Unsold Lots, March 12, 2022 Spring Sale

BLACK ART AUCTION UNSOLD LOTS, March 12, 2022 Spring Sale

BLACK ART AUCTION UNSOLD LOTS The prices noted include buyer’s premium but do not include shipping. Buyers are responsible for payment and arrangement of shipping for any purchase.

For more information on purchasing a lot, please email us at info@blackartauction.com or call (317) 986-6048.

LEROY ALLEN (1958-2007) Leroy Allen earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas in 1977. While working at Hallmark in Kansas City, Missouri, he met a group of talented black artists known as “The Kansas City 6” who inspired him to enroll in painting classes at the Kansas City Art Institute in 1990. He became a noted figurative artist in little more than a decade, his work appearing in many exhibitions and receiving much critical success.

He was adept at working in oils, charcoal, watercolors, and pastels, which allowed him to reveal a greater depth of humanity and character in his subjects. Allen’s favorite subjects were young people. “I like the youth, the strength.” A particularly poignant moment in his career occurred when the family of one of his youthful subjects attended the exhibition of the painting, Sundrops, at the Mississippi Museum of Art. He was equally talented in his rendering of landscapes, especially those of his favorite fishing spots. “They are a part of me,” he said, “…I see backroads places that most people don’t see.”

Allen participated in the American Watercolor Society’s 133rd Annual Exhibition, NY (2000) and the National Watercolor Society’s 78th Annual Exhibition, CA. He had a solo exhibition at the Stella Jones Gallery in New Orleans, and participated in group shows at the Jazz Museum in Kansas City.

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Set, 2004 oil on canvas 11 x 14 inches signed and dated Provenance: the artist to a prominent private collection, Kansas City, MO

$2,500

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LEROY ALLEN (1958-2007)

Happy Cause I’m Going Home, 1995 oil on card 5 1/16 x 7 1/16 inches (image) 9 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches (as framed) signed and dated Provenance: the artist to a prominent private collection, Kansas City, MO Exhibited: Jazz on View, St. Louis Artist’s Guild, MO, 1998; Vasil and Anita Eftimoff Prize.

$1,500

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LEROY ALLEN (1958-2007)

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CHARLES ALSTON (1907-1977) Painter, sculptor, illustrator, muralist, and educator Charles Alston was born in 1907.

After his father’s death, his mother remarried Henry Pierce Bearden (Romare Bearden’s uncle) and the family moved from North Carolina to Harlem. Alston painted and sculpted at an early age and received formal instruction at Columbia University. While attending college, he taught art at the Utopia House and served as a mentor to a young Jacob Lawrence. In 1934, he co-founded the Harlem Arts Workshop, which eventually came to be known as “306.”

In 1936, Alston accompanied Giles Hubert, a Farm Security Administration inspector, on a tour of the South, where he sketched and photographed rural life. In this capacity, he was able to observe and record places and people he might not have had the opportunity to do so by himself. They traveled through Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, the Carolinas, and Georgia. When he returned to his studio, Alston had a wealth of material from which to draw. His Family series eventually grew from these experiences.

Alston also become close friends with Hale Woodruff. They had much in common, especially with regards to mural making Alston had completed his own murals for the WPA at the Harlem Hospital, and Woodruff was completing the Amistad murals at Talledega College. In 1948, the two would collaborate on the murals for the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company of Los Angeles.

A History of African American Artists: From 1792 to the Present, Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson, 1993: 264.

Alston’s style grew more abstract by the 1950’s, but he never completely abandoned figurative studies. His figures characteristically maintain a sculpture like quality influenced by African sculpture.

His subjects were derived mainly from the experiences of his life and time. Alston states, “As an artist . . . I am intensely interested in probing, exploring the problems of color, space and form, which challenge all contemporary painters. However, as a black American . . . I cannot but be sensitive and responsive in my painting to the injustice, the indignity, and the hypocrisy suffered by black citizens.”

In 1956, Alston became the first African American instructor at the Museum of Modern Art, and in 1963, he co-founded (with Romare Bearden) the group Spiral. In 1973, he was made full professor at the City College of New York.

