Charles Henry Alston Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Charles Henry Alston Art Value Price Guide

Oct. 22, 2024
Charles Alston, Cover Illustration for The New Yorker
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
Charles Alston Cover Illustration for The New Yorker 1934 pastel on illustration board 17 h x 12.75 w in (43 x 32 cm) Signed to lower right 'Alston'. Sold with a printed draft of the cover of The New Yorker from 6 October 1934. Provenance: Collection of Alfred and Martha Montgomery Newman | Thence by descent Literature: The New Yorker, 6 October 1934, cover page This work will ship from Los Angeles, California.
Toomey & Co. Auctioneers
Oct. 03, 2024
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Head.
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Head. Charcoal and conte crayon on thin cream wove paper, circa 1950s. 279x216 mm; 11x8½ inches (image). 432x381 mm; 17x15 inches (sheet). Signed in pencil, lower right. Provenance: A. F. T. U. Gallery, New York, NY, with the label on the frame back; private collection, New York.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 03, 2024
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Earth Mother (Woman and Two Sons)..
Est: $120,000 - $180,000
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Earth Mother (Woman and Two Sons).. Oil on linen canvas, 1967. 1270x1016 mm; 50x40 inches. Signed and dated in oil, lower left. Provenance: the estate of the artist; Randall Galleries, New York; G. R. N'Namdi Gallery, New York; private collection, Illinois (1995). Exhibited: Professionals Who Teach, The Gallery of Modern Art, New York, lent by the Artists Students League, New York; Randall Gallery, New York, with the labels of the frame back; Charles Alston, Artist and Teacher, Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, NY, May 13 - July 1, 1990. Illustrated: Corrine Jennings, Gylbert Garvin Coker, Harry Henderson. Charles Alston: Artist and Teacher, Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, pl. 21, p. 53. Earth Mother (Woman and Two Sons) is a striking, modernist depiction of a Black family and part of an important series of Charles Alston's painting. Alston creates an abstracted family group centered around a central maternal figure - she is a symbol of strength and protection. Artist, art historian and curator Gylbert Coker described Alston's series as "paintings are at once formal studies and portraits: they have a particular sensitivity to fluctuating planes and to the treatment of textures". This painting reflects Alston's almost sculptural approach to form: "In Earth Mother, 1967, the actual sense of carving out and modeling can be experienced in the central figures." In addition to his formal concerns, Alston's portraiture here is reduced as a modern description of the "human condition" and the African American experience. Coker writes that Alston's faceless figures are also his reflection on how Blacks were largely perceived in society, reduced and objectified by a white gaze. The subject of Earth Mother is an important and recurring theme in Charles Alston's late 1960s work and places it within his significant body of Family paintings. In 1955 Alston began the series with his modern portrait Family (Family #1), in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art. He continued the series through 1968 - eight numbered Family paintings were included in his 1968-69 retrospective exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art at Columbus Circle in New York. Jennings/Coker/Henderson pp. 14-15.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 01, 2024
Charles Alston, 1907-1977 (Africa/USA)
Est: £8,000 - £16,000
Charles Henry Alston (1907-1977). 1951. Oil on canvas, size 78,7 x 61 cm (31 x 24 inches). Frame dimensions 80 x 64 cm (31 1/2 x 25 1/4 inches). Signed and dated upper right.
Cultural Traditions
Aug. 18, 2024
Harlem Renaissance, Charles Henry Alston, Abstract
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Harlem Renaissance painter Charles Henry Alston, oil on paper abstract of a woman, signed bottom right "Alston", 22" x 17", framed 31" x 25". Provenance: Estate of Anthony Cromwell Hill, of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Kaminski Auctions
Aug. 11, 2024
Abstract Mixed Media, with a Signature Charles Henry Alston
Est: $500 - $2,000
Medium: Mixed Media Painting Size: 11 x 15.75 inches Frame Size: 18.25 x 24.25 inches Condition: This artwork is in good overall condition for its age. With a signature Charles Henry Alston(1907 - 1977).
