Aaron Douglas Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Aaron Douglas Art Value Price Guide

Jan. 09, 2025
Aaron Douglas (1899 - 1979), Oil on Board
Est: $5,000 - $10,000
An oil on board by noted African - American artist Aaron Douglas (1899 - 1979). Titled "A Farmer in his Field". *note - spotting and paint drops. Needs cleaning. Site 19 1/4" x 23 1/4". Framed 26" x 30".
Embassy Auctions International
Oct. 03, 2024
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Rome.
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Rome. Watercolor on cream wove paper, 1956. 229x305 mm; 9x12 inches. Signed and dated in pencil, lower right. Titled in pencil, lower left. Provenance: the estate of Constance E. Clayton, Philadelphia. While teaching at Fisk University, Aaron Douglas visited both Europe and West Africa in the summer of 1956 with his wife and their friends Dr. and Mrs. W. W. Goens.
Swann Auction Galleries
Aug. 24, 2024
AARON DOUGLAS AMERICAN MIXED MEDIA PAINTING
Est: $100 - $150
Aaron Douglas, African American, 1899 to 1979, mixed media painting on paper depicting a scene with a couple in a forest landscape. Signed lower right. Framed. Aaron Douglas was an American painter, illustrator, and visual arts educator. He was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He developed his art career painting murals and creating illustrations that addressed social issues around race and segregation in the United States by utilizing African-centric imagery. Douglas set the stage for young, African American artists to enter the public arts realm through his involvement with the Harlem Artists Guild. In 1944, he concluded his art career by founding the Art Department at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. He taught visual art classes at Fisk University until his retirement in 1966. Douglas is known as a prominent leader in modern African American art whose work influenced artists for years to come. Modern African American Fine Art, Gene Scenes, Wall Art, and Collectibles.
Antique Arena Inc
Jun. 20, 2024
Painting, Aaron Douglas
Est: $10,000 - $20,000
Aaron Douglas (American, 1899-1979), Untitled, circa 1955, oil on canvas, signed lower left, canvas: 22"h x 44"w, overall (with frame): 25"h x 47"w
Clars Auctions
Apr. 04, 2024
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Ex Libris Charles S. Johnson.
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Ex Libris Charles S. Johnson. Collotype on thin cream wove paper, circa 1925-26. 108x76 mm; 4¼x3 inches (sheet). Provenance: collection of Charles Spurgeon Johnson, New York; private collection, Georgia. Charles Spurgeon Johnson (July 24, 1893 – October 27, 1956) was an American sociologist and college administrator, the first black president of Fisk University, and a lifelong advocate for racial equality and the advancement of civil rights. During the Harlem Renaissance, Charles S. Johnson was also the editor of Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life, the monthly publication of the National Urban League. One of the leading intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance, alongside Alain Locke and Langston Hughes, Johnson was also a very influential figure on the artists of the time. In 1924, he actively recruited the talented, young Aaron Douglas to leave his high school teaching position in Kansas to come to Harlem. In 1925, soon after his arrival in New York, Douglas began received commissions for covers on Opportunity. This scarce bookplate is an excellent example of Douglas's early graphic design. He also created a bookplate for Alain Locke - an example is found inside Locke's personal copy of the 1925 first edition of The New Negro in the Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College.
Swann Auction Galleries
Apr. 04, 2024
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) O, Lord!
Est: $15,000 - $25,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) O, Lord! Woodcut on tissue-thin Japan paper, circa 1926. 178x127 mm; 7x5 inches, wide (full ?) margins. Proof, with no known edition. Signed and titled in pencil, lower margin. Provenance: the estate of Jean F. Herksovits, New York; private collection, MA (2024). Jean Frances Herskovits (1935 – 2019) was a research professor of history at the State University of New York at Purchase specializing in African (particularly Nigerian) history and politics. Herskovits taught at Brown University, Swarthmore College, City College of the City University of New York and Columbia University. She held a D. Phil. in African history from Oxford University. This woodcut is an extremely scarce print by Aaron Douglas - a proof impression of a Harlem Renaissance print, and one that we have not found reproduced or located in any institutional collection. Douglas's signature and the age of the paper strongly suggest this is a contemporaneous printing. This woodcut is an intriguing variant of Surrender, one of several woodcuts and the final image used to illustrate Emperor Jones in the volume Plays of Negro Life: A Sourcebook of Native American Drama, edited by Alain Locke and first published in 1927 by Harper & Collins, New York. Locke assembled an anthology of contemporary playwrights who were addressing the African American experience. The image is also the central figure on the books' graphic cover, a composite of Douglas's woodcuts. It represents the final moments of Emperor Jones in a tropical Haitian forest. - the character is surrendering himself as a sacrifice to the evil spirits, conjured up by a witch doctor in the form of a giant crocodile. This version of the woodcut differs from the published version - it has a different foliage design with only the head of the crocodile included.