Together they spent months touring California, studying its scenery, people, history, and problems before creating two murals.

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Landscape With House, c. 1938 lithograph 12 x 16 inches (image) 16 x 22 inches (sheet) estate stamped in the image; authenticity certified verso by Aida Alston Winters, the artist’s sister

$3,500

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MILTON BENNETT (20th century) Untitled, 1989 crayon rubbing on paper 14 x 11 inches (sheet size) signed, dated, and numbered 95/100

$450 This work was included in Voices, An Artists’ Book, 1994, portfolio of work from 23 African American Artists, produced and distributed exclusively by the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter.

“This book represents the collaborative effort by artists to celebrate the tradition of creativity and excellence and to provide continued support of African American art. Each book is unique and contains an original work by each of the 23 artists. The artists have used Buckeye Ltd. edition print paper, a 100% cotton fiber “neutral pH” archival paper.” from the website of the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter

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SELMA BURKE (1900-1995) Red Torso, 1935 carved African marble 22 x 6 x 7 inches (sculpture) 4-1/2 x 10 x 10 inches (base) 26-1/2 inches (total height) black laminated base (wood core) signed, letter from the artist accompanies the lot discussing it’s creation Exhibited: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC; Brooklyn Museum of Art, MacMillan Gallery (NYC) Provenance: the artist to Dr. John Young, 1987, thence by descent to Mr. Patric Ellholm.

$35,000 Although Selma Burke displayed an early aptitude for sculpting, it wasn’t until the early stages of midlife that she actively pursued art as a career. She was initially employed as the private nurse of a wealthy heiress, who later became a supportive patron. Burke received her M.F.A. from Columbia University at the age of 41 and became involved with the Harlem Artists Guild and the WPA. During the 1930s, she traveled across Europe studying and honing her skills as a painter under Aristide Maillol of Paris and ceramics under Wiener Werkstatte master, Michael Powolny in Vienna.

The refinement of her craft as a sculptor throughout her career led to important commissions for relief portraits of FDR, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Duke Ellington among others. The portrait she created of FDR served as the model for his

image on the US dime used today. Burke was also a dedicated educator, opening the Selma Burke School of Sculpture in New York City in 1940 and the Selma Burke Art Center in Pittsburgh, PA in 1968. A ninefoot statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. she completed while in her eighties is on display in Marshall Park in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Burke was recognized by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 for her contribution to African American art history.

Her work may be found in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Spelman College, GA; Atlanta University, GA; and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NY. Photo: Burke and her sculpture of Booker T. Washington, c. 1935; Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Instituttion

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SELMA BURKE (1900-1995)

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SELMA BURKE (1900-1995)

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CALVIN BURNETT (1921-2007) Temporary Personal Office, 1997 pen and ink on paper 26-1/2 x 20 inches (image) 31 x 24 inches (sheet) signed, titled, dated inscribed, ink from Navvy Yard Series, 1940’s

$2,200 Calvin Burnett was a Boston-based painter and printmaker. He earned degrees from the Massachusetts College of Art and at Boston University (he also eventually taught at the former for 30 years). His early career centered on printmaking and commercial art, but he experimented with nearly all possible mediums, subjects, and styles over the course of his career. Burnett worked on paintings for a considerable time, often on several at once. In 1997 he was forced to quit painting after developing glaucoma.

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NATHANIEL BUSTION (B. 1942) Bustion was born in Alabama and studied at Colorado State University and the Belgium Antwerp Academy of Art before moving to Los Angeles to study at the Otis Art Institute.

He exhibited at the Watts Summer Festival, Gallery 32, Brockman Gallery, USC, the Otis Art Institute and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles 1972: A Panorama of Black Artists). He later taught art at the Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles City College and Pomona College. His work was included in the collection of the Johnson Publishing Company.

Society must respect and acknowledge the importance of the various cultures before we can become a universal culture -- something we have always been and forgot and gave up along the journey. The challenge our ethics are embedded in our aesthetics. The universe and nation is the Artwork. We are the Artists.