Topwells
Jun. 28, 2024
Charles Henry Alston (American/New York)
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
Charles Henry Alston (American/New York, 1907-1977), "Pool Player", watercolor, charcoal and graphite on paper, signed lower right, 9 5/8 in. x 8 1/4 in., framed, overall 14 1/8 in. x 12 1/4 in. x 1 3/4 in.
Neal Auction Company
Apr. 27, 2024
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON AMERICAN 1907-1977
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Untitled, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in (61 x 76.2 cm), framed 28 x 34 in (71.1 x 86.4 cm), signed lower left, PROVENANCE: Private collector Englewood, NJ to current owner
Trinity International Auctions & Appraisals, LLC
Apr. 19, 2024
Charles Henry ALSTON (1907-1977) African - American
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
Charles ALSTON (1907-1977) ; Untitled abstract ; mid 20th century ; oil on canvas ; dimensions 76 x 64 cm (30 x 24 in.) ; signed lower right corner ; Shipping to USA - DHL $520 , National post with tracking service $320 / Shipping to EU, Russia, Middle Assia - DHL $390 , National post with tracking service $230
Art-Torg
Feb. 27, 2024
Charles Alston, 1907-1977 (Africa/USA)
Est: £7,400 - £14,800
Charles Henry Alston (1907-1977). 1951. Oil on canvas, size 51 x 76 cm (20 x 30 inches), frame dimensions 56 x 81 cm (22 x 32 inches). Signed and dated lower right. (Charles Alston (1907-1977) was a prominent African-American artist. Charles Alston earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees at Columbia, University, and in 1930, received the Arthur Wesley Dow Fellowship. From 1950, he began several decades of teaching at the Art Students League and was also a member of the National Society of Mural Painters. In 1958, he was a U.S. representative to the Brussels Worlds Fair and in 1967 was appointed to the Advisory Board of the National Council of the Arts. He exhibited at the John Heller Gallery in New York and in 1969 had a large retrospective exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art in New York. However, he declined an invitation to participate in a 1971 exhibition of Black Artists at the Whitney Museum of Art writing to the Curator: "The idea of separating artists on the basis of color is a repulsive affirmation of the racism and bigotry which permeate American society . . . I would hate to think that I was in an exhibition because I's Black, rather than because I am a good painter." (Herskovic 26). Sources: American Art Review, ARTnews, Marika Herskovic, Editor, American Abstract Expressionists of the 1950s, An Illustrated Survey).
Cultural Traditions
Jan. 11, 2024
Charles Henry Alston (1907 - 1977) American
Est: $800 - $1,500
Charles Henry Alston (1907 - 1977) watercolor on paper signed lower right. Piece measures (10.5 x 7) and (15 x 12) inches w /frame. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Charles Alston was a long-time instructor at the Art Students League of New York and was known for his grasp of abstract design and his ability to express in his artwork the social forces that where shaping America at that time. His mediums were painting, sculpture, and murals, and his mural titled Man on the Threshold of Space, is at the Harriet Tubman School and another, Emerging Man, is at the Harlem Hospital, both in New York.
Cutler Bay Auctions
Dec. 14, 2023
Charles Henry Alston (American, 1907-1977) Gnarled Tree, c. 1930's
Est: $1,000 - $2,000
Charles Henry Alston (American, 1907-1977) Gnarled Tree, c. 1930's charcoal on paper signed Alston (lower right) 14 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches. Provenance: The Philip and Suzanne Schiller Collection of American Social Commentary Art, 1930 - 1970, Highland Park, Illinois
Hindman
Dec. 14, 2023
PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GIRL.
Est: €300 - €400
Watercolour and pencil, 24,0 x 18,0 cm, hardboard, signed and dated "Alston / 58". - A young child holding a stuffed animal in her hand. Alston (1907-1977) was an American painter, sculptor and illustrator who lived and worked in New York City and was active in the Harlem Renaissance. In 1990 Alston's bust of Martin Luther King Jr. became the first image of an African American displayed at the White House and Alston was named one of President Barack Obama's favourite artists. Alston travelled to Belgium in 1958 on behalf of MoMA and the State Department where he coordinated the children's community centre at Expo 58. This is the context in which the present watercolour drawing was created. He was particularly known for such portrayals of children and families in colour schemes inspired by Cezanne's palette and geometrical shapes. His works are now in the collections of the major museums of modern art.
