Revision as of 09:24, 23 February 2012 edit98.234.88.198 (talk) →Auction Records← Previous edit | Revision as of 09:24, 23 February 2012 edit undo98.234.88.198 (talk) →Lost UC Berkeley PanelsNext edit → | ||
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==Lost UC Berkeley Panels== | ==Lost UC Berkeley Panels== | ||
In a series of mishaps, UC Berkeley officials lost track of and then accidentally sold a set of carved redwood panels sculpted by |
In a series of mishaps, UC Berkeley officials lost track of and then accidentally sold a set of carved redwood panels sculpted by Sargent Johnson. | ||
UC Berkeley Risk Manager Andrew Goldblatt said in an e-mailed statement that the panels had been designed as organ screens for the School for the Deaf and Blind. When the school moved in the 1980s, it sold its Berkeley campus to the UC regents. | UC Berkeley Risk Manager Andrew Goldblatt said in an e-mailed statement that the panels had been designed as organ screens for the School for the Deaf and Blind. When the school moved in the 1980s, it sold its Berkeley campus to the UC regents. | ||
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“The loss of the Sargent Johnson organ screen was a terrible mistake, and we regret it,” he said. “Though we would have preferred to retain the artwork, it is reassuring to know that it has ended up in a reputable California museum where the public can see it and where it can be properly preserved.” | “The loss of the Sargent Johnson organ screen was a terrible mistake, and we regret it,” he said. “Though we would have preferred to retain the artwork, it is reassuring to know that it has ended up in a reputable California museum where the public can see it and where it can be properly preserved.” | ||
==Auction Records== | ==Auction Records== |
Revision as of 09:24, 23 February 2012
Sargent Claude Johnson | |
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Born | Sargent Claude Johnson October 7, 1888 Boston, Massachusetts |
Died | October 10, 1967 San Francisco, California |
Nationality | American |
Known for | Painting, sculpture, ceramics |
Sargent Claude Johnson (October 7, 1888 – October 10, 1967) was one of the first Californian African-American artists to achieve a national reputation. He was known for Abstract Figurative and Early Modern styles. He was a painter, potter, ceramist, printmaker, graphic artist, sculptor, and carver. He worked with a variety of media, including ceramic, clay, oil, stone, terra-cotta, watercolor, and wood. He was in the Communist Party for most of his life.
Early life
Sargent Johnson was the third of six children, born to a father of Swedish descent and mother of African American and Cherokee ancestry. They were orphaned at a young age and went to live with their uncle, Sherman Jackson Williams and his wife, May Howard Jackson. May was a famous black sculptress specializing in negro themes and undoubtedly she influenced Sargent Johnson at an early age. In 1915, Sargent Johnson moved to the San Francisco Bay area. The Panama-Pacific International Exposition, which had an influence on the California art movement, took place shortly after his move. The same year, Sargent Johnson married Pearl Lawson and began studying at the A. W. Best School of Art. He attended the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) from 1919 to 1923, where his teachers included the sculptors Beniamino Bufano and Ralph Stackpole.
Career
Sargent Johnson began showing his work with the Harmon Foundation of New York in 1926. Through this distinguished foundation that supported African American art, he exhibited many of his pieces and became locally and then nationally known. He won numerous awards during his time with the Harmon Foundation. In the late 1930s, Sargent Johnson commissioned his work with the Federal Arts Project (FAP). As a member of the bohemian San Francisco Bay community and influenced by the New Negro Movement, Sargent Johnson's early work focused on racial identity. According to Johnson, "Negroes are a colorful race; they call for an art as colorful as they can be made." Beginning in 1945, and continuing through 1965, Sargent Johnson made a number of trips to Oaxaca and Southern Mexico and started incorporating the people and culture, particularly archeology, into his work. Other subjects included African American figures, animals, and Native Americans.
Lost UC Berkeley Panels
In a series of mishaps, UC Berkeley officials lost track of and then accidentally sold a set of carved redwood panels sculpted by Sargent Johnson.
UC Berkeley Risk Manager Andrew Goldblatt said in an e-mailed statement that the panels had been designed as organ screens for the School for the Deaf and Blind. When the school moved in the 1980s, it sold its Berkeley campus to the UC regents.
During the move, officials transported “many valuable objects,” including two Sargent Johnson artworks, to the Marchant Building basement for safekeeping, Goldblatt said. The larger piece went back to the School for the Deaf and Blind, but the panels were overlooked — and presumed stolen.
In 2009, an art and furniture dealer paid $164.63 for the eight cracked panels, which were in a plywood bin, according to the New York Times. The dealer had no idea about the origin of the panels.
“It’s important to note that when the artwork was found, it was disassembled and in deteriorated condition,” Goldblatt said. “No one recognized it as a work of art.”
The panel was sold to the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino last spring, the Daily Cal reports.
School officials have considered repurchasing the artwork, Goldblatt said. But at an estimated price of $215,000 — and tuition being the issue it is — Goldblatt said UC Berkeley cannot afford to repurchase the panels.
“The loss of the Sargent Johnson organ screen was a terrible mistake, and we regret it,” he said. “Though we would have preferred to retain the artwork, it is reassuring to know that it has ended up in a reputable California museum where the public can see it and where it can be properly preserved.”
Auction Records
On February 23, 2010, Swann Galleries auctioned Sargent Claude Johnson’s Untitled (Standing Woman), a painted terra cotta sculpture, circa 1933-35, for $52,800 - an auction record at the time for the artist. In 2009 the University of California, Berkeley unwittingly sold a work by Johnson for $164.63, that was later valued at more than a million dollars. The twenty-two foot carved redwood relief panel was eventually purchased by the Huntington Library and will be displayed in its new American wing.