My work grows out of ideas, emotions, power, forms and images within a total universe. I deal with deep suffering, emotions, happiness and man in his environment.

Bustion, similarly to many of the L.A. based artists working in the latter quarter of the 20th century, explored various mediums— painting, printmaking, assemblage, ceramics and sculpture.

Photo: https://lasentinel.net/meet-localartist-nathaniel-bustion.html

Lewis/Waddy, Black Artists on Art ; vol 2, p. 114.

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Mask Series II, 1983 collograph 17 3/4 x 10 inches signed, dated, titled, AP

Mask Series II, 1983 collograph 17 3/'4 x 10 inches signed, dated, titled, AP

$725

$725

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NATHANIEL BUSTION (B. 1942)

Bongowa Mask, 1982 collograph 29 1/2 x 20 inches signed and inscribed AP

$725

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NATHANIEL BUSTION (B. 1942)

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DANA CHANDLER, JR. (B. 1941) I’m trying to get across to the black community that art can say something, dammit, and to them. I want my art to be for them and for the few whites, artists maybe, who can understand it and love it.

Chandler is best known for his Black Power art and activism. He grew up in the Roxbury Neighborhood of Boston, as did Allan R. Crite. In 1967, he attended the Massachusetts College of Art. Similarly to the graphic art of Emory Davis or the Africobra artists, Chandler’s work was a synthesis of fine art and propaganda . His most well-known work is Fred Hampton’s Door (2), which was featured in Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power.

Edmund Barry Gaither, long-time director of the Museum of the National Center of AfroAmerican Artists in Roxbury, said this about Chandler’s work:

Photo: Jet Commercial Photographers (Boston, Mass.), March 26, 1981

Dana comes into his own in a moment when artists are being called upon, if you’re plugged into the vibe, to take a role in the social struggle…Dana participates in this new and stronger direction in which visual artists are being called to engage in art that is involved in Black revolutionary change.

Chandler, along with Gary Rickson and Sharon Dunn, painted Black Power murals in Boston inner-city, and thought of the entire city as a museum.

Black art is not a decoration. It’s a revolutionary force.

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Still Life, 1981 oil on masonite 24 x 24 inches signed and dated

$4,000

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ALLAN ROHAN CRITE (1910-2007) Allan Rohan Crite was born in New Jersey, but spent his entire life in Boston. He graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in 1936, and was awarded a BA from Harvard Extension School in 1968. Crite participated in the Public Works of Art Project in 1934 and the Works Progress Administration/ Federal Art Project in 1936, while still a student. He was included in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1936, called New Horizons in American Art held under the auspices of the WPA/FAP. In 1940, Crite was employed as a technical illustrator for the Boston Naval Shipyard, and he worked there until 1971. He had abandoned large-scale oils of neighborhood scenes by the 1940s, and was concentrating on drawings and watercolors.

Historian, diligent researcher, theologian, teacher, philosopher, simple believer, Allan Crite is a bit of all these things, but most of all he is an artist whose agile mind and equally agile hands have never tired of creating a world of images simultaneously local and global, divine and secular, poetic yet unsentimental. His art, marked by narrative and documentary characteristics, retains a simple beauty, simply presented.

once adorned a monastery, and designed and painted vestments and banners for St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Cambridge.

His work may be found in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Art Institute of Chicago.

-Edmund Barry Gaither, essay to the catalogue accompanying the exhibition, Allan Rohan Crite, Artist-Reporter of the African American Community; Frye Art Museum, 2001, 23.

A devout Episcopalian, his work soon began to exhibit strong religious themes as well, depicting blacks in interpretations of Biblical stories and African American spirituals. Crite also wrote and illustrated several books, created hand-tooled brass panels that

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Sometimes It Causes Me to Tremble, c. 1943 pen and ink with pencil on cream illustration board 15 x 11 1/2 inches (image) signed and titled in pencil lower margin $5,500

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ADGER COWANS (B. 1936) Omowale, 1989 intaglio 8-1/2 x 7 1/2 inches (image) 14 x 11 (sheet) signed, titled, dated, and numbered 44/100

$500 This work was included in Voices, An Artists’ Book, 1994, portfolio of work from 23 African American Artists, produced and distributed exclusively by the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter.

