Records for Charles Alston, Wadsworth Jarrell, Augusta Savage and more in African American Art at Swann
Charles Alston, Black and White #8, oil on linen canvas, 1961. Sold for $197,000, a record for the artist.
NEW YORK, NY
.- The Thursday, December 10 sale of African American Art at Swann Galleries was met with enthusiasm from collectors. The sale saw nine auction records set, as well as an auction debut from contemporary artist Tyrone Geter. The auction total reached $2.8 million bringing the houses African American Art sale totals for the year to $9.2 million.
Leading the December sale was Charles Alstons Black and White #8, oil on canvas, 1961. The largest of the artists works yet to come to auction, the stunning abstraction came from an important series of eight works painted between 1959 and 1961. Black and White #8, earned a record for the artist at $197,000. Additional abstract works included Sir Frank Bowlings Repose for SO, acrylic on canvas, 1976, an example of Bowlings trailblazing mid-1970s series of poured paintings, which brought $93,750. Kenneth Victor Young and Thomas Sills returned to the Swann auction block after stellar outings in the January white-glove sale of the Johnson Publishing Companys art collection. Young was present with a circa-2000 acrylic-on-canvas abstraction in fuchsia and blue, which sold for $81,250, and Sills was featured with New Born, oil on canvas, 1958, at $50,000. A 1972 acrylic-on-paper in dark blue black and deep pink by Alma Thomas earned $62,500; and a 1978 color pastel, dry pigment and pencil work from Ed Clarks Louisiana Series realized $60,000.