Arenberg Auctions
Dec. 02, 2023
Charles Henry Alston, 1907-1977, Nude
Est: $7,000 - $9,000
Charles Henry Alston 1907-1977 Nude 1945 mixed media on paper 15-1/2 x 11-1/2 inches signed and dated in pencil Provenance: private collection, Detroit, MI.
Black Art Auction
Dec. 02, 2023
Charles Henry Alston, 1907-1977, Profile
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
Charles Henry Alston 1907-1977 Profile 1940-1950 mixed media on paper 23 x 18 inches signed with estate stamp Provenance: private collection, Detroit, MI.
Black Art Auction
Dec. 02, 2023
Charles Henry Alston, 1907-1977, Landscape with Barn
Est: $7,000 - $9,000
Charles Henry Alston 1907-1977 Landscape with Barn 1937-38 watercolor on paper 16 x 20 inches signed with estate stamp (lower right), labels verso from G.R. N'Namdi Gallery Chicago and Detroit verso Provenance: private collection, Detroit, MI.
Black Art Auction
Oct. 19, 2023
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Collage #3.
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Collage #3. Mixed media and collage on thin wove paper, 1959. 241x330 mm; 9 1/2x13 inches. Signed and dated in ink, lower right. Provenance: private collection, New York. Exhibited: Feingarten Galleries, New York, April, 1960, with the gallery label on the back board. In 1960, Charles Alston received the Emily Lowe Memorial award and had a solo exhibition at Feingarten Galleries, New York.
Swann Auction Galleries
Aug. 04, 2023
Charles Henry ALSTON (1907-1977) African - American
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
Charles ALSTON (1907-1977) ; Untitled abstract ; mid 20th century ; oil on canvas ; dimensions 76 x 64 cm (30 x 24 in.) ; signed lower right corner ; Shipping to USA - DHL $520 , National post with tracking service $320 / Shipping to EU, Russia, Middle Assia - DHL $390 , National post with tracking service $230
Art-Torg
Jun. 15, 2023
Charles Henry Alston (American/New York)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
Charles Henry Alston (American/New York, 1907-1977), "Grim Reaper", pencil and crayon on vellum laid on board, pencil-signed lower center, 17 in. x 13 3/4 in., framed, overall 25 1/4 in. x 21 7/8 in. x 1 3/4 in.
Neal Auction Company
May. 06, 2023
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON (American, 1907-1977), Untitled, Signed Alston lower right, Oil on Canvas, 24" x 24", Wood Frame. Note: Alston was a prominent African-American artist and educator at the Arts Student League of Ne...
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON (American, 1907-1977), Untitled, Signed Alston lower right, Oil on Canvas, 24" x 24", Wood Frame. Note: Alston was a prominent African-American artist and educator at the Arts Student League of New York. He considered himself an artist without racial boundaries. In 1969 he had a retrospective at the Gallery of Modern Art and in 1971, he declined to participate in an exhibition of Black Artists, stating that he would prefer to being referred to as an artist, not a black artist. His contribution to conceptual and abstract painting was created during a time when social and racial forces where shaping America.
Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches
Feb. 03, 2023
Charles Henry Alston (American/New York)
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Charles Henry Alston (American/New York, 1907-1977), "Grim Reaper", pencil and crayon on vellum laid on board, pencil-signed lower center, 17 in. x 13 3/4 in., framed, overall 25 1/4 in. x 21 7/8 in. x 1 3/4 in.
