Auction sales swarm with sexism, racism, with Black women making 0.1%

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Art Newspaper
13 Dec 2022 23:42
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Between 2008 and 2022, according to new data, there was little genuine progress made in the fight against racism and sexism.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby; number two on the list of top 20 Black American women artists (Artist and Victoria Miro, London)

Despite an increase in auction sales for Black American artists in recent years, a new report shows that since 2008, the value of works by women and Black American artists—and especially by Black American women artists—continues to make up a negligible portion of the 20th-century and contemporary art market, the Art Newspaper reported.

Additionally, in this proportionally limited market, perceptions of advancement for Black American and female artists are frequently distorted by a small number of record-breaking auction sales for "superstar" artists.

The Burns Halperin Report, authored by journalists Julia Halperin and Charlotte Burns (published 13 December), analyses auction sale data for three key demographic groups between 2008 and the first half of 2022: women artists, Black American artists, and Black American women artists.

Total international art auction sales amounted to $186.9bln. Of that, works by women artists amounted to $6.2bn, i.e. 3.3% of the total auction sales. Works by Black American artists came in at $3.6bln (2% of total auction sales), and works by Black American women artists totaled just $204mln, which represents 0.1% of total auction sales. The figures were supplied by Artnet Price Database and Artnet Analytics.

According to the report, even if Black American artists' market share is still modest, it is a much-needed development from where it was. According to Nigel Freeman of the New York-based Swann Auction Galleries, which hosts the only dedicated sale for works by Black American artists among the major auction houses, it has "practically doubled in size over the past five years."

Since the opening of the department in 2006, the Art Newspaper wrote, Freeman has introduced dozens of overlooked Black artists to the market. “Back then, the big international auction houses weren’t interested—if there wasn’t a [auction] record for the artist then there wasn’t a value for the work in their eyes,” he says.

Now, thanks to more gallery and museum shows devoted to Black and women artists as well as greater social awareness of institutionalized racism and sexism, there is a lot more appreciation of and opportunities for marginalized artists, according to Freeman.

“There is a lot more competition overall in the marketplace for works by contemporary artists especially, which obviously raises the value of these works.”

During the last five years, according to the newspaper, there have been numerous high-profile records set for works by Black American artists at Christie’s and Sotheby’s—the record-breaking $21.1mln sale of Kerry James Marshall’s Past Times to rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs at Sotheby’s in 2018 marked a watershed moment.

Christie’s Americas set 54 records for women artists and 50 records for artists of color in 2021, according to a spokesperson. One of the highlights was the $15.2 million, or 76 times the high estimate, selling of Ernie Barnes' 1976 film The Sugar Shack. 14 of these records belonged to female artists of color.