BAIA Holiday Picks

Quality Artwork You Can Buy for $1,000 or Less

By Yvonne Bynoe

If you’re a new or an aspiring art collector, you may be delaying purchasing a work because you feel overwhelmed by the volume of information about the various artists and types of art available. Perhaps you may have tried to do some research on your own, only to come away thinking that you don’t know enough to make a good decision. Worse, after seeing works for thousands of dollars, you now believe that you don’t have enough money to buy a quality work of art.

To take the fear and frustration out of buying art, I’m providing you with some recommendations to assist you in making your first (or your next) art purchase.

In cooperation with Black Art In America, I have combed through their extensive online gallery at www.BuyBlackArt.com to curate a list of quality works that you can purchase for $1,000.00 or less. I also provide brief explanations about why the work is one you should consider acquiring.

Moreover, if you need it, www.BuyBlackArt.com offers a payment plan option during the check-out process.

*Please be sure to read the descriptions closely so that you have a clear sense about the dimensions of the work(s) you’re interested in. Also be aware that for original and limited editions, it’s first come, first served.

If you have questions, here’s how to get in touch:

Email: orders@baiaonline.com

Telephone: 1.706.992.6210

ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS

“Harold”  by James Taylor
7 x 12 inches. Watercolor painting. Unframed $1,000.00

“Waiting”  by James Taylor
11 x 16 in. Watercolor painting. Unframed $900.00

Why You Should Consider Taylor’s Work

Kevin Sipp, an independent scholar and curator based in Atlanta, Georgia called Taylor, “[O]ne of the pre-eminent watercolorists in American history…” Sipp, who was curator at Hammond House Museum from 2003-2013 said that he was eager to exhibit Taylor’s work. In 2006, James’ work was exhibited at Hammond House. The museum said of Taylor’s work:

“James Taylor is a watercolorist whose work has a natural softness of subject matter and execution. His remarkable style and handling of the watercolor medium with no formal arts education gave viewers a fresh new view of his world in colorful detail.”

James Taylor (1951-2016) was a self-taught artist who began to paint in 1992 as therapy in dealing with a terminal illness. He developed a deep love for the art form.  Taylor went on to serve as President of the Georgia Watercolor Society from 2003-2004. His work garnered him awards from the Atlanta Artists Center, Fulton and Dekalb County Public Art Programs, and African-Americans for the Arts.

Selected Private and Institutional Collectors:

• Terry and Thelma Harris (Owners of The Thelma Harris Art Gallery in Oakland, California)
• Richard Mayhew, Santa Cruz, New Mexico (Internationally renowned abstract artist)
• The Reverend and Mrs. Joseph E. Lowery Atlanta, Georgia (Civil Rights legend)
• The Tuskegee Airmen’s Museum in Gary, Indiana
• The University of Delaware Collection

MONOTYPE PRINTS

“Proclamation” (2020) by Steve Prince
10 x 14 inches. Original watercolor monotype print on paper. Unframed.
Only one (1) available $800.00

“Two Step” by Steve Prince
10 x 14 inches. Original watercolor monotype print on paper. Unframed.
Only one (1) available. $700.00

“Secret Garden” by Steve Prince
10×14 inches. Original watercolor monotype print on paper. Unframed.
One (1) available $500.00

Why You Should Consider Steve Prince’s Work

Steve Prince is a mixed-media artist, who is best known as a master printmaker. The New Orleans native grew up going to church and calls himself an “Art Evangelist” with a mission to use his work as a ministry to bring compassion and healing to the world. His current works are priced between $1,000-$7,500.

Prince is currently the Director of Engagement and the Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Muscarelle Museum at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, VA. He received his BFA from Xavier University and his MFA in Printmaking and Sculpture from Michigan State University.

Prince was initially introduced to William and Mary College after being commissioned by the school to create Lemonade: A Picture of America (2017), a mural that pays homage to the first three African-American students to integrate the college.

• In 2020, Prince was awarded first place in the Engage Art Contest for his linoleum cut print on paper titled “Armor of God: Equipping Ourselves to do Social Justice Work.”
• He has created a number of public art works throughout the state of Virginia.
• Over the course of his career, he’s participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad.

LIMITED EDITIONS

“We Made It”  by Jamaal Barber
18 x 24 inches. Silk Screen. Edition of 14  (7 available). $600.00

“What You Need” by Jamaal Barber
18 x 24 inches. Silk Screen. Edition of 14 (7 available).  $600.00

Why You Should Consider Barber’s Work

Jamaal Barber has a growing following in the Atlanta art market, particularly among Black art collectors. His current works are priced between $4,000-$4,500.

Barber’s work is focused on providing social commentary on the Black life experience in the United States. Barber counts among his influences Emory Douglas, artist and former Minister of Culture of the Black Panther Party. Douglas’s artwork was integral to the Black Panther Party being able to disseminate their political messages to the widest possible audience.

Barber received his MFA degree in printmaking from Georgia State University in 2021 after taking a 15-year academic hiatus. Barber was trained in graphic design at East Carolina University.