"This book represents the collaborative effort by artists to celebrate the tradition of creativity and excellence and to provide continued support of African American art.

Each book is unique and contains an original work by each of the 23 artists. The artists have used Buckeye Ltd. edition print paper, a 100% cotton fiber "neutral pH" archival paper." from the website of the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter.

Adger Cowans is a renowned fine arts photographer and painter whose works have been shown by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, International Museum of Photography, Museum of Modern Art, The Studio Museum of Harlem, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Harvard Fine Art Museum, Detroit Art Institute, James E. Lewis Museum and

numerous other art institutions.

Cowans attended Ohio University where he received a BFA in photography. He furthered his education at the School of Motion Picture Arts and School of Visual Arts in New York.

While serving in the United States Navy, he worked as a photographer before moving to New York, where he later worked with LIFE magazine photographer, Gordon Parks and fashion photographer, Henri Clarke.

Cowans is a founder of International Black Photographers and is a member of Africobra.

Photo: Studios and Workspaces of Black American Artists, Dennis L. Forbes, 2008

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JAMES DOZIER (20TH CENTURY) Cult of the Fish #7, n.d. lithograph 9 x 11 inches (image) 11 x 14 inches (sheet) signed and titled pencil signed and numbered 82/100

of Artists, Michigan Chapter

$275 This work was included in Voices, An Artists’ Book, 1994, portfolio of work from 23 African American Artists, produced and distributed exclusively by the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter.

"This book represents the collaborative effort by artists to celebrate the tradition of creativity and excellence and to provide continued support of African American art. Each book is unique and contains an original work by each of the 23 artists. The artists have used Buckeye Ltd. edition print paper, a 100% cotton fiber "neutral pH" archival paper." from the website of the National Conference

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LAWRENCE FINNEY (B. 1963) Painter Lawrence Finney was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1963. He attended Pratt Institute from 1982-1984 and the School of Visual Arts, NY in 1985. He is known for his stylized figures which draw their inspiration from the work of Charles White, George Tooker, Mexican muralists and social realism.

In 2002, five of his paintings were included in the exhibition Black Romantic at the Studio Museum in Harlem. His work was also featured in the 2006 University of Houston exhibition Highlights from the Collection of Corrine Jennings and Joe Overstreet.

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Unveiled, 2002 charcoal on paper 10 x 12 inches signed

$750

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REGINALD GAMMON (1921-2005) Gammon was born in Philadelphia and studied at the Philadelphia Museum School of the Industrial Arts (1941, 1946-1949) , Tyler School of Fine Art and Temple University (1950-1951). He also served in the U.S. Navy from 1944-1946.

Gammon was a figure painter first and foremost.

His early works, such as Alienation, The Scottsboro Boys, Harlem 66, Scottsboro Mothers, and Freedom Now (recently included in the exhibition Soul of a Nation, Art in the Age of Black Power) are powerful, somewhat angry images; the artist uses color sparingly to accentuate the message and lessen any decorative element. In fact, the 1965 exhibition of works by artists in the group Spiral (of which Gammon was a member), was titled, First Group Showing: Works in Black and White (1965).

Gammon exhibited at Brooklyn College (1968); Minneapolis Institute of Art (1968); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1970); Studio Museum in Harlem; Martha Jackson Gallery; Philadelphia Civic Center; Flint Institute of Art; Rhode Island School of Art; Everson Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Art; and the Atlanta University Annuals, among other venues.

Additional reading: African American Art and Artists, Samella Lewis; African-American Art, Sharon F. Patton Photo: Studios and Workspaces of Black American Artists, Dennis L. Forbes, 2008

Gammon was also a member of the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition, established by Benny Andrews and Cliff Joseph. He participated in the protest exhibition at Acts of Art Gallery, Rebuttal to the Whitney (1971), and had a solo show there in 1974.

