Christie’s sale of so-called outsider art, or works by creators with no formal training, on Friday at its Rockefeller Center saleroom in New York City blew past its presale expectations, coming in at 147% against its low estimate or US$2.5 million.
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The top lot of the auction was William Edmondson’s Fox, a limestone sculpture from the 1930s that sold for US$378,000. Christie’s has an extensive history with the Nashville-born artist—in 2016, the auction house set a world record for outsider art when Edmondson’s Boxer sold for US$785,000. The son of freed slaves, Edmondson was a stone carver who created tombstones for his community, and ultimately went on to become the first African-American artist to have a solo exhibition at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art in 1937.
Coined in 1972 by the English art historian and critic Roger Cardinal, the term “outsider art” was originally used to describe the Art Brut movement, a label that was created by the French artist Jean Dubuffet in the 1940s to describe work produced outside the confines of the traditional art world. Since then, the definition of outsider art has expanded to refer to works by artists who have not had any formal training or who are not part of the art establishment.
“I was thrilled with the results of our March 1 Outsider Art auction. We had buyers from many collecting categories and achieved exceptional results for major works by William Edmondson, Winfred Rembert, Thornton Dial, and Minnie Evans, among others,” says Cara Zimmerman, head of outsider art, Christie’s.
This year marks a milestone for the auction house, as it has been a decade since Zimmerman helped launch its outsider art department.
“Outsider Art is often defined as work created by untrained makers who operate outside academic spheres,” Zimmerman says. “Christie’s offers this work because it is sophisticated, important, and engaging, and because it shows that art can and should powerfully reflect religion, popular culture, and lived experience of makers from many backgrounds and cultures.
”The sale featured objects from the collection of the visual effects pioneer Robert M. Greenberg, which builds upon the collector’s first sale of outsider art with Christie’s 21 years ago, prior to the category’s establishment. Another notable group of works came from the collection of Monty Blanchard—chair of the board of trustees at New York City’s American Folk Art Museum—and was sold in part to benefit the museum.
Additional notable lots included Thornton Dial’s Struggling Tiger Proud Stepping, which realized US$214,200, and two works by Winfred Rembert: Weigh Your Cotton (US$182,700) and Jeff’s Pool Hall (US$163,800).
Dial was one of the main attractions of Christie’s New York’s annual outsider and vernacular art auction, which was held earlier this year on Jan.18. The sale included a significant assortment of lots from the personal collection of Jane Fonda, including 14 artworks by Thornton Dial, his brother, Arthur Dial, and his son, Thornton Dial Jr.
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