Swann Auction Galleries
Nov. 19, 2022
Aaron Douglas, 1899-1979, Paris Street Scene
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Aaron Douglas 1899-1979 Paris Street Scene c. 1936 oil on canvas 25-1/2 x 32 inches signed
Black Art Auction
Nov. 19, 2022
Aaron Douglas, 1899-1979, Untitled, Landscape
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Aaron Douglas 1899-1979 Untitled, Landscape c. 1930 oil on canvas 52 x 38 inches signed
Black Art Auction
Oct. 06, 2022
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Untitled (Landscape).
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Untitled (Landscape). Etching on cream wove paper, circa 1952-56. 114x254 mm; 4 1/2x10 inches, full margins. Artist's proof, aside from an unknown edition. Signed, titled (illegible) and inscribed "a/p" in pencil, lower margin. This small but expansive landscape was executed after Aaron Douglas achieved his second Carnegie Foundation grant through the Improvment of Teaching Project in 1952 and spent the summer traveling the American West. Earle p. 220.
Swann Auction Galleries
Jun. 04, 2022
Aaron Douglas, 1899-1979, Trees I
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Aaron Douglas 1899-1979 Trees I 1950 watercolor on paper 18 x 13-1/2 inches signed and dated Provenance: the artist to a significant private collection, Chicago, IL
Black Art Auction
Apr. 07, 2022
AARON DOUGLAS (New York/Kansas, 1899-1979), Portrait of a nude woman., Oil on canvas, 16" x 12". Framed 18.6" x 14.5".
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
AARON DOUGLAS New York/Kansas, 1899-1979 Portrait of a nude woman. Signed upper left "A. Douglas".
Eldred's
Mar. 12, 2022
Aaron Douglas, 1899-1979, Portrait of a Girl
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
Aaron Douglas 1899-1979 Portrait of a Girl c. 1935 pencil and crayon on cream paper 13 x 10 inches unsigned Provenance: the artist's estate (Gregory Ridley, executor) to Karen Coffie; to Samuel Williams. Illustrated: The Parkway Collection of Important 20th Century African-American Art, p. A well known example of Douglas' work, Scottsboro Boys, Clarence Norris and Haywood Patterson, c. 1935, (collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution) is very similar in style to this drawing.
Black Art Auction
Feb. 25, 2022
AARON DOUGLAS (AMERICAN, 1899-1979) SET OF 4 WOODCUTS ON CREAM JAPAN PAPER, 1926 (IMP. 1972) EMPEROR JONES
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
Each signed, titled, dated 1972, inscribed "Imp." and numbered 3/20 in pencil, lower margin. Each superb, rich impressions of these scarce prints. Titles Include: Bravado; Defiance; Flight; Surrender. It is estimated that the artist printed approximately 100 impressions - a small edition of prints at the time of the publication, three later editions of 15, 15, and 20 each and occasional printings outside the edition. Aaron Douglas was a fixture of the Harlem Renaissance, the African American movement in literature, art and culture in the 1920s. Douglas was originally commissioned by Theatre Arts Monthly to design a series of woodblock illustrations for the Eugene O'Neill play Emperor Jones in 1926. Eugene O'Neill, selected Charles Gilpin, the first African American actor to act in a Broadway play, to star in his leading role of Brutus Jones in his Emperor Jones play in 1920 and later hired the renowned, African American actor and vocalist, Paul Robeson, to play in the same leading role. Paul Robeson also starred in the film adaptation of the play. Provenance: Gift to Current Owner from her Godmother, Dr. Naomi Long Madgett, Poet Laureate of Detroit. Dr. Madgett formerly sat on a panel in 1972 at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. These prints were a gift from the artist, Aaron Douglas, he formerly worked as an Art Professor at Fisk University. Frame H 18.5" W 37.75"
DuMouchelles
Jul. 17, 2021
Aaron Douglas, 1899-1979, 32nd Annual Festival of Music and Art, April 1961
Est: $800 - $1,200
Aaron Douglas 1899-1979 32nd Annual Festival of Music and Art, April 1961 lithograph 9.25 x 12.5 inches
Black Art Auction
Apr. 22, 2021
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Oak Bluffs (Vineyard Haven).