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King Oliver and Satchmo, 2003 lithograph 14 1/2 x 20 inches (full margins) signed, titled and dated numbered 1/10

$900

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M SAFFELL GARDNER (20TH CENTURY) Untitled, 1989 monoprint 11 x 14 inches signed, dated, and numbered 44/100

$400 This work was included in Voices, An Artists’ Book, 1994, portfolio of work from 23 African American Artists, produced and distributed exclusively by the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter.

"This book represents the collaborative effort by artists to celebrate the tradition of creativity and excellence and to provide continued support of African American art. Each book is unique and contains an original work by each of the 23 artists. The artists have used Buckeye Ltd. edition print paper, a 100% cotton fiber "neutral pH" archival paper." (from the website of the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter.)

Saffell Gardner earned his BFA and MFA from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He works in various media and has exhibited extensively. He was selected as the Chivas Regal Artist-in-Residence at the Charles H. Wright Museum in 2000, and a work of his is included in the permanent collection there. His work is also included in the collections of the Henry Ford Hospital and the Federal Reserve, Chicago.

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PALMER HAYDEN (1890-1973) The Red Barn, c. 1940 oil on board 18 x 12 inches signed

$4,000 Born in Virginia in 1890, Palmer Hayden moved to Washington D.C. as a teen, working odd jobs and eventually joining the Ringling Bros. Circus. He made his first foray into art, drawing portraits of the performers for promotions. After an eight year stint in the Army, he moved to New York City and was able to study with Victor Perard, an instructor at the Cooper Union School of Art. During the summers of 1926 and 1927 he traveled to Maine to study at the Commonwealth Art Colony. The many landscapes and marine studies he painted here were shown in his first exhibition at the Civic Club in New York, and in 1926, he won the first Harmon Foundation gold medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Visual Arts for a painting of Boothbay Harbor titled, The Schooners. The prize money was used towards a trip to France where he resided for the next five years.

Hayden exhibited at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in 1927 and was included in the Salon des Tuileries in 1930, as well as the American Legion Exhibition in 1931. He continued to paint seascapes during his stay, but also began to develop his figurative painting and signature style, which remains controversial to this day.

When he returned to New York, his work evolved into an unpretentious representation of the black American scene in which he used a “consciously naïve” style to represent African-American folklore and contemporary scenes of Harlem. Hayden continued to live and work in New York until his death in 1973.

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PALMER HAYDEN (1890-1973)

Vaugirard, c. 1930 watercolor on paper 21 x 14 1/2 inches signed and titled label from Miriam A. Hayden Collection verso, #618 Provenance: Private collection, Richmond, Virginia

$7,000

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PALMER HAYDEN (1890-1973)

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BARKLEY HENDRICKS (1945-2017) Painter and photographer best known for his portraits of young, urban men and women rendered in a realist or post-modern style. Barkley L. Hendricks was born in 1945 in north Philadelphia. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts between 1963 and 1967 and graduated with a BFA and MFA from Yale University School of Art, where he studied photography with Walker Evans.

Hendricks was primarily a painter, his work incorporating photography more and more as his style evolved - rendering his subjects with exquisite detail to their clothing, shoes, jewelry, and other accoutrements. In 2008, his work was featured in the major exhibition, Barkley L. Hendricks: Birth of Cool, organized by Trevor Schoonmaker, contemporary curator at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, NC. Of Hendricks work, Schoonmaker said, “His bold portrayal of his

subject’s attitude and style elevates the common person to celebrity status. Cool, empowering, and sometimes confrontational, Hendricks’ artistic privileging of a culturally complex black body has paved the way for today’s younger generation of artists.”

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Banana Plant Leaf #2, 1979 watercolor and pencil on paper 22 1/2 x 30 1/4 inches signed, signed titled and dated verso

$25,000

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This photo is from the exhibition catalog for JUBILEE: Afro-American Artists on Afro-America, which was held at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in cooperation with the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, November 14, 1975-January 4, 1976. Many of the artists here are represented in this auction.

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SAMELLA LEWIS (B. 1924) Over the course of a distinguished multifaceted career, artist, art historian, museum curator, and activist, Samella Sanders Lewis became a peerless advocate for African American involvement in the arts. While she works in a variety of media, Lewis is best known as a printmaker. Often utilizing the human figure, her oeuvre speaks to the struggle and strength of the African American community.