Neal Auction Company
Dec. 16, 2022
Charles Henry ALSTON (1907-1977) African - American
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
Charles ALSTON (1907-1977) ; Untitled abstract ; mid 20th century ; oil on canvas ; dimensions 76 x 64 cm (30 x 24 in.) ; signed lower right corner ; Shipping to USA - DHL $520 , National post with tracking service $320 / Shipping to EU, Russia, Middle Assia - DHL $390 , National post with tracking service $230
Art-Torg
Nov. 19, 2022
Charles Alston, 1907-1977, Head
Est: $2,000 - $4,000
Charles Alston 1907-1977 Head c. 1965-1970 charcoal drawing on paper 9 x 7 inches signed
Black Art Auction
Nov. 19, 2022
Charles Henry Alston, 1907-1977, untitled, Abstract composition
Est: $10,000 - $20,000
Charles Henry Alston 1907-1977 untitled, Abstract composition 1960 oil on masonite 7-1/2 x 15-1/2 inches signed and dated
Black Art Auction
Nov. 19, 2022
Charles Alston, 1907-1977, untitled, Nude in an Interior
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Charles Alston 1907-1977 untitled, Nude in an Interior c. 1950 watercolor on paper 16 x 12 inches image) signed Provenance: private collection, Dallas, Texas
Black Art Auction
Nov. 19, 2022
Charles Alston, 1907-1977, Landscape with Hills
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
Charles Alston 1907-1977 Landscape with Hills 1935 watercolor on paper 14-1/2 x 19-/2 inches signed and dated
Black Art Auction
Nov. 16, 2022
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON (1907-1977) Abstraction (Yellow)circa 1960
Est: $60,000 - $80,000
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON (1907-1977) Abstraction (Yellow) circa 1960 signed oil on canvas 30 by 36 in. 76.2 by 91.4 cm. This work was executed circa 1960.
Bonhams
Nov. 12, 2022
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON AMERICAN 1907-1977
Est: $6,000 - $9,000
Untitled Abstraction, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 in (45.7 x 61 cm), framed 19 x 25 in (48.2 x 63.5 cm), signed lower right dated 1956
Trinity International Auctions & Appraisals, LLC
Oct. 06, 2022
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Black and White #3 (Astral #3).
Est: $100,000 - $150,000
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Black and White #3 (Astral #3). Oil on linen canvas, 1961. 1270x1016 mm; 50x40 inches. Signed in oil, upper right recto. Titled Black and White #3, dated and inscribed "50x40" in ink on the upper stretcher bar, verso; titled Astral #3, dated and inscribed "50x40" in ink on a notecard, thumb-tacked to the upper stretcher bar, verso; tilted Black and White #3 in ink on paper, taped to the lower stretcher bar. Provenance: the estate of the artist; thence by descent, private collection. Exhibited: Charles Alston, Dunbarton Galleries, Boston, MA, March 24 - April 26, 1962; Charles Alston, The Gallery of Modern Art, New York, NY, December 3, 1968 - January 5, 1969. This retrospective, sponsored by Farleigh Dickinson University, included 53 paintings and 3 sculptures by Alston, including all eight of the Black and White paintings. They were exhibited alongside his other important series African Theme, Blues Singer and Family from the 1950s and 60s in the new New York museum designed by Edward Durell Stone at 2 Columbus Circle. In their chapter on Charles Alston, Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson wrote that Alston "considered the black and white abstractions in the retrospective of 1968 to be amongst his most important he had done." Black and White #3 is a striking and beautiful abstraction by Alston, a significant work from his important series of eight abstract paintings between 1959 and 1961. By 1960, Alston achieved wide recognition for his post war painting, including the Emily Lowe Memorial award for An Ancient Place, and a solo exhibition at Feingarten Galleries, New York that year. Like his friend Norman Lewis, Alston found the limited palette of black and white provided both aesthetic and narrative themes that enabled his abstraction to reflect a social and political consciousness. Alston and Lewis both effectively gave the color black new meaning at the height of the Civil Rights era struggles. In Black and White #3, Alston masterfully creates a dynamic composition through a great variety of applications of black paint on the white ground - from impastoed strokes to thin wash. His experimental approach includes dispersal, blotting and monotype. Another painting from this series, Black and White II, circa 1960 is in the collection of the Studio Museum in Harlem. Two other known paintings from this series are illustrated in Alvia J. Wardlaw's Charles Alston monograph, Black and White #1, 1959 and Black and White #7, 1961, which was also included in the Brooklyn Museum 2015 traveling exhibition Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties. Black and White #8 was sold at Swann Galleries on December 12, 2020. The Black and White series also laid the foundation for Alston's work in Spiral. As a founding member of the artist's group in the summer of 1963, Alston, alongside the other abstract painters Lewis, Merton Simpson and Hale Woodruff, advocated for an art that could address Black identity and the social and political issues confronting African Americans during the Civil Rights struggle. The Spiral group's first and only exhibition First Group Showing: Works in Black and White, May 14 - June 5, 1965, continued his monochromatic theme. Bearden/Henderson, Jr., p. 269; Wardlaw p. 91 and 93.
