1970 John Wilson Charcoal & Conté Crayon Drawing
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GUEST:
It's a picture of me done by the artist John Wilson. Growing up, I was friends with their daughter. Johnny used to come out, like, whoever was around, and he would say, "I want to do a sketch." So one day, he asked if he could do a sketch of me. I said, "Of course." You know, I didn't really know anything about his art or anything like that.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
What I knew of him was, he was a dad who was wonderful and very playful. He would take a break from working in his studio upstairs and come and play with us, and, um, goof around with us. And then Erica's mom would, you know, get mad at us for being so goofy. (laughing): And then he would take off back to the studio.
APPRAISER:
Was it something, as you recall, done in one sitting? I know I was a really fidgety kid, and I probably wouldn't have been able to sit tight for, for the amount of time it would have taken for this to have been done.
GUEST:
Yeah, it was one sitting, but um, I do remember, actually, as a kid, thinking, "This is taking a long time." (laughs)
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
But...
APPRAISER:
Fair enough.
APPRAISER:
I love the expression on your face. It's an original drawing. It's signed and dated, "Wilson, 1970." The drawing is charcoal with Conté crayon. I like how the lower half of the drawing isn't quite as completed-- it's a little bit sketchier than the upper half of the drawing-- and then he's used the Conté crayon very effectively in the hair and the eyes and, and in your mouth and face to sort of fill in the details. John Wilson was born in 1922. He died not long ago, in 2015. He was an African American artist who really underscored in his artwork the plight of African Americans in 20th-century America, whether in sculpture, lithography, draftsmanship-- as in the present work-- and he was a muralist. More or less center around themes of racial strife and difficulties faced in everyday life growing up as an African American. When you read about him, it's interesting, because he'd go to museums as a child and he'd think, "I'm not really seeing myself represented here in the museums. I'm not seeing people who look like me in the museums. I'm not seeing artwork that speaks to me in the museums." And to me, the more I've read about him, it seems that he was trying over the course of his career, and succeeded in so doing, to redress some of that. I really like this work. I think it's powerful. It shows what a great draftsman he was. What you have here is an excellent work by an important African American artist. The market is finally taking notice of how important a lot of the African American artists from the 20th century are. Prices have gone up. I think for years, there was basically a lack of interest in African American 20th-century art. That is no longer the case. It's a very strong market, and artists like John Wilson have really become artists who are getting more and more popular. I will note that fewer than ten works on paper by John Wilson have been offered at auction. Has it been appraised before?
GUEST:
No, it was given to us after, um, John passed. They found it when they catalogued his work and, um, sent it to me.
APPRAISER:
I think a conservative auction estimate would be in the range of $5,000 to $7,000.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
I think I would probably insure this work in 2021 for $12,000.
GUEST:
(exhales) (quietly): Okay.
APPRAISER:
I mean, really, a tremendous work, and thank you so much for bringing it in.
GUEST:
Thank you so much. Thank you. It means the world to me. Thank you, thank you. And he did, as well.
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