Lewis began her education in her hometown of New Orleans, at Dillard University, but on the advice of her professor, Elizabeth Catlett, she transferred to Hampton University. After graduating, she taught at several universities and in 1968, Lewis became the education coordinator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a position she hoped to use to increase exhibition opportunities for black artists. Repeated clashes with museum administrators over the hiring of more staff of African descent led Lewis to resign. She would go on to establish three independent art galleries and, in 1976, founded the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles, where she served as senior curator until 1986.

Soon after she left LACMA, Lewis began teaching at Scripps College in Claremont,

California (1969–1984), and, in another first, became the college’s first tenured African American professor. When she and fellow artist-scholar Ruth Waddy sought to publish their landmark two-volume guide on African American artists, Black Artists on Art (1969 and 1971), Lewis co-founded Contemporary Crafts Gallery, the first African American– owned art publishing house.

She also founded the noted academic journal, International Review of African American Art, in 1976.

REF: The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, SC. Photo: Studios and Workspaces of Black American Artists, Dennis L. Forbes, 2008

The Farmer, 2006 serigraph 40 x 22 inches signed, numbered, titled, blind stamp , edition of 60

$4,000

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AARON IBN PORI PITTS (B. 1942) Road to Revolution III, 1967 woodcut, reprinted with hand-coloring in 1991 11 x 14 inches signed and dated

$1,000 This work was included in Voices, An Artists’ Book, 1994, portfolio of work from 23 African American Artists, produced and distributed exclusively by the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter.

"This book represents the collaborative effort by artists to celebrate the tradition of creativity and excellence and to provide continued support of African American art.

Each book is unique and contains an original work by each of the 23 artists. The artists have used Buckeye Ltd. edition print paper, a 100% cotton fiber "neutral pH" archival paper." (from the website of the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter) Pitts was a revolutionary artist-activist born in Detroit . He worked for the US Post Office

and was a member and plant leader of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers.

He was a co-founder of the National Conference of Artists Michigan Chapter and an Artist-in-Residence for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

He was a publisher of Black Graphics International and a founding member of PitchBlack Poetry (PitchBlack Arts Institute).

His visual art employs collage, print-making and assemblage, and incorporates African symbols. He is especially inspired by Ogun, the Yoruba deity presiding over iron, war, and hunting. Pitts was also a dedicated videographer and documented countless concerts, lectures—any significant cultural or spiritual event in and around Detroit for decades.

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LONNIE POWELL (B. 1941) Provenance: prominent private collection, Kansas City, MO Lonnie Powell graduated from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, where he studied with James Dallas Parks. Powell excels in both watercolor and oil, and he has exhibited extensively, especially in his home state of Missouri. His artwork is included in the collections of Sprint Corporation, H & R Block Corporation, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Kansas City Chiefs Arrowhead Art Collection, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art and the Mulvane Art Museum.

His work was included in the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum’s traveling exhibit, Shades of Greatness. He is a Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society.

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Saad, c. 2002 watercolor on paper 6 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches (image) 16 1/2 x 20 1/2 (as framed) signed and dated, 8/22/02 Provenance: prominent private collection, Kansas City, MO

$1,000

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NATHANIEL MARY QUINN (B. 1977) Untitled, 2007 oil, watercolor and pastel mixed media on paper in four parts 84 x 76 inches, 90-1/2 x 82-1/2 inches (as framed) Each sheet signed, dated and dedicated verso

$50,000 Quinn was born on the south side of Chicago, Robert Taylor Holmes. As a ninth grader at Culver Military Academy in Indiana, his mother died, and he later legally adopted her name, Mary, as his middle name so it would appear on his degree. When he returned home from school a month later, his family home was empty and his father and brother, Charles were gone and were never seen again. Determined to overcome his hardships, Quinn focused on his studies.

He eventually graduated from New York University and lived in Brooklyn.