• In 2020, Twitter commissioned Barber to create an original work of art for Juneteenth that appeared in the profile cover image of the company’s @TwitterTogether account.
• Solo exhibition at Public Art Works Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia (2022)
• Solo exhibition: Fullness (2021) at MINT in Atlanta, Georgia
• Debut solo exhibition Bright Black (2018) at Southwest Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

“Benin Head” (2014) by Robert Pruitt   8-½ x 11 in. Single color lithograph
Signed by artist on verse. Framed
Limited Edition of 45. $500.00

Pruitt works in a variety of materials, and is best known for his large scale figurative portraits. His work is dedicated to examining the historical and contemporary experiences of African Americans. He often uses signs and symbolic objects related to religion and spirituality in his work to explore African-American belief systems and cultural narratives. Pruitt received his BFA from Texas Southern University (2000) and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin (2003).

In March 2020, a work by Pruitt, “Brother Going To Gleise” (2011) sold for $17,500.00 at Phillips auction, exceeding the pre-sale estimates of $8,000-$12,000.

In April 2022: Pruitt’s work will be included in A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, a traveling exhibition beginning at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson.

Selected solo exhibitions:

• Guest Minister at Oxbow, Seattle, Washington in 2020
• The Banner Project: Robert Pruitt at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts in 2019
• Devotion at the California African American Museum, Los Angeles in 2018
• Women at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York in 2013

“Nay, Nay” (2007) by Evita Tezeno
8 x 10 inches. Hand colored collagraph on paper. $400.00 Edition of 22

“Pookie” (2007) by Evita Tezeno
8 x 10 inches. Hand colored collagraph on paper. $400.00 Edition of 22

Why You Should Consider Tezano’s Work

Evita Tezeno has built a career as an acclaimed multi-disciplinary artist. Her whimsical collage works depict characters in everyday scenes inspired by her family and friends, childhood memories in South Texas, and occurrences from her adult life. Tezano uses richly patterned, hand-painted papers and found objects to create her collage paintings in a contemporary folk-art style.

Her work is included in numerous institutional and private collections, including:

• African American Museum of Dallas
• Embassy of the Republic of Madagascar
• The Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, Ohio
• Collections of celebrities: Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Star Jones, Susan Taylor, among others.

Recent solo exhibitions:

• “Better Days” (2021) at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
• “Evita Tezeno and Jas Mardis: Sharing Memories” (2021) at ArtCentre of Plano, Plano, Texas
• “Memories Create Our Yesterdays and Tomorrows” (2019) at Thelma Harris Gallery, Oakland, California

UNLIMITED REPRODUCTIONS

“Sharecropper” (1952) by Elizabeth Catlett  13-½ x 11 in. Off-set lithograph. Unframed and Unsigned. ($350.00)

Why You Should Consider This Work

This accessibly priced reproduction allows art lovers to acquire the image for their personal enjoyment.

“Sharecropper” is an iconic work by American master sculptor, Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012). “Sharecropper” is a powerful portrait of an unknown Black woman that highlights hardships experienced by tenant farmers of the American South. Sharecroppers were required to pay White landowners for the parcel of the land they rented with part of their crop. The arrangement often led to lifelong debt, a revised form of slavery.

The vast majority of Catlett works (originals and limited editions) are in institutional collections and private collections. In the rare instances that a Catlett work comes on the market, it’s cost-prohibitive for most collectors.

“Young Kamala” (2020) by Najee Dorsey
20 x 14 in. Montage Print on archival paper. Unframed $300.00

Why You Should Consider This Work

This accessibly priced reproduction allows art lovers to acquire the image for their personal enjoyment.

Najee Dorsey is a visual artist and CEO & founder of Black Art In America. Dorsey is known for embracing Southern culture in his artworks. He’s known for his mixed-media collage and his digital media collage images of unsung historical figures, as well as nostalgic scenes from African-American life in the Southern United States. “Young Kamala” honors the historic election of Kamala Harris, a woman of African descent as Vice President of The United States in 2020.

In June, 2021 Forbes magazine interviewed Dorsey about his work “Ice Cream Melting” (2021), a 48-foot-by-14-foot billboard Dorsey installed off Interstate 55 in the Boxtown neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee, a Black community named after formerly enslaved people who used scraps of wood and metal from train boxcars to build their homes.

Dorsey’s work has been included in numerous museum exhibitions, including:

• Visions of our 44th Collection at the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit, MI
• Leaving Mississippi: Reflections on Heroes and Folklore at the Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA
• African American Museum in Dallas, TX

His work is in the collections of institutions and private collectors, including the Petrucci Family Foundation.

“Old Woman-Matriarch” by John Biggers
12 x 25 in.  Reproduction poster of the 1952 lithograph. Unframed. $220.00

Why You Should Consider This Work

This accessibly priced reproduction allows art lovers to acquire the image for their personal enjoyment.

John Thomas Biggers (1924-2001) was one of the most significant African-American artists of the twentieth century. Although best known for his murals, his early works were lithographs.

The 1952 lithograph is a rare work by John Thomas Biggers, from the artist’s first body of work in lithography made while studying with Dr. Charles Heller at the University of Southern California. “An Artist’s Proof” was sold at a Swann Auction in 2017 for $11,000.

Biggers’ life spans some of the most tumultuous events in American history: the Great Depression, World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement. He used art to exemplify the dignity of African Americans as they sought justice and equality. After his 1957 trip to Ghana, he used his work as a bridge between African-American and African cultures.

Browse and shop for fine art from our growing network of artists, collectors, estates, galleries — specializing in works by Black American artists with great values on premier art.

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Sign up for our free email course on how to begin your collection.

YVONNE BYNOE is the founder of the online platform @shelovesblackart which highlights visual art from the African diaspora with the mission to encourage more people of African descent to collect art. She is a former attorney, cultural critic and author of several books.

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