Bennett College has partnered with Sotheby’s New York to auction off a portrait of Harriet Tubman painted by Aaron Douglas, according to a report from ARTnews. The painting is expected to sell for between $2.5 million and $3.5 million; it will go on the block as part of the New York City auction house’s marquee modern art auction on November 18.
David Galperin, vice chairman and head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s New York, told ARTnews, “We haven’t seen a major work [by Douglas] come to auction ever because they are so, so rare. . . . I wouldn’t be surprised, given the importance of this work, if we see major museums globally compete for this piece.”
Douglas was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance cultural movement of the 1920s and 1930s. He was commissioned by Chicago philanthropist Alfred K. Stern to create the painting for display in Bennett’s dining hall. However, for the past two decades, the piece has been housed at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Bennett selected the museum to display the painting after the historically Black women’s college determined it did not have the necessary preservation resources to care for it. Once the portrait sells, the proceeds will support future initiatives at the HBCU, including its Women’s Health Initiative.
“It’s powerful,” Bennett College’s acting president Ronald Carter told ARTnews. “It’s awesome to look at the symbolism, and for me as an African American to actually say, Yes! When I looked at it I went, Yes! We are where we are because Harriet Tubman had a vision. We are who we are because we were able to do hard work to make things happen for our future. We are where we are because we are social activists.”
