Malvin Gray Johnson Sold at Auction Prices

Painter, b. 1896 - d. 1934

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    • Malvin Gray Johnson, 1896-1934, Over Harlem Rooftops
      Jul. 17, 2021

      Malvin Gray Johnson, 1896-1934, Over Harlem Rooftops

      Est: $30,000 - $50,000

      Malvin Gray Johnson 1896-1934 Over Harlem Rooftops ** Please note this work is currently on loan to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. If you choose to buy this lot, transfer of title will be made immediately and the artwork will be delivered to you at the conclusion of the loan. Please contact us for more information. 1928 oil on canvas 16 x 12 inches signed and dated

      Black Art Auction
    • Malvin Gray Johnson American, 1896-1934 Immigration, circa 1925
      Nov. 20, 2018

      Malvin Gray Johnson American, 1896-1934 Immigration, circa 1925

      Est: $200 - $400

      Malvin Gray Johnson American, 1896-1934 Immigration, circa 1925 Signed by Malvin Johnson on the reverse Charcoal on paper 10 1/2 x 14 5/8 inches Unframed Provenance: George Baker, New York C The Patricia and Donald Oresman Collection

      DOYLE Auctioneers & Appraisers
    • MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON (1896 - 1934) Along the Harlem River.
      Apr. 06, 2017

      MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON (1896 - 1934) Along the Harlem River.

      Est: $10,000 - $15,000

      MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON (1896 - 1934) Along the Harlem River. Oil on canvas board, 1925. 305x406 mm; 12x16 inches. Signed in oil, lower right. Provenance: private collection, New Jersey. Exhibited: The Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists, New York, NY, March 6 - 29, 1925, with entry label pinned to the frame back, signed and inscribed "202 W. 140th St." (the artist''s home address) in ink. Illustrated: The Society of Independent Artists, 1925. Of the two paintings, Along the Harlem River and High Bridge, entered by Malvin Gray Johnson, this was the one chosen to be illustrated. Along the Harlem River is a great re-discovery of one of Malvin Gray Johnson''s modernist landscapes. Its location was not known at the time of his 2002 North Carolina Central University Art Museum retrospective. This painting shows the growth of modernism in African-American visual art by the mid-1920s. This is only his second painting to come to auction. Largely due to his sudden death at the age of 38, his 1920s works are extremely scarce--the retrospective located only two out of 60 paintings and drawings. Malvin Gray Johnson painted Along the Harlem River while completing his studies at the National Academy of Art and Design where he was taught by Leon Kroll, George Lawrence Nelson, and Ivan Olinsky. In 1925, Johnson was able to find employment that allowed him to take day painting classes with Francis C. Jones and Charles C. Curran. Jacquelyn Francis connects this early Harlem landscape with a similar work by his contemporary Aaron Douglas. Francis writes how this "unlocated" but reproduced painting and Douglas''s Power Plant in Harlem, in the collection of the Hampton University Art Museum, both display the Ashcan School influence in their industrial subjects. Johnson''s instructor Leon Kroll was also known for "his muscular depictions of industrial New York." This small but bold landscape was painted four years before his iconic work Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, but in many ways is more modern. Relying on just the small black and white catalogue photograph (see illustration), Francis sees his approach "akin to figurally abstract landscapes of the 1930s such as those of Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley and William H. Johnson." Swing Low, Sweet Chariot launched his career, and placed him alongside Aaron Douglas and Henry Ossawa Tanner as one of the great African-American painters at that time. But this Harlem landscape establishes that Malvin Gray Johnson was already a modern innovator in 1925. Rodgers pp. 20, 54-55. WITH--A copy of the The Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists catalogue is included.

      Swann Auction Galleries
    • MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON, American (1896-1934), Still Life with Fruit and Teapot, oil on canvas, signed lower right., 26 x 39
      Apr. 23, 2015

      MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON, American (1896-1934), Still Life with Fruit and Teapot, oil on canvas, signed lower right., 26 x 39

      Est: $5,000 - $7,000

      MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON American (1896-1934) Still Life with Fruit and Teapot oil on canvas, signed lower right. 26 x 39 Provenance: A Connecticut estate. Other Notes: A member of the Harlem Renaissance, Johnson's most notable work, "Swing Low Sweet Chariot," received the $250 Harmon Foundation Award for its Negro Art competition in 1928.

      Shannon's
    • MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON (1896 - 1934) Along the Harlem River.
      Feb. 13, 2014

      MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON (1896 - 1934) Along the Harlem River.

