First Internationally Acclaimed African American
Sculptor
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NewsSOLD for $27,255. Boston, July 10, 2010: Skinner Auctioneers offered "Large Marble Figure of an Allegorical Maiden, Spring, the standing figure wearing classical dress, with gauzy scarf covering head and face, and clutched in one hand at her chin, the other hand holding a rose, on round, naturalistic base, incised at edge with signature and title, and dated 1880, ht. 34 1/2 in. ... some natural flaw lines in stone, minor handling wear to head and some soiling, a small area of scuffing to spot at back, age typical minor small chips to edge of base." Lot 452. The similarly 'veiled' Bride of Spring sold by Cowan's in 2007 stands 48" high (see below). Recent Auction ValuesNEWS: Dec. 3, 2009, Sotheby's New York sold a signed Marriage of Hiawatha dated 1872 for $206,500, including buyer's premium. The piece was property of Nazareth Academy High School, Philadelphia, Pa., acquired as a gift around 1930. NEWS: Two EBay auctions from Akron, Ohio, ended Nov. 30, 2009 - without
a successful bid.* (B) Plaster Bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Edmonia Lewis - Buy it now $50,000 or best offer. No Shipping. Seller has withdrawn EBay auction ending Nov. 21, 2009: Marble bust of Minnehaha signed and dated 1868, 11.625 in. high. Starting bid $1,699. Marilyn Richardson writes, "The marble Minnehaha bust ... offered on eBay [was] a scam, the "seller" even used my catalogue essay verbatim as a description for one. I contacted him with a couple of questions to make sure he was not legit and then contacted eBay. They investigated and had the items removed."May 21, 2009, Sotheby's New York offered Marriage of Hiawatha dated 1874, estimating its value at $125,000 to $175,000. In spite of a depressed economy and a downward trend in art auction sales, the hammer price including buyer's premium of $314,500 set a new record for this artist. February 7, 2009, Cowan's sold a bust of Minnehaha (1868) for $52,875, including buyer's premium. On May 22, 2008, Sotheby's New York offered the Old Arrowmaker. Estimated value $70,000 to $100,000. The hammer price, including buyer's premium set a record at $301,000 for this artist's works. In October 2007, a private collector purchased the 1879 'Veiled' Bride of Spring from Cowan's Auctions in Cincinnati for $138,000 (lot 644). Lewis had donated it to Good Samaritan hospital in Cincinnati. It was put out to salvage when the hospital moved to a new building and finally found in a Kentucky library by an astute art historian. Much of Edmonia Lewis’s work is in Scotland, England, Germany. In April 2003, an early version of the prize-winning Asleep, titled Night, was sold by Sotheby's London for $130,000 to the Baltimore Museum of Art. Night was found in Scotland. A copy of her highly praised bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was recently donated by a Welsh family to the British National Museums Liverpool in Lieu of taxes, valued at $117,000. The copy was commissioned directly from the sculptor by Henry Robertson Sandbach (1807-1895), who bragged of his bargain price. Sandbach, a wealthy West India Merchant, was a leading British collector of contemporary sculpture. Her original portrait, which is larger, is at Harvard University. Newark Museum purchased two marble busts, Hiawatha and Minnehaha, at $76,375 and $64,625, respectively, at Christies' auction in 2000. Sotheby’s New York records $85,000 for the Old Arrow-Maker and His Daughter in 1996 and $87,750 in 1994, $39,100 for the Marriage of Hiawatha in 1995 and $68,762 in 1992, and $9,775 for Poor Cupid in 1994.
07/12/2010
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