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Oak Bluffs (Vineyard Haven). Etching and aquatint on cream wove paper, circa 1955. 114x191 mm; 4 1/2x7 1/2 inches, wide margins. Signed, titled, and numbered 11/15 in pencil, lower margin. Printed in 1975 by printmaker Stephanie Pogue, who signed and inscribed "Impression: Stephanie E. Pogue, 1975" in pencil, lower margin. Alternative titles used by Aaron Douglas for this scarce etching include Vineyard Haven and Three Trees. After receiving a Carnegie Foundation grant, Douglas travelled and painted along the East Coast in the summer of 1951 - including a visit to Martha's Vineyard. Earle p. 220.
Swann Auction Galleries
Apr. 22, 2021
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Head of Boy (Portrait of Langston Hughes).
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Head of Boy (Portrait of Langston Hughes). Woodcut on cream laid paper, circa 1926. 120x102 mm; 4 3/4x4 inches, 1/4 to 3/4- inch margins. Signed, titled and dated "1957" in pencil, lower margin. A later printing by the artist at Fisk University. This extremely scarce print is a striking representation of a hero of the Harlem Renaissance by Aaron Douglas, a small portrait of the poet Langston Hughes as a young man. Another impression, titled Portrait of Langston Hughes, an unsigned proof, printed in brown and gold metallic ink, is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The museum also has Portrait of Countee Cullen, another very similar Douglas woodcut. Both date from the same year as the artist's The Emporer Jones series of woodcuts. The artist later revisited these blocks, in addition to making new etchings like Window Shopper and The Junkman, after taking a printmaking class in the summer of 1955 taught by Walter Rogalksi at the Brookyln Museum Art School. Earle p. 221.
Swann Auction Galleries
Aug. 29, 2020
AARON DOUGLAS (NY/KS, 1899-1979)
Est: $100,000 - $150,000
"Listen Lord", oil on canvas, signed verso "A. Douglas", signed and numbered on stretcher in pencil, a New Negro Art Movement / Harlem Renaissance era book illustration for James Weldon Johnson's book, "God's Trombones, Seven Negro Sermons in Verse", published by Viking Press in New York in 1927. Housed in a gold cove frame, OS: 20" x 17 1/2", SS: 15 1/2" x 13". Accompanied by a letter from Dr. Jontyle Theresa Robinson, an educator and author of several books on African American art, acknowledging this painting as a Douglas "masterpiece." Craquelure.
Thomaston Place Auction Galleries
Jul. 22, 2020
Aaron Douglas (African American, 1899-1979) "The Emperor Jones (Study)"
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Aaron Douglas (African-American, 1899-1979) "The Emperor Jones (Study)", circa 1925-1927, tempera on board. Verso bears Lyzon Gallery, Nashville, TN paper label. Provenance: Nashville Estate, a gift of the artist. Framed. Size: 7.5" x 9", 19 x 23 cm. (image); 17" x 19", 43 x 48 cm. (frame).
Material Culture
Jun. 28, 2020
Aaron Douglas, (American, 1899-1979), The Junk Man, 1955, etching and aquatint, image: 8 3/4" x 7 1/8"; sheet: 14 1/8" x 10 7/8"
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
titled and signed lower margin A.P.
Toomey & Co. Auctioneers
May. 16, 2020
Aaron Douglas, 1899 - 1979, Mr. Baker, Oil on board, 16 x 12 inches
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Aaron Douglas 1899 - 1979 Mr. Baker Oil on board Signed Provenance: The Collection of Dr. Dianne Whitfield-Locke and Dr. Carnell Locke, Maryland Exhibited: Building on Tradition, The Collection of Dr. Dianne Whitfield-Locke and Dr. Carnell Locke, Hampton University Museum, October 12, 2013-December 7, 2013. Literature: International Review of African American Art, vol. 24, 3B, Hampton University Museum, VA, p. 5. The preparatory drawing for this painting was reproduced in the Cedric Dover book, American Negro Art, 1960. 16 x 12 inches
Black Art Auction
Mar. 30, 2020
"BATTLESTAR GALACTICA" AARON DOUGLAS Signed Photo (5)
Est: $50 - $60
From the hit 2004 series that took fans and critics by total surprise! The series ran for 5 years and was called "The Greatest Show on TV You're Not Watching" by TVGuide. This is an in-person signed photo by star Aaron Douglas as 'Chief Galen Tyrol' from "Battlestar Galactica". Also added character name. Signed on set 10/28/05-11/29/05 Vancouver, BC Canada.