In 2013, his collage-inspired painting, titled after his brother, Charles, was seen by the director of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (Brooklyn) who exhibited it there. Quickly gaining international exposure, Quinn held his first

solo show at Pace Gallery, London, in 2014. Five years later he was represented

by Gagosian. Quinn utilizes imagery from personal experiences and found sources.

He combines collage with paint, oil stick, gouache and pastel. His work is included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, MOCA, Art Institute of Chicago and the Hammer Museum.

Photo Credit: Taylor Dafoe

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ROBERT JAMES REED, Jr (1938-2015) Plum Nellie, c. 1975 acrylic on paper 10 x 14 inches signed and dedicated in pencil recto; lengthy inscription verso in pencil “To Judy and John”, Warmly, Bob.

$1,800 Reed referred to his body of work in the 1970s as “Plum Nellie”, and explains that the use of symbolic color as a reaction to his Interaction of Color experience, in which color is a character and landscape. He writes on the verso, “Enclosed is a little Plum Nellie to start the New Year”.

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CHARLES SEBREE (1914-1985) Saltimbanque, c.1950 pigment and wax on board 10 x 8 inches signed Provenance: prominent private collection, Kansas City, MO

$2,000 Charles Sebree was born and raised in Kentucky until the age of ten, when he and his mother moved north to Chicago. By the age of 14 he was carving out his own rough existence in the midst of the Great Depression.

At this time, the Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago featured his drawing, Seated Boy on the cover of their magazine.

He went on to train formally at the Chicago School of Design and the Art Institute of Chicago and used his interests in European modernism and African sculpture to forge his own individual style; one which evoked a mystical quality similar to old world Byzantine enamels and Russian icon paintings. He was the only African American artist represented

by Katherine Kuh among a group which consisted of a majority of leading European modernists.

Between 1936 and 1938 Sebree worked for the WPA easel division, participated in the South Side Community Arts Center, and was involved with the Cube Theater. He maintained a strong interest in the theater due to his friendship with Katherine Dunham.

Guided by her influence, he explored set and costume design, theatrical production, writing, and dance, while continuing to paint.

Sebree was also close with a group of bohemian artists from Chicago and Wisconsin, which included Magic Realist painters Gertrude Abercrombie, John Pratt, John Wilde, Karl Priebe, and others. Sebree began writing plays in earnest in 1949- his most well received work was Mrs. Patterson, which opened on Broadway in 1954 starring none other than Eartha Kitt. In addition to all of his creative endeavors, Sebree also collaborated with Harlem Renaissance author Countee Cullen by illustrating his narrative poem, The Lost Zoo (A Rhyme for the Young But Not Too Young).

Sebree’s work has been featured in multiple exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago and was also featured at Katharine Kuh Galleries, Chicago Artists Group Galleries, American Negro Exposition, South Side Community Art Center, Howard University, Chicago Public Library, Kenkeleba House, and the Woodmere Art Museum. His work is found in many prominent collections including Howard University, Smithsonian American Art Museum, St. Louis Art Museum, and University of Chicago.

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DWIGHT SMITH (contemporary) Responses, Patterns, Masks, 1994 lithograph and mixed media 14 x 11 inches signed, dated, and numbered 59/100

The Importance of Being Arty With Dwight Smith

$500 This work was included in Voices, An Artists’ Book, 1994, portfolio of work from 23 African American Artists, produced and distributed exclusively by the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter.

"This book represents the collaborative effort by artists to celebrate the tradition of creativity and excellence and to provide continued support of African American art. Each book is unique and contains an original work by each of the 23 artists. The artists have used Buckeye Ltd. edition print paper, a 100% cotton fiber "neutral pH" archival paper." (from the website of the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter)

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SHARON E. SUTTON (B. 1941) Charity is Not Puffed Up, 1990 Lithograph 12 x 9 inches (image) 14 x 11 inches Signed, titled, dated 9/90, and numbered 19/100

$500 This work was included in Voices, An Artists’ Book, 1994, portfolio of work from 23 African American Artists, produced and distributed exclusively by the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter.

“This book represents the collaborative effort by artists to celebrate the tradition of creativity and excellence and to provide continued support of African American art.

