African-American Art Gaining Popularity, Higher Prices

Frederick C. Flemister's "Self-Portrait," ca. 1941, oil on canvas

Robert L. Johnson from the Barnett Aden Collection, Washington, D.C.

The huge, international contemporary art exhibition, Art Basel, kicks off in Miami this week. (Our own Farai Chideya is there; she'll be calling in with a report on tomorrow's show.)

Though the U.S. economy is struggling, the art market is thriving, by comparison -- especially works by African Americans.

Susan Adams of Forbes.com explains why in an article titled, "Why African-American Art Is So Hot."

Though mainstream museums and galleries have been slow to appreciate work by African-Americans, the black community has been collecting for decades.

Bill and Camille Cosby have built a collection of 400 works, including artists like Bearden, Lawrence, late-19th-century landscape painter Edward Mitchell Bannister, self-taught 20th-century artist Horace Pippin and 1960s abstract painter Alma Thomas.

Basketball star Grant Hill owns a collection of midcentury work. Entertainer Harry Belafonte has been collecting African-American art since the 1950s and Oprah Winfrey has been buying a mix of work, including pieces by contemporary artists like Whitfield Lovell. Spike Lee, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Parsons and Kenneth Chenault also collect.

Now white collectors and institutions are discovering these long overlooked works.

"What's happened in the last five years is a paradigm shift," observes Steven L. Jones, 61, an African-American dealer in Philadelphia. "This means that the best work is going up exponentially in value."

Last year Swann Auction Galleries in New York became the first auction house to create a department of African-American art and in February sold a 1944 modernist oil by Harlem Renaissance artist Aaron Douglas for $600,000.

... Prices continue to climb for quality pieces, even while other collecting categories founder.

Manhattan dealer Michael Rosenfeld says business is strong; he made three six-figure sales during two weeks of stock market turmoil in November. The highest prices for artwork by African-Americans come in the still overheated contemporary art market, where Andy Warhol protege Jean-Michel Basquiat is the reigning star, with a 2007 auction record of $14.6 million. Kara Walker, 39, who makes large cut-paper silhouettes containing sexual images and black stereotypes like pickaninnies, stirs controversy and commands prices over $400,000.

Who are some of your favorite African American artists?

Related: Black Masters (Photo Gallery)

-- Geoffrey Bennett

Tags: African American art | Art Basel | black art

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Fashion Desginers Try To Size Up Michelle Obama

Credit: Composite Image

Julia Turner of Slate's XX Factor blog took a look at Woman Wear Daily's slideshow of commissioned Michelle Obama inauguration gowns and asked: "Is it so hard to draw a woman with black skin?"

The fashion world is notoriously inhospitable to black women -- if Michelle Obama lands the cover of Vogue, as has been rumored, she'll be one of the few black non-models ever to grace it -- but these sketches suggest a discomfort with blackness that's truly startling.

Take a look, and tell us what you think.

-- Geoffrey Bennett

Tags: Michelle Obama | inauguration gown

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McDonald's Going Too Far To Market Their McNuggets?

When an "urban-focused" commercial for McDonald's begins with a black guy singing, "I woke up and found you creepin' / Oh girl, I know your secret," you just know someone's going to cry foul.

Take a look:

And here's another, also posted on the company's YouTube channel.

Both commercials are generating a range of reaction online, including these comments:

"If you don't find this commercial at least just a little funny, I seriously question your sense of humor."

"It's sad that this is how the marketing exec's at the McDonald's corporate office THINK they can attract the urban consumer."

"Aarrgghh!""

"I [expletive] hate these ads. Especially the one with the two little black kids talking to the cashier about how they're going to run a McDonald's when they get older. I hate McDonald's."

So what do you think? Funny or offensive? A hat tip to Stereohyped for this story, which we are covering on today's bloggers' roundtable.

We reached out to McDonald's for a response. Danya Proud, spokesperson for McDonald's USA, told News & Notes, "We have a responsibility to all of our customers to effectively reach them. We certainly take pride in all of our advertising and try to make it relevant and appealing." She later added: "We work with a dedicated African-American advertising agency that works with us to develop relevant, contemporary creative for our brand, that will resonate with this demographic. Again, as with all our advertising, these commercials reflect a light-hearted, fun approach to our brand, our menu and our customers' experience with our brand."

-- Geoffrey Bennett

Tags: McDonald's

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American Folk Singer Odetta Dies At 77

We'll pay tribute to Odetta and her musical contribution to the Civil Rights Movement on today's show.

Related: Odetta, Voice of Civil Rights Movement, Dies at 77

-- Geoffrey Bennett

Tags: Odetta

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DeBarge Unsung

In my neon-colored-clothes days (that would be junior high school), I loved the sounds of a group called DeBarge. In addition to singing dreamy pop love songs, they were all brothers and sisters ... well, one sister ... and I thought that was crazy cool.

Well, as it turns out, it may have been closer to plain crazy. A new TV One documentary series called "Unsung" tracks the lives of musicians who went down the sad side alleys of life ... into drugs, depression, even suicide.

The episode on DeBarge moved me. Not one or two but virtually all of the family members struggled with abuse and/or drugs. At this point, the ones who are still alive are fighting to rebuild their lives, keep a connection to faith, and in some cases to rebuild their careers.

We spoke to brother and sister Chico and Bunny DeBarge about being survivors ... the roads they've walked and the prices they've paid.

Take a listen. If you remember the days when DeBarge ruled the airwaves, it's hard not to be moved by their struggle.

-- Farai Chideya

Tags: DeBarge

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HBCUs Suggested To Merge With Majority Schools

Should historically black colleges merge with white-majority schools to save money?

iStockPhoto

The state of Georgia is looking to cut costs by up to 10 percent, and some lawmakers are suggesting that historically black colleges should merge with their white-majority neighbors to save money.