Antiquities of Las Vegas
Mar. 30, 2020
"BATTLESTAR GALACTICA" AARON DOUGLAS Signed Photo (4)
Est: $50 - $60
From the hit 2004 series that took fans and critics by total surprise! The series ran for 5 years and was called "The Greatest Show on TV You're Not Watching" by TVGuide. This is an in-person signed photo by star Aaron Douglas as 'Chief Galen Tyrol' from "Battlestar Galactica". Also added character name. Signed on set 10/28/05-11/29/05 Vancouver, BC Canada.
Antiquities of Las Vegas
Mar. 30, 2020
"BATTLESTAR GALACTICA" AARON DOUGLAS Signed Photo (3)
Est: $50 - $60
From the hit 2004 series that took fans and critics by total surprise! The series ran for 5 years and was called "The Greatest Show on TV You're Not Watching" by TVGuide. This is an in-person signed photo by star Aaron Douglas as 'Chief Galen Tyrol' from "Battlestar Galactica". Also added character name. Signed on set 10/28/05-11/29/05 Vancouver, BC Canada.
Antiquities of Las Vegas
Mar. 30, 2020
"BATTLESTAR GALACTICA" AARON DOUGLAS Signed Photo (2)
Est: $50 - $60
From the hit 2004 series that took fans and critics by total surprise! The series ran for 5 years and was called "The Greatest Show on TV You're Not Watching" by TVGuide. This is an in-person signed photo by star Aaron Douglas as 'Chief Galen Tyrol' from "Battlestar Galactica". Signed on set 10/28/05-11/29/05 Vancouver, BC Canada
Antiquities of Las Vegas
Jan. 23, 2020
AARON DOUGLAS, American (1899-1979), Three Masked Figures, linocut on paper, signed in the plate "Douglas" lower right, 11 3/4 x 9 i...
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
AARON DOUGLAS American (1899-1979) Three Masked Figures linocut on paper, signed in the plate "Douglas" lower right 11 3/4 x 9 inches (sheet) Provenance: Private Collection, Connecticut. Other Notes: Tags: fine prints, modern / contemporary, abstract, African American art
Shannon's
Oct. 08, 2019
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Creation.
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Creation. Oil on canvas board, 1969. 508x406 mm; 20x16 inches. Signed and dated in oil, lower right. Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; Mr. and Mrs. Louis Daniels, Nashville, TN. Exhibited: Aaron Douglas: A Private View Selections from the Daniels Collection, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN, October 24, 2003 – February 1, 2004; Berry-Hill Gallery, New York, with the label on the frame back. This striking oil painting is an unusual example of a foray into abstraction by Aaron Douglas. Douglas had never completely crossed into abstraction like his peers Charles Alston and Hale Woodruff despite a modernist sensibility and his use of elements of Cubist design and geometric abstraction in his early painting. The concentric circles and tonal patterns Douglas employed as early as 1926 were innovative and strong indicators of his formal concerns. The earliest and best known example of his painterly abstraction is found in the oil on canvas, Birds in Flight, 1927. In 1973 Douglas recalled to David Driskell how "I wanted to create something new and modern that fitted in with Art Deco and the other things that were taking the country by storm. That is how I came upon the notion to use a number of things such as Cubism and a style with straight lines to emphasize the mathematical relationship of things." Kinshasha Holman Conwill in her Frist Center exhibition essay points out that "though these smaller-scale paintings lack the monumentality of Douglas's better-known murals, they affirm his enduring attraction to geometric abstraction." In 1969, while Douglas had been retired from Fisk University for three years, he continued to paint and exhibit his artwork. Earle p. 37.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 08, 2019
AARON DOUGLAS (1898 - 1979) Adobe Houses.
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1898 - 1979) Adobe Houses. Watercolor and pencil on wove paper, 1940. 305x406 mm; 12x16 inches. Signed, titled and dated in pencil on the original front mat. Provenance: gift from the artist; Esther Balderston Jones, Nashville, TN; private collection, Arizona. Mrs. Jones was the wife of Dr. Thomas Elsa Jones who was the president of Fisk University from 1926 to 1946. This charming landscape is one of the earliest examples that we have located of Aaron Douglas' watercolors from his travels abroad while teaching at Fisk University. Douglas had just joined the faculty the previous year and began teaching full time in the spring of 1940. In August, Douglas and his wife Alta traveled to central Mexico, visiting Monterrey, Mexico City, Cuernavaca and Puebla. Earle p. 217.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 08, 2019
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Emperor Jones.