Each book is unique and contains an original work by each of the 23 artists. The artists have used Buckeye Ltd. edition print paper, a 100% cotton fiber “neutral pH” archival paper.” (from the website of the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter) Sutton was born in Cincinnati, and was initially interested in music. As a small girl, she became interested in learning piano because African American children were not allowed to go to the swimming pool, ice rink or movie theater. She took lessons from the organist at her mother’s church.

In 1963, she earned a degree in music and became a professional musician in New York City, playing on Broadway and at Radio City Music Hall.

She went back to school in 1967, studying at the Parsons School of Design and Columbia University, and earning her master’s degree in Architecture in 1973. She was the 12th African American woman to be licensed to practice architecture (1976). She also earned a PhD in psychology from the City University of New York.

Sutton became interested in the visual arts, especially collage and printmaking, and her work is part of the Robert Blackburn Collection at the Library of Congress. Dedicated to improving the living environments of disenfranchised populations, Sutton is currently ethnographic consultant to design studio instructors at Parsons School of Design. Most of Sutton’s scholarship explores America’s continuing struggle for racial justice.

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YVONNE TUCKER (B. 1941) Self Portrait With Vessel, 2001 watercolor and gouache on paper 14 x 11 inches signed Yvonne Edwards Tucker and dated numbered 55/100

$1,000 This work was included in Voices, An Artists’ Book, 1994, portfolio of work from 23 African American Artists, produced and distributed exclusively by the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter.

"This book represents the collaborative effort by artists to celebrate the tradition of creativity and excellence and to provide continued support of African American art. Each book is unique and contains an original work by each of the 23 artists. The artists have used Buckeye Ltd. edition print paper, a 100% cotton fiber "neutral pH" archival paper." from the website of the National Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter Born in 1941, ceramicist Yvonne Tucker grew up in Chicago and initially thought of herself as a painter while taking classes at the Art Institute of Chicago and the South Side Community Center. She attended graduate school at the Otis Art Institute (now Parson’s School of Design) studying drawing with Charles White and ceramics with Helen Watson. She was particularly influenced by Peter Volkous, who developed the art ceramics department there and emphasized clay as art.

In 1967, she married Curtis Tucker and together they pursued their art both individually and in collaboration until his death in 1992. They experimented to create works which combined Japanese Raku techniques with traditional Native American, African, and African-American elements that they called Afro-Raku. She often incorporated painted figural elements to their work as well.

Tucker has exhibited at the Contemporary Gallery of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX; Alabama State University, Montgomery; Evan-Tibbs Gallery, Washington D.C.; and the Contemporary Art Center, Kansas City, MO. Her work may be found in the collections of Alabama State University, Montgomery; Fisk University, Nashville, TN; Syracuse University Afro American Ceramics Collection, NY; and the Evan-Tibbs Collection, Washington D.C.

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JACK H. WHITE (B. 1940) Galactic Nascence #13, c.1980s acrylic and oxidized iron on wood 78 x 48 inches signed and titled verso

$8,000 White grew up in New York and studied at the New School for Social Research and the Art Students League (recipient of the Allen B. Tucker Memorial Scholarship). He exhibited at Ruder and Finn, NYC, Contemporary Black Artists (1969); Afro-American Artists New York and Boston (1970); Lee Nordness Galleries, Twelve Afro-American Artists (1969, NYC); High Museum of Art, Minneapolis Museum of Art, Everson Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, San Francisco Museum of Art, and many other important venues. He worked as a sculptor or created mixed media works and even drawings related to sculpture.

A similar work to this example may be seen in Tradition Redefined, The Larry and Brenda Thompson Collection of African American Art, p. 94.

Geometry, world religions, philosophy, alchemy and physics have informed and inspired White’s work. He is mostly concerned with the process of executing a work and often employs a mixture of plaster and both dry and wet pigments…

According to White, ‘With these two concepts in mind and a desire to work with black pigments and oxidized iron, I produced these frescoes, restating my interest in the dualities which most often engender creation.

White’s work is also featured in Directions in Afro-American Art (1974), Cornell University Museum of Art.

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