Bonhams in New York City During Tribal Week

A major highlight of NYC Tribal Week is the Bonhams auction on Thursday May 13th, 2010 at 1pm.. The preview of the auction as already began, but there is still time: on Tuesday, May 11th and Wednesday May 12th from 10am to 5pm the lots can be examined. There is even an extended viewing period after the auction on Thursday, May 13th from 10am-1pm.

Bonham's Fine African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art sales feature unique and traditional works from sub-Saharan Africa, Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Indonesia and Australia that were created in the early 20th Century or earlier, and works from Central and South America that were created prior to European Contact in the 16th Century. Made by the artists for religious, ceremonial or secular use within their culture, objects in the sale include figurative sculpture, masks, reliquaries, shrines, architectural ornaments, clubs, shields, vessels, stools, neck rests, instruments, body adornment and many daily utilitarian objects.

Recognizing the strong interest in African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art on both the East and the West Coasts, Bonham's auctions are held twice annually in New York and San Francisco. Our New York sales feature a diverse selection of premier items while the San Francisco sales showcase more affordable works of art. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies each auction and is distributed worldwide to collectors, dealers and institutions. A public preview precedes each auction where guests are invited to view artwork first-hand and encouraged to ask questions.



A highlight from the sale (pictured above) is an important Bamana Ntomo Mask from Mail with an estimated value of $50,000 to $70,000.

For the full catalogue of lots on sale, click here.

Phillips de Pury Auction To Be A celebration Of African Art

Phillips de Pury's forthcoming Africa art sale and exhibition takes place on May 15 in New York.
The sale will include works of contemporary art, photographs, design and editions which reflect the spirit of the continent and its global impact.

Works to be featured in the expo will be by African and non-African artists from around the world.

African Art Celebrated at Joburg Art Fair Last Week

Recession or not, the art world goes on, and never was this more obvious than at the Joburg Art Fair this past weekend.

For those of us who thought that the tough economic times would put a damper on the occasion, we couldn’t have been more wrong.

The price tags were certainly not shy (a particularly unique and gorgeous Kentridge work at the Goodman Gallery stand was going for a weighty R1 083 000) and among the 23 galleries participating, there were quite a few red “sold” dots to behold.

This is a phenomenon that Ross Douglas, director of the company Artlogic, which runs the Joburg Art Fair, commented on during the media walkabout on Friday March 26.

“For me, one of the really interesting things about the Fair is that if you’d tried to do an art fair in SA eight years ago, there wouldn’t have been enough galleries,” he says.

“But in the last four or five years, suddenly a whole lot of galleries started up.

“Last year was a really difficult year financially, and what we’ve seen is that these galleries, despite this really difficult recession, have managed to sustain themselves,” Douglas says.

“We’ve lost two SA galleries between last year and this year – Warren Siebrits and Bell Roberts – but I’ve been amazed at how galleries have managed to sustain themselves through what has been a very long and difficult year.”

However, it’s not just the buyers and art connoisseurs who got their two cents worth from the Fair.

There has always been an educational angle to the weekend, which is why there were a series of free art talks by experts in the field running throughout all three days of the Fair.

“One of the ideas behind the Fair is to make it really accessible to people, to get people inquisitive about art, and interacting with art, and the talks are a nice way to understand art,” explains Douglas.

Chili Hawes, director of the October Gallery in London, which has exhibited at the Fair for three consecutive years, says that she can see people’s enthusiasm for art increasing.

“Especially this year, I see a lot of people really keenly looking at the work, and so that’s very refreshing to us,” she says.

“People really appreciate it and love it and seem to be interested in it and learning about it.”
Arguably of the best offering that the Fair provides is access to international galleries’ stands, because as Douglas says, SA galleries focus on SA art, whereas some of the international galleries focus on art from the rest of the continent.

For those folks who spent part of their weekend at the Fair, the chance to see works never before seen in SA would certainly not have gone unappreciated.

To read our original posting on the 2010 Joburg Art Fair, click here.



Source: The Citizen
By: Natalie Bosman

$73,000 Enwonwu Leads US African Art Sale

The first commercial auction of African contemporary art ever held in the US took place in New York on March 10.

The highlight piece of this Bonham’s auction was Africa Dances, Eve Noir, 1972, by Ben Enwonwu.

With a lower estimate of $60,000, the watercolor and pastel on board eventually brought a comfortable $73,200.

Enwonwu was a pioneer of the modern art movement in Western Africa, and the sale should gain his work increased prominence in the US - and global - art markets.