Swann Galleries’s African American Sale did quite nicely this week with records for Barkley Hendricks, Sam Gilliam, Lois Mailou Jones, David Driskell, James C. McMillan, Marion Sampler and Tomas W. Hunster. Institutional buyers took the two top works and the average price for the sale was almost double the previous level.
Sale total: $2,337,717 with Buyer’s Premium
Hammer total: $1,889,550
Estimated hammer: $1,653,500 – $2,471,000
178 lots offered; 125 sold (70% sell-through)
Top lots Prices with buyer’s premium
125* Barkley L. Hendricks, Steve, oil, acrylic and Magna on canvas, 1976. $365,000 I
47 Norman Lewis, Cathedral, oil on canvas, 1950. $317,000 I
1 Henry Ossawa Tanner, Boy and Sheep Under a Tree, oil on canvas, 1881. $245,000 C
94* Sam Gilliam, Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 1969. $197,000 C
39* Loïs Mailou Jones, Lobsterville Beach, oil on canvas, 1945. $62,500 C
54 Lewis, Sunset #2, oil on canvas, 1960. $57,500 C
146 Elizabeth Catlett, Glory, cast bronze, 1981. $57,500 C
63* David C. Driskell, Two Pines (Two Trees), oil on canvas, 1961. $47,500 C
60 Hughie Lee-Smith, Figure by the Seashore II, oil on masonite board, 1957. $45,000 C
50 Lewis, Untitled (Processional Composition), oil and ink, 1952. $37,500 C
66 Beauford Delaney, Untitled (Abstraction in Green), oil on canvas, 1961. $35,000 C
KEY: *=Artist Record; C=Collector; D=Dealer; I=Institution
