The art market is now back on track as auction houses are creating new marks while introducing new African art pieces from African artists to the market. Contemporary artists in Africa and in the Diaspora are doing well on the global art stage as five of the top 6 expensive artworks noted in this article came from Christie’s in New York and one from Phillips. With the works of Cornelius Annor making their debut in the auction room and the art pieces by Akunyili Crosby, Aboudia, Watts, and Fordjour exceeding their marks, here are the top 5 most expensive artworks sold by African artists.
- Njideka Akunyili Crosby: The Beautyful Ones, 2012
Image courtesy of Artsy
The estimated price for the painting was $4,000,000 to $6,000,000. It sold for $4,700,000 at Christie’s Auctions in November 2022.
Nigerian-American visual artist, Njideka Akunyili Crosby (b. 1983) utilizes collage and photo transfer techniques to negotiate the cultural landscape between her chosen home in America and her native heritage Nigeria. The Beautyful Ones (2012) is the first and largest work of the ongoing series of the same name by artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby consisting of portraits of Nigerian children. This edition portrays the artist’s sister at 10 years old, surrounded by a collage of family photos. This same painting set was sold by Christie’s for £2.5 million ($3.08 million) in 2017. With these sales, Akunyili Crosby bypasses the prices achieved by leading women Abstract Expressionists and Surrealists.
You can follow the artist and her work here.
- Derek Fordjour: Ornithologist, 2022
Image courtesy of Christie’s
The estimated price for the painting was $150,000 to $200,000. It sold for $945,000 at Christie’s Auctions in May 2022.
Derek Fordjour (b. 1974) is a Ghanaian-American artist that makes paintings, sculptures, and installations whose exuberant visual materiality gives rise to portraits and other multilayered compositions. In his paintings, Fordjour methodically constructs the ground of each composition through a collage-based process involving cardboard, newspaper, and other materials and pigments.
You can follow the artist and his work here.
- Ouattara Watts: Afro Beat, 2011
Image courtesy of ArtVee
The estimated price for the painting was $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $781,200 at Christie’s Auctions in May 2022.
Ouattara Watts (b. 1957) in Korhogo, Ivory Coast is known for his multimedia paintings that incorporate African and Western aesthetics and depict themes of spirituality and modernity. Referring to Afrobeat, a vibrant genre of music fusing popular West African music with American jazz, soul, and funk, Watts’s canvas is equally eclectic. Afro Beat is one of the most visually captivating and conceptually replete works in his five decades of painting, an important mid-career canvas with dense references to Euro-American and African art history alike. A spectacular work at eight square feet, Afro Beat has a pulse of its own that resonates infinitely through time and space.
You can follow the artist and his work here.
- Aboudia: Untitled, 2018
Image courtesy of Artsy
The estimated price for the painting was $49,000 to $73,000. It sold for $612,878 at Christie’s Auctions in June 2022.
Abdoulaye Diarrassouba, the Ivorian contemporary artist known as Aboudia, (b.1983) chronicles the street scene in his city of Abidjan, the capital of Côte d’Ivoire. In his vibrant, large-scale mixed-media paintings and drawings, which recall those of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Aboudia takes inspiration from the aesthetics of graffiti and traditional African carvings. While his recurring skull, soldier, and bullet motifs speak to unthinkable trauma and brutality, Aboudia’s bright colour palettes reinforce the enduring innocence of the children who live amid the chaos.
You can follow the artist and his work here.
- Cornelius Annor: Asempa Aba Fie (Good News in the House), 2021
Image courtesy of Phillips
The estimated price for the painting was $15,000 to $20,000. It sold for $94,500 at Phillips Auctions in May 2022.
Ghanaian contemporary artist Cornelius Annor (b. 1990) is known for his group portraits that celebrate and explore the vibrancy of everyday life. Often working from childhood memories and family history, his paintings depict intimate, domestic settings where his figures are seen watching television, reading bedtime stories, or dancing together. Full of vibrant Ghanaian patterns, his visual language results in a harmonious and stunning body of work.
You can follow the artist and his work here.