Swann Auction Galleries
Aug. 16, 2022
Charles Henry Alston (1907 - 1977) American
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
Charles Henry Alston (1907 - 1977) Watercolor on cream wove paper , Signed , measures 8" x 6"
Cutler Bay Auctions
Jul. 17, 2022
Charles Henry Alston (American, 1907-1977), Five figures and a cat, watercolor and pencil on paper, 14 3/4 x 11in (37 x 28cm)
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Charles Henry Alston (American, 1907-1977) Five figures and a cat watercolor and pencil on paper signed in pencil lower right Alston
Andrew Jones Auctions
Jul. 17, 2022
Charles Henry Alston (American, 1907-1977), Two figures, watercolor and pencil on paper, 11 1/4 x 9in (28.5 x 23cm)
Est: $1,500 - $2,000
Charles Henry Alston (American, 1907-1977) Two figures watercolor and pencil on paper signed in pencil lower right Alston
Andrew Jones Auctions
May. 28, 2022
CHARLES HENRY ALSTON AMERICAN 1907-1977
Est: $6,000 - $9,000
Untitled Abstraction, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 in (45.7 x 61 cm), framed 19 x 25 in (48.2 x 63.5 cm), signed lower right dated 1956
Trinity International Auctions & Appraisals, LLC
May. 17, 2022
Charles Henry Alston (American 1907 - 1977) Watercolor/Gouache- SCHOOL CHILDREN, John Heller Gallery Inc. 16-1/2 x 21-1/2 inches
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Charles Henry Alston (American 1907 - 1977) Watercolor/Gouache- SCHOOL CHILDREN, John Heller Gallery Inc. 16-1/2 x 21-1/2 inches
Bill Hood & Sons Arts & Antiques Auctions
May. 13, 2022
CHARLES ALSTON (1907-1977) Troubadour oil on canvas 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76
Est: $60,000 - $80,000
CHARLES ALSTON (1907-1977) Troubadour oil on canvas 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm.)
Christie's
Mar. 31, 2022
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Family in Cityscape (Family Group - Cityscape).
Est: $80,000 - $120,000
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Family in Cityscape (Family Group - Cityscape). Oil on linen canvas, circa 1964-66. 762x1524 mm; 30x60 inches. With the artist's estate ink stamp, lower right recto, and on the stretcher bars, verso. Provenance: the estate of the artist, with a hand-written label (and alternate title) verso; Essie Green Galleries, New York; private collection, New York. Exhibited: In the Spirit of Resistance: African-American Modernists & the Mexican Muralist School, traveling exhibition, 1996-98, including the Studio Museum in Harlem, October 2 - December 8, 1996. Illustrated: Lizette LeFalle Collins. In the Spirit of Resistance: African-American Modernists & the Mexican Muralist School, pl. 30, p. 119. This modernist oil painting of an African American family in front of a city skyline is a large study for an unrealized mural project. As a result of his many mural commissions, Alston excelled at compositions that included multiple figures - from his celebrated 1936 WPA Harlem Hospital and 1949 Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company murals to the lesser known 1957 Our Constitution at City College of New York. This painting is similar in its composition to the Alston's 1964 mosaic mural Man on the Threshold of Space for the Harriet Tubman Junior High School, PS 154 in Harlem. By 1976, Alston completed two more mosaic murals, Equal Justice Under the Law and The Family of Man, for the Bronx County Family and Criminal Court buildings with more abstract figures. The subject of this painting was also a familiar one to Alston at the time. It is part of a significant body of work, his series of Familypaintings, made in the late 1960s. Alston's important modern portrait Family (Family #1) in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art was painted in 1955. The next seven paintings in the series were painted between 1965-1968; Alston's Family #3, 1966 is also in this 30x60 inch horizontal format.
