographs and sculpture. The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture is being built in Charlotte, NC and its museum will be house the John and Vivian Hewitt Collection of African American Art, which was purchased by the Bank of America. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has recently acquired a major new group of masterworks by African-American artists, including several via auction at Swann Galleries. The MFA's acquisition of Norman Lewis's Untitled Abstract Expressionist oil on canvas, circa 1960-64, in our October 7, 2008 auction was for an artist record of $312,000--the highest price ever realized at auction for an abstract painting by a modern African-American artist.
So much is happening right now as we see so many new artists and new records at auction. Our department's average lot value today is about $10,000 and it is no longer unusual to have artworks sell over $100,000. Our top lot has been Aaron Douglas's Building More Stately Mansions, oil on canvas board, 1944, which sold on February 19, 2008 for an artist record of $600,000 to the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Swann is conducting two sales a year and continuing to see exceptional material come to market that reaches a broader audience. These artworks cut across the definitions and categories of what is called African-American Art, American Art, Modern and Contemporary Art, and bring a new figures to American Art.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
|
© 2010 Appraisers Association of America - Powered by infaCORE™