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Emperor Jones. Four woodcut prints on cream Japan paper, 1926. Together 205x660 mm; 8x26 inches; each 205x140 mm; 8x5 1/2 inches, full margins. A later edition (of 3), printed in 1972. Each signed, titled, and numbered 8/10 in pencil, lower margin. Titles include: Bravado * Defiance * Flight * Surrender. Each superb, dark impressions of these scarce prints. It is estimated that the artist printed approximately 100 impressions - a small edition of prints at the time of publication, then three later editions and occasional printings outside the edition. Douglas was originally commissioned by Theatre Arts Monthly to design a series of woodblock illustrations for the Eugene O'Neill play Emperor Jones in 1926. These later editions were made with printmaker Stephanie Pogue who helped Douglas reprint this series and his etchings The Junkman and The Window Shopper.
Swann Auction Galleries
Jul. 31, 2019
Aaron Douglas Black Americana Genre Oil Painting
Est: $100 - $1,000
Aaron Douglas (1899 - 1979) New York, Kansas, oil painting on board. Depicts depicts the form of a black figure with a bag in one hand and another object in their other hand. Signed lower right. Sight measures 15 1/2" x 11 1/2". Housed in frame measuring 18" x 14". Good overall condition with wear to frame. In house, Hill Auction Gallery continental USA domestic shipping $55 plus insurance. H.A.G., will refer local third party shippers for international buyers upon request. Local pickup welcome.
Hill Auction Gallery
Apr. 04, 2019
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Three Trees (Vineyard Haven).
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Three Trees (Vineyard Haven). Etching and aquatint on cream wove paper, circa 1951-55. 114x191 mm; 4 1/2x7 1/2 inches, wide margins. Signed and titled in pencil, lower margin. A richly inked, superb impression with hand wiping of this very scarce print. An alternative title to this etching is Vineyard Haven - an impression bearing this title was sold at Swann Galleries on October 9, 2014, and is the only other impression we have located. After receiving a Carnegie Foundation grant, Douglas was able to travel and paint along the East Coast in the summer of 1951 - including a visit to Martha's Vineyard. Earle p. 220.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 04, 2018
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1972) Emperor Jones.
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1972) Emperor Jones. Set of 4 woodcuts on cream Japan paper, 1926. Each 205x140 mm; 8x5 1/2 inches, full margins. A later edition (of 3), printed in 1972. Each signed, titled, inscribed "1972 ed." and numbered 19/20 in pencil, lower margin. Titles include: Bravado * Defiance * Flight * Surrender. Each superb, dark impressions of these scarce prints. It is estimated that the artist printed approximately 100 impressions - a small edition of prints at the time of the publication, then three later editions of 15, 15, and 20 each and occasional printings outside the edition. Douglas was originally commissioned by Theatre Arts Monthly to design a series of woodblock illustrations for the Eugene O'Neill play Emperor Jones in 1926. These later editions were made with printmaker Stephanie Pogue who helped Douglas reprint this series and his etchings The Junkman and The Window Shopper.
Swann Auction Galleries
Jul. 26, 2018
Aaron Douglas. Three Trees (Vineyard Haven) c.1951
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Douglas, Aaron (American, 1899-1979). "Three Trees (Vineyard Haven)." c.1951/55. Etching and aquatint. Signed in pencil, l.l. titled, l.r. Plate: 4 1/2" x 7 1/2" Sheet: 6 1/4" x 10" Addl Info: Only the second time for this rare etching and aquatint to come up for public auction. Vineyard Haven, also a popular subject for African-American artists who vacationed at the Vineyard, is a community within the town of Tisbury and the main point of entry to Marthas Vineyard. Condition: Very good condition. Faint mat burn. Hinged on verso, not attached to matting. Provenance: The artist, to the consignor.
Quinn's Auction Galleries
Apr. 26, 2018
AARON DOUGLAS, American (1899 - 1979), Untitled (Group of 3 Notebook Sketches), watercolor on paper, signed "A. Douglas" lower right...
