KNOXVILLE, TENN. – Sculptures by William Edmondson headlined the two-day summer Case Antiques auction, July 11-12 at the company’s headquarters.

Works by Edmondson, the self-taught son of Tennessee slaves who in 1937 became the first African American artist to have a solo exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, led the first day’s action. Two sculptures came from the same New York estate collection, “Lady with a Book” – likely inspired by a woman in Edmondson’s Nashville community – and a “Critter” attracted a surge of interest from institutions and advanced sculpture collectors, with “Lady” selling for $144,000, including premium and triple its high estimate, and “Critter,” at $66,000, more than doubling expectations. Limestone figures carved by Edmondson have dominated the top spots at past three Case auctions.

The auction, which had a 95 percent sell-through rate, also offered a vivid abstract expressionist watercolor by Beauford Delaney, another Tennessee-born black artist, and a “Gamin” bust by Florida native Augusta Fells Savage, as well as an array of estate jewelry and timepieces, American furniture and textiles deaccessioned by the Memphis-Brooks Museum of Art and a collection of studio glass, along with Case’s traditional fare of Southern regional decorative arts and historical memorabilia. Watch for a full review of the sale in an upcoming issue.