Under the plan, historically black Savannah State University would be merged with Armstrong Atlantic University in Savannah, and historically black Albany State would be merged with Darton College in Albany. The institutions were formed during a time when education in Georgia was segregated.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has more:

Any decision to merge the schools would have to be made by the University System's Board of Regents. The system receives about $2.3 billion in annual state funding, but the governing body makes decisions about the system's 35 schools.

System Chancellor Erroll Davis said merging historically black colleges is more than an economic issue because the schools have a long history of providing education to African-Americans in Georgia. The idea would probably face strong opposition from supporters of historically black colleges nationally.

Do you support these cost-saving measures, or do you feel there is still a need in the African-American community for historically black colleges?

-- Geoffrey Gardner

Tags: Albany State | Armstrong Atlantic University | Darton College | HBCUs | Savannah State University | black colleges

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Do You Have GOOD News In Bad Times?

Maybe you got into a business that actually does BETTER during hard times ... like auto repairs.

Maybe someone steered you to the right job, or you got out of school with just the right credentials.

Maybe you were willing to relocate and found a place that needed your skills.

If you're seeing the UPSIDE of the down economy... let us know. We'd love to put you on air.

By the way, here's what we posted asking for people to share their stories about being laid off. You can follow the same process if you want to tell us your good news.

If you're recently unemployed, we want to get some firsthand stories of how you're coping, looking for work, or changing your spending habits and your life.

Leave us a comment below, and we'll reach out to you.

Or, you can go go to the main page of npr.org and click on "Contact Us." Be sure that in the comment box you use the pull-down menu to tell us the comment is for News & Notes.

Thank you!

Because of our post about people who had lost their jobs, we had a moving conversation today with James Smith, who would consider moving out of the country to find work.

Please take a listen. And James, we definitely want to talk to you again as you continue (and hopefully find a happy end to) your search.

-- Farai Chideya

Tags: economy

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Obama Names Clinton In National Security Team Rollout

President-elect Barack Obama, left, stands with his choice to be secretary of state, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, at a news conference in Chicago today.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP Photo

Following weeks of speculation, President-elect Barack Obama nominated one-time Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State.

Here's more from NPR's Linton Weeks:

President-elect Barack Obama introduced Sen. Hillary Clinton, his archrival in the 2008 Democratic presidential race, as his secretary of state on Monday.

"I have known Hillary Clinton as a friend, a colleague, a source of counsel, and as a campaign opponent. She possesses an extraordinary intelligence and toughness, and a remarkable work ethic," said Obama, speaking at a news conference in Chicago where he has been managing his transition. "Hillary's appointment is a sign to friend and foe of the seriousness of my commitment to renew American diplomacy and restore our alliances."

In introducing his national security team, Obama said he will keep Robert Gates as secretary of defense. "I will be giving Secretary Gates and our military a new mission as soon as I take office: responsibly ending the war in Iraq through a successful transition to Iraqi control," Obama said.

... The president-elect also formally nominated Eric Holder as attorney general, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations. Obama named retired Gen. Jim Jones as his national security adviser.

By choosing Clinton as his secretary of state, Obama may be solving several problems. Because of her long, variegated political experience, Clinton is one of the most qualified people for the prestigious position.

Rice and Holder would be the first African Americans to hold those respective positions.

What do you think of Obama's chosen war Cabinet? What does this selection of prominent names say about the President-elect and how he will govern?

-- Geoffrey Bennett

Tags: Hillary Clinton | President-elect Barack Obama | Secretary of State

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Researchers Discover Lost Slave Ship

A marine archaeologist compares the hull remains of known shipwrecks off East Caicos.

REUTERS/NOAA

For the first time, remains of a wrecked slave ship have been uncovered. Marine archaeologists located the ship off the Turks and Caicos Islands, where it sank in 1841. This accident set free the ancestors of many current residents of those islands, as 192 Africans survived the sinking of the Spanish ship Trouvadore.

Over the years the ship had been forgotten, said researcher Don Keith, so when the discovery connected the ship to current residents the first response "was a kind of shock, a lack of comprehension," he explained in a briefing organized by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

But after word got out "people really got on board with it," he said, and the local museum has assisted the researchers. He said this is the only known wreck of a ship engaged in the illegal slave trade.

When the Trouvadore sank, the importation of slaves had been internationally banned but still flourished via pirate ships and illegal slavers that eluded British and U.S. naval forces in the region. The ship's 20 crewmen were arrested and sent in chains to Cuba for trial on what was a hanging offense, though their fate is not known.

About 20 of the African passengers were resettled in Nassau in the Bahamas. The rest were apprenticed to work in the salt ponds in the Turks and Caicos for a year in order to pay for their rescue, and then freed.

The artifact salesman noted in his letter nearly four decades after the shipwreck that "their descendants form ... the pith of our present laboring population."

Have you ever tried tracing your roots? If so, please share your own "discovery" stories with us below.

-- Geoffrey Gardner

Tags: Trouvadore | illegal slave trade | slave ship | turks caicos

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After Black Friday, It's Cyber Monday!

iStockphoto.com

Happy Cyber Monday! It's the unofficial start of the online shopping season.

Black Friday wasn't a total disaster for retailers, as some had worried.

Your e-mail inbox has no doubt been inundated today with offers ranging from free shipping to steep discounts.

If you are still looking for some of the best deals, check out CyberMonday.com and these tech deals from PC World.

And if you hear of other good offers, leave a comment below.

-- Geoffrey Bennett

Tags: Cyber Monday | online shopping

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