Black Art Auction – Signature Auction
December 14
www.blackartauction.com

ST LOUIS, MO. — A signature auction of historically important African American art will be conducted on December 14 by Black Art Auction. The firm presented its first auction of African American art in May 2020. Its founder, Thom Pegg, has specialized in the scholarship and sale of historically important African American art for more than 30 years, and has worked in the auction business for the same amount of time. He has independently directed auctions for other houses such as Toomey, Treadway and Heritage, and maintained a gallery space the entire time.

In 2020, Pegg decided it was necessary to become exclusive to the sale of African American art in order to educate the public about these artists’ lives and work, and develop a market for the art. This concept was immediately successful, and is gaining in strength and popularity with each auction.

The December 14 auction will be the firm’s 21st sale. Works by important artists, such as Charles White, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden will be included, as well as lots by lesser-known, talented Black artists who are recently being recognized with museum shows and high prices.

Abstract works from the last half of the Twentieth Century lead the way in terms of price; paintings by Ed Clark and Frank Bowling are expected to sell for $100,000 or more. A small but powerful abstract by Alma Thomas is estimated at $50/70,000. Thomas was the subject of a recent museum exhibition, and her paintings regularly sell for more than $1 million. A large and impressive abstracted sculpture by Richard Hunt is expected to reach $200/300,000. Beauford Delaney worked in the abstract Expressionist style in the United States and France, and he is represented by a dynamic composition of yellows and green on paper, dated 1961. This painting carries an estimate of $30/50,000.

Elizabeth Catlett is currently the subject of a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum, and a bronze sculpture of a mother and child is included in the auction, estimated at $50/70,000. Two small works by Los Angeles-based artist, Betye Saar will be offered. Saar is 98 years old this year and has been the subject of many museum exhibits. Her work is interesting and unique. One small collage, titled “Rainbow Lindy (in the apple) as Observed by Shangold,” created in 1973, is expected to reach $30/50,000.

All styles of the Twentieth Century are represented in the auction, from traditional landscapes from the 1910s to social realist subjects from the 1930s-1940s, and likewise, about all mediums: there are photographs by Gordon Parks and Carrie Mae Weems, and virtually every kind of print being offered. In total, there will be nearly 150 lots, and all were created by Black artists.

Black Art Auction is at 608 Menard Street. For information, www.blackartauction.com or 314-727-6249.

Historically important African-American art.

Private Sales
www.BLACKARTAUCTION.com