Swann Auction Galleries
Mar. 12, 2022
Charles Alston, 1907-1977, Landscape with House
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Charles Alston 1907-1977 Landscape with House c. 1938 lithograph on cream wove paper 12 x 16 inches (image), 16 x 22 inches (sheet) estate stamped signature in the image; authenticity certified verso by Aida Alston Winters, the artist's sister. Catalog note: we have never seen this rare, early image come up for sale at auction previously.
Black Art Auction
Feb. 11, 2022
Charles Henry ALSTON (1907-1977) African - American
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
Charles ALSTON (1907-1977) ; Untitled abstract ; mid 20th century ; oil on canvas ; dimensions 76 x 64 cm (30 x 24 in.) ; signed lower right corner ; Shipping to USA - DHL $520 , National post with tracking service $320 / Shipping to EU, Russia, Middle Assia - DHL $390 , National post with tracking service $230
Art-Torg
Dec. 04, 2021
Charles Alston, 1907-1977, Deserted Barn
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Charles Alston 1907-1977 Deserted Barn 1937-1939 lithograph on wove paper 13 x 18 inches signed and titled
Black Art Auction
Oct. 15, 2021
Charles Henry ALSTON (1907-1977) African - American
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
Charles ALSTON (1907-1977) ; Untitled abstract ; mid 20th century ; oil on canvas ; dimensions 71 x 61 cm (28 x 24 in.) ; signed lower right ; Shipping to USA - DHL $300 , National post with tracking service $155 / Shipping to EU, Russia, Middle Assia - DHL $200 , National post with tracking service $85
Art-Torg
Oct. 07, 2021
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Moon Haze (Standing in the Moonlight).
Est: $80,000 - $120,000
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Moon Haze (Standing in the Moonlight). Oil on linen canvas, 1960. 1270x1270 mm; 50x50 inches. Signed and dated in oil, lower right recto. Signed and titled in graphite across the verso, and additionally titled Standing in the Moonlight on the canvas overflap, upper edge verso. Provenance: estate of the artist; Kenkeleba Gallery, New York; private collection, New York. In the artist's papers in the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a color photograph of this painting, identified as "abstraction no. 6" , which is inscribed "abstraction" on the verso. Moon Haze is an ethereal and beautiful abstraction and a significant mid-career painting by Charles Alston. By 1960, Alston had achieved wide recognition for his post war painting, including receiving the Emily Lowe Memorial award for his painting An Ancient Place, and a solo exhibition at Feingarten Galleries, New York in April of that year. Alston included in his Feingarten show a group of 1958-60 abstract paintings with several similar compositions, including his 1960 Composition #1, sold at Swann Galleries on April 4, 2018. In Moon Haze, Alston masterfully creates a subtle, hazy atmosphere of thin layers of silvery grey paint which blurs boundaries. Bearden/Henderson, Jr., p. 269; Wardlaw p. 91 and 93.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 07, 2021
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Santa Ana Winds, Ariz. (Arizona).
Est: $6,000 - $9,000
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Santa Ana Winds, Ariz. (Arizona). Goauche and watercolor on wove paper, 1944. 305x457 mm; 12x18 inches. Signed, dated and titled in pencil, lower right. Provenance: Bill Hodges Gallery, New York (then A.F.T.U. Gallery), with the label on the frame back, private collection, New York This dramatic watercolor of a storm over an Arizona valley shows Charles Alston's modernist approach. Alston and his friend Hale Woodruff made similar landscape studies and sketches of the West during a later exploratory trip to California in 1948. Both artists were preparing for the pair of large historical murals they would complete the following year for the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company in Los Angeles.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 07, 2021
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Untitled.
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Untitled. Gouache, pen and ink on buff, fibrous Japan paper, 1957. 368x317 mm; 14 1/2x12 1/2 inches. Signed and dated in pencil, lower right recto. Signed in pencil, lower right verso. Provenance: the artist; Kate Keith Field, New York (2006), acquired at Doyle's, November 8, 2006; private collection, New York; private collection, New York (2011), acquired at Swann Galleries, February 7, 2011. Exhibited: The Artist's Gallery, New York, with the ink stamp on the mount verso.
Swann Auction Galleries
Apr. 22, 2021
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Untitled.