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
AARON DOUGLAS American (1899 - 1979) Untitled (Group of 3 Notebook Sketches) watercolor on paper, signed "A. Douglas" lower right. 9 x 6 1/4 inches (sheet, each) Provenance: From the collection of Douglas Crutchfield, Jazz dancer, Cincinnati, Ohio; Private Collection, Denmark. Other Notes: Request a preliminary shipping/packing quote. Tags: Modern / Contemporary, Works on Paper
Shannon's
Apr. 05, 2018
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1972) Emperor Jones.
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1972) Emperor Jones. Set of 4 woodcuts on cream Japan paper, 1926. Each 205x140 mm; 8x5 1/2 inches, full margins. A later edition (of 3), printed in 1972. Each signed, titled, inscribed "1972 ed." and numbered 20/20 in pencil, lower margin. Titles include: Bravado * Defiance * Flight * Surrender. Each superb, dark impressions of these scarce prints. It is estimated that the artist printed approximately 100 impressions - a small edition of prints at the time of the publication, then three later editions of 15, 15, and 20 each and occasional printings outside the edition. Douglas was originally commissioned by Theatre Arts Monthly to design a series of woodblock illustrations for the Eugene O'Neill play Emperor Jones in 1926. These later editions were made with printmaker Stephanie Pogue who helped Douglas reprint this series and his etchings The Junkman and The Window Shopper.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 05, 2017
AARON DOUGLAS (1898 - 1979) Adobe Houses.
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1898 - 1979) Adobe Houses. Watercolor and pencil on wove paper, 1940. 305x406 mm; 12x16 inches. Signed, titled and dated in pencil on the original front mat. Provenance: gift from the artist; Esther Balderston Jones, Nashville, TN; private collection, Arizona. Mrs. Jones was the wife of Dr. Thomas Elsa Jones who was the president of Fisk University from 1926 to 1946. This charming landscape is one of the earliest examples that we have located of Aaron Douglas' watercolors from his travels abroad while teaching at Fisk University. Douglas had just joined the faculty the previous year and began teaching full time in the spring of 1940. In August, Douglas and his wife Alta traveled through central Mexico, visiting Monterrey, Mexico City, Cuernavaca and Puebla. Earle p. 217.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 05, 2017
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Mollie.
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Mollie. Oil on canvas board, 1937. 406x305 mm; 16x12 inches. Signed in oil, lower right. Provenance: the artist, New York; private collection, California. Exhibited: The Negro in American Art, UCLA Art Galleries, Dickson Art Center, University of California, Los Angeles, September 11 - October 16, 1966, with the label verso. Illustrated: Samella Lewis, African-American Art and Artists, fig 40, p. 64; Val Spaulding and Samella Lewis, Black Art, An International Quarterly, Volume 1, Number 2, winter 1976, p. 27. Mollie is a scarce example of the artist's intimate portraiture from the mid-1930s in New York. Aaron Douglas was painting and exhibiting easel-sized paintings in Harlem through the 1930s. Painted in this Impressionist style, he continued to paint still lifes, portraits and landscapes in his studio when not working on mural and illustration projects. His 1936 portait of his wife Alta, in the collection of Fisk University Galleries, Nashville, and included in the 2008 retrospective Aaron Douglas, African-American Modernist, is painted in a smiliarly direct style. Earle p. 177.
Swann Auction Galleries
Apr. 06, 2017
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Untitled (Self-Portrait in Dashiki).
Est: $35,000 - $50,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Untitled (Self-Portrait in Dashiki). Oil on canvas board, circa 1960-65. 610x502 mm; 24x19 3/4 inches. Signed in oil, lower right. Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; private collection, Washington, DC. This unusual self-portait, with the artist wearing both a dashiki and a kufi cap, proudly displays the Pan-African spirit of the period. Aaron Douglas had a growing interest in Africa in the late 1950s while teaching at Fisk University. He visited both Europe and West Africa in the summer of 1956 with his wife and their friends Dr. and Mrs. W. W. Goens. While they traveled to the port cities of Dakar, Senegal, Accra, Ghana and Lagos, Nigeria, Douglas painted a series of watercolor landscapes and street scenes which he exhibited back at Fisk University that fall. Douglas was also instrumental in founding the Afro-American Committee for Gifts of Art and Literature to Ghana in the fall of 1959. Earle pp. 221-222.
Swann Auction Galleries
Apr. 06, 2017
AARON DOUGLAS (1898 - 1979) The Junk Man.