      Est: $40,000 - $60,000

      MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON (1896 - 1934) Along the Harlem River. Oil on canvas board, 1925. 305x406 mm; 12x16 inches. Signed in oil, lower right. Provenance: private New York collection. Exhibited: The Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists, New York, NY, March 6 - 29, 1925, with entry label pinned to the frame back, signed and inscribed "202 W. 140th St." (the artist's home address) in ink. Illustrated: The Society of Independent Artists, 1925. Of the two paintings, Along the Harlem River and High Bridge, entered by Malvin Gray Johnson, this was the one chosen to be illustrated. Along the Harlem River is a great re-discovery of one of Malvin Gray Johnson's modernist landscapes. Its location was not known at the time of his 2002 North Carolina Central University Art Museum retrospective. This painting shows the growth of modernism in African-American visual art by the mid-1920s. This is also only his second painting to come to auction. Largely due to his sudden death at the age of 38, his 1920s works are extremely scarce--the retrospective located only two out of 60 paintings and drawings. Malvin Gray Johnson painted Along the Harlem River while completing his studies at the National Academy of Art and Design where he studied with Leon Kroll, George Lawrence Nelson, and Ivan Olinsky. In 1925, Johnson was able to find employment that allowed him to take day painting classes with Francis C. Jones and Charles C. Curran. Jacquelyn Francis connects this early Harlem landscape with a similar work by his contemporary Aaron Douglas. Francis writes how this "unlocated" but reproduced painting and Douglas's Power Plant in Harlem, in the collection of the Hampton University Art Museum, both display the Ashcan School influence in their industrial subjects. Johnson's instructor Leon Kroll was also known for "his muscular depictions of industrial New York." This small but bold landscape was painted four years before his iconic work Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, but in many ways is more modern. Relying on just the small black and white catalogue photograph (see illustration), Francis sees his approach "akin to figurally abstract landscapes of the 1930s such as those of Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley and William H. Johnson." Swing Low, Sweet Chariot launched his career, and placed him alongside Aaron Douglas and Henry Ossawa Tanner as one of the great African-American painters at that time. But this Harlem landscape establishes that Malvin Gray Johnson was already a modern innovator in 1925. Rodgers pp. 20, 54-55. WITH--A copy of the The Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists catalogue is included.

      Swann Auction Galleries
    • Malvin Gray Johnson (1896-1934)
      Nov. 17, 2013

      Malvin Gray Johnson (1896-1934)

      Est: $20,000 - $30,000

      Still Life with Wine Bottle and Apples 28" x 39" oil on canvas signed lower right and verso dated 1927 estimate 20,000/30,000

      Fairfield Auction, LLC
    • MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON (1896 - 1934) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.
      Feb. 23, 2010

      MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON (1896 - 1934) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.

      Est: $200,000 - $250,000

      MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON (1896 - 1934) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Oil on canvas, 1928-29. 1245x735 mm; 49x29 inches. Signed "Gray Johnson ©" in oil, lower right. Provenance: the artist, New York; purchased by John Wilson Lamb, 1929; thence by descent to the current owner. Exhibited: Negro Art, The Harmon Foundation, New York, 1929; traveling exhibition to 11 U.S. cities, February - August 1929; Climbing Up the Mountain: The Modern Art of Malvin Gray Johnson, North Carolina Central University Museum, Durham, NC, Februrary 8 - April, 19, 2002; Challenge of the Modern: African-American Artists 1925-1945, Volume I, The Studio Museum in Harlem, January 23 - March 30, 2003, with the exhibition label on the frame back. Climbing Up the Mountain: The Modern Art of Malvin Gray Johnson was the first retrospective for the artist and the first time this newly re-discovered painting had been shown in over 60 years. Illustrated: Art Digest; The Washington Post; Climbing Up the Mountain: The Modern Art of Malvin Gray Johnson, North Carolina Central University Museum, Durham, NC, p. 58; Challenge of the Modern: African-American Artists 1925-1945, Volume I, The Studio Museum in Harlem, p. 106, pl. 43. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is not only Malvin Gray Johnson's best known work, but is also a very important painting in the history of African-American visual art at the beginning of the 20th century. This is also his first painting to come to auction. Largely due to his sudden death at the age of 38, his works are extremely scarce--his 2002 retrospective located 60 paintings and drawings. Johnson's Swing Low, Sweet Chariot became one of the first modern paintings to be recorded in the canon of African-American art and culture. It launched his career, and placed him alongside Aaron Douglas and Henry Ossawa Tanner as one of the great African-American painters at that time. According to Mary Ann Calo, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot was "widely celebrated as evidence of the black artist's potential to make a distinctive contribution to American culture" with "near ecstatic" critical response. The monthly Art Digest described the painting "as a significant art world event...worthy of the highest traditions in American painting," and compared its mystical and spiritual themes to Albert P. Ryder. The evident influences of Tanner and the Renaissance were generally overlooked due to the resonance of the painting's emotional and spiritual subject. This painting visually portrays African-American spirituals as popularized by such performers as Paul Robeson and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Johnson himself best describes his intentions in the January 1929 Art Digest article: "I have tried to show the escape of emotions which the plantation slaves felt after being held down all day by the grind of labor and the consciousness of being bound. Set free from their tasks by the end of the day and the darkness they have gone from their cabin to the river's edge and are calling upon their God for the freedom which they long." Calo pp 140-41; Francis pp. 57-63.

      Swann Auction Galleries
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