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Untitled. Sand and mixed media on masonite board, 1960. 444x600 mm; 17 1/2x23 1/2 inches. Signed and dated in pencil, lower left. Provenance: private collection, New York.
Swann Auction Galleries
Apr. 22, 2021
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Untitled (Head of a Girl).
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Untitled (Head of a Girl). Watercolor on cream wove paper, 1956. 254x330 mm; 10x13 inches. Signed in watercolor, and dated in pencil, lower right. Provenance: private collection, Louisiana.
Swann Auction Galleries
Apr. 22, 2021
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) City at Night.
Est: $100,000 - $150,000
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) City at Night. Oil on linen canvas, circa 1956-60. 914x1270 mm; 36x50 inches. Signed in oil, lower right recto. Signed and inscribed in ink with both the artist's residential address, "555 Edgecombe Avenue, N.Y. 32 N.Y." and his studio address "Studio - 539 W. 152nd St." in ink, upper left verso, and titled in pencil and graphite (twice) verso. Provenance: the artist, New York; Louise Logan, New York; Pierre M. Sutton, New York; private collection, New York. Louise Logan, the sister of Dr. Myra Adele Logan was married to the artist Elmer Simms Campbell. Exhibited: Charles Alston, Artist and Teacher, Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, NY, May 13 - July 1, 1990, with remains of the gallery label on the frame back; Challenge of the Modern: African-American Artists, 1925-1945, the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, January 23 - March 30, 2003, with the label on the frame back. Illustrated: Lowery Stokes Sims. The Challenge of the Modern: African American Artists, 1925-1945, p. 67. This striking urban abstraction by Charles Alston is an important painting, an outstanding and scarce example of a large modernist canvas. Alston's vision is rooted in his earlier urban nocturnes of the late 1940s, Harlem at Night, 1948 and Untitled (New York Cityscape), circa 1948. Both Alston and Norman Lewis shared a new vision of fragmented urban life against a dark, atmospheric ground. By 1950, Alston had transitioned completely into abstraction, and his Untitled, oil on canvas, 1950, entered in the national juried competition, America Painting Today, was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1951. While it was dated 1948 in the Studio Museum exhibition, this large canvas, with its loaded and broad brushstrokes appears closer in date to 1960. His 1962 solo exhibition at Dunbarton Galleries in Boston featured Tenements, a very similar 40x50 inch oil painting, illustrated on the cover of the brochure. By 1960, Alston was painting and exhibiting compositions inspired by the urban environment seen from his Harlem at night for inspiration - including paintings like Across the River, 1959. His exhibition at Kenekeleba Gallery included other similar paintings like Nocturne (Across the Hudson River), 1964 and Tenements again, now titled Demolition and not dated. Jennings pp. 23 and 62.
Swann Auction Galleries
Mar. 25, 2021
PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GIRL.
Est: €300 - €400
Drawing, watercolour, 25 x 17,5 cm, paper, signed and dated at lower right corner "Alston '58". - A young child holding a stuffed animal in her hand. Charles Henry Alston (1907-1977) was an American painter, sculptor and illustrator who lived and worked in New York City and was active in the Harlem Renaissance. In 1990 Alston's bust of Martin Luther King Jr. became the first image of an African American displayed at the White House and Alston was named one of President Barack Obama's favourite artists. Alston travelled to Belgium in 1958 on behalf of MoMA and the State Department where he coordinated the children's community centre at Expo 58. This is the context in which the present watercolour drawing was created. He was particularly known for such portrayals of children and families in colour schemes inspired by Cezanne's palette and geometrical shapes. His works are now in the collections of the major museums of modern art.
Arenberg Auctions
Mar. 25, 2021
ABSTRACT COMPOSITION.
Est: €300 - €400
Drawing, watercolour and gouache, 24 x 15 cm, paper (?), signed in pencil at lower right. - Abstract composition by the African-American artist Charles Alston (1907-1977). By the mid-1950s Alston began creating notably modernist style paintings with rich colours. Only after 1959 he began working in black and white, which he continued up until the mid-1960s, as a response to the Civil Rights Movement and the sufferings of the African-American population.
Arenberg Auctions