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1898 - 1979) The Junk Man. Etching and aquatint on cream wove paper, circa 1955. 229x184 mm; 9x7 1/4 inches, full margins. Artist proof, aside from an edition of 15. Signed, titled and inscribed "a/p" in pencil, lower margin. This richly inked, dark impression is a scarce, early proof, made before the edition of 15 printed by Stephanie E. Pogue in 1974.
Swann Auction Galleries
Mar. 03, 2017
Aaron Douglas (American 1899-1979), The Junk Man , etching and aquatint
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
Aaron Douglas (American 1899-1979) The Junk Man Etching and aquatint, signed Aaron Douglas in pencil l.r., titled in pencil l.l. and marked a/p in pencil l.c.; apparently in good condition. Framed.* Sight size: 229 x 178 mm (9 x 7 in)Property of Various Owners
Weschler's
Oct. 06, 2016
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Creation.
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Creation. Oil on canvas board, 1969. 508x406 mm; 20x16 inches. Signed and dated in oil, lower right. Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; Mr. and Mrs. Louis Daniels, Nashville, TN. Exhibited: Aaron Douglas: A Private View Selections from the Daniels Collection, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN, October 24, 2003 – February 1, 2004; Berry-Hill Gallery, New York, with the label on the frame back. This striking oil painting is an unusual example of a foray into abstraction by Aaron Douglas. Douglas had never completely crossed into abstraction like his peers Charles Alston and Hale Woodruff despite a modernist sensibility and his use of elements of Cubist design and geometric abstraction in his early painting. The concentric circles and tonal patterns Douglas employed as early as 1926 were innovative and strong indicators of his formal concerns. The earliest and best known example of his painterly abstraction is found in the oil on canvas, Birds in Flight, 1927. In 1973, Douglas recalled to David Driskell how "I wanted to create something new and modern that fit in with Art Deco and the other things that were taking the country by storm. That is how I came upon the notion to use a number of things such as Cubism and a style with straight lines to emphasize the mathematical relationship of things." Kinshasha Holman Conwill in her Frist Center exhibition essay points out that "though these smaller-scale paintings lack the monumentality of Douglas's better-known murals, they affirm his enduring attraction to geometric abstraction." In 1969, while Douglas had been retired from Fisk University for three years, he continued to paint and exhibit his artwork. Earle p. 37.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 06, 2016
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) The Window Shopper.
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) The Window Shopper. Etching and aquatint on wove paper, 1955. 229x184 mm; 9x7 1/4 inches, full margins. Artist's proof, aside from an edition of 15. Signed and titled in pencil, lower margin. A very good, dark impression of this scarce print. Another impression is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Swann Auction Galleries
Sep. 10, 2016
Aaron Douglas, (American, 1899-1979), Mural Study, oil on panel, 15.5" x 31"
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Aaron Douglas (American, 1899-1979) Mural Study oil on panel signed lower right 15.5" x 31"
Toomey & Co. Auctioneers
Jun. 29, 2016
Aaron Douglas American, 1899-1979 (i) Self-Portrait, 1925 (ii) Self-Portrait
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Aaron Douglas American, 1899-1979 (i) Self-Portrait, 1925 Signed Aaron Douglas and dated Harlem- 1925 (lr) Red chalk on illustration board 13 x 9 7/16 inches Unframed (ii) Self-Portrait Dedicated From Aaron Douglas / to Emanuel M. / Pomerantz (ll) Red chalk on paper 7 x 5 11/16 inches Unframed C
DOYLE Auctioneers & Appraisers
Dec. 15, 2015
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) The Street Urchin.
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) The Street Urchin. Oil on linen canvas, circa 1938. 610x700 mm; 24x27 1/2 inches. Signed in oil, lower right. Provenance: Max Robinson, Chicago: Peter C. Ince, GA (1986); thence by descent to the current owners. Exhibited: Exhibition of Haitian Paintings, ACA Gallery, New York, April 2 - 15, 1939; Selections from the Max Robinson Collection of Afro-American Art, DuSable Museum of African-American History, Chicago, February 1 - 28, 1985. Max Robinson was an ABC News World News Tonight reporter and broadcast journalist - he was the first African - America anchor on network television. Illustrated: Exhibition of Haitian Paintings, ACA Gallery, New York, exhibition booklet, front cover; Alain L. Locke, The Negro in Art: A Pictorial Record of the Negro Artist and the Negro Theme in Art, 1940; Krista A. Thompson,"Preoccupied with Haiti: The Dream of Diaspora in African American Art, 1915–1942", American Art, p. 91. Krista Thompson located and illustrated a copy of the ACA booklet found in the Julius Rosenwald Archives at Fisk University, Nashville, TN. A very scarce canvas from the artist's 1930s period, The Street Urchin is a beautiful example of Aaron Douglas' portrait painting. Unlike the unabashedly modern style of his mural painting, The Street Urchin embodies the introspective side of the artist. From the early 1930s, Aaron Douglas painted landscapes and portraits with impressionistic brushstrokes and palette. Despite his subject's poverty and a stark background, Douglas depicts this seated young man with a great sensitivity and studied observation. In September of 1938, Aaron Douglas was awarded a second Rosenwald Fellowship which allowed him to travel to Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Virgin Islands late that year. Like Walter Edouard Scott before him, Douglas painted and exhibited in and around Port-au-Prince through December. Thompson lists the twelve paintings that were included in his April solo exhibition in New York; The Street Urchin is one of only two figurative subjects. The exhibition was reviewed by both the New York Times and Alain Locke in Opportunity, who viewed Douglas' more conventional Haitian paintings "as a retreat from his bold earlier style." However, as Susan Earle points out, Locke later chose The Street Urchin as one of the illustrations of Aaron Douglas' paintings in his 1940 book The Negro in Art. Earle pp. 217-18; Thompson pp. 90-92.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 16, 2015
Aaron Douglas
Est: $150,000 - $200,000
Aaron Douglas,Listen Lord,Good condition, good appearance, no apparent restoration.,The artistDoug CrutchfieldPrivate Collection by descentGodel & Company, Fine Art NYCJune Kelly Gallery, New YorkPrivate Collection,15 3/4 x 13 5/8 in. 40.0 x 34.6 cm,Oil on canvas
Barridoff Auctions
Apr. 02, 2015
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Head of a Masai Woman.
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Head of a Masai Woman. Color pastel and pencils, 1950. 356x317 mm; 14x12 1/2 inches. Signed and dated in pencil, lower right. Provenance: private collection, MD. Aaron Douglas did a number of portraits in oil of African figures in the late 1940s and early 1950s, including the dignitaries Eket of Nigeria and Nyo Banog of Uganda in 1948 which he painted in Paris. Later in the summer of 1956, Douglas and his wife Alta toured West Africa with their friends the Goens. Earle pp. 220-21.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 09, 2014
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Creation.
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Creation. Oil on canvas board, 1969. 508x406 mm; 20x16 inches. Signed and dated in oil, lower right. Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; Mr. and Mrs. Louis Daniels, Nashville, TN. Exhibited: Aaron Douglas: A Private View Selections from the Daniels Collection, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN, October 24, 2003 – February 1, 2004; Berry-Hill Gallery, New York, with the label on the frame back. This striking oil painting is an unusual example of a foray into abstraction by Aaron Douglas. Douglas had never completely crossed into abstraction like his peers Charles Alston and Hale Woodruff despite a modernist sensibility and his use of elements of Cubist design and geometric abstraction in his early painting. The concentric circles and tonal patterns Douglas employed as early as 1926 were innovative and strong indicators of his formal concerns. The earliest and best known example of his painterly abstraction is found in the oil on canvas, Birds in Flight, 1927. In 1973 Douglas recalled to David Driskell how "I wanted to create something new and modern that fitted in with Art Deco and the other things that were taking the country by storm. That is how I came upon the notion to use a number of things such as Cubism and a style with straight lines to emphasize the mathematical relationship of things." Kinshasha Holman Conwill in her Frist Center exhibition essay points out that "though these smaller-scale paintings lack the monumentality of Douglas's better-known murals, they affirm his enduring attraction to geometric abstraction." In 1969, while Douglas had been retired from Fisk University for three years, he continued to paint and exhibit his artwork. Earle p. 37.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 09, 2014
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Ebbets Field.
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979) Ebbets Field. Watercolor on wove paper, 1950. 254x356 mm; 10x14 inches. Signed and dated in pencil, lower right. Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; Mr. and Mrs. Louis Daniels, Nashville, TN. Exhibited: Aaron Douglas: A Private View Selections from the Daniels Collection, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN, October 24, 2003 – February 1, 2004; Berry-Hill Gallery, New York. This watercolor is a wonderful view of the stands at Ebbets Field, home to the Brooklyn Dodgers, in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Three years earlier, Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier in baseball here with his major league debut. In 1950, Jackie Robinson led the National League in double plays, and a film biography, The Jackie Robinson Story, in which Robinson played himself, was released.
Swann Auction Galleries