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# Highlights from Maya Angelou's Art Collection Head to Auction
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/highlights-from-maya-angelous-art-collection-head-to-auction/
- Published: 2015-08-12T02:03:16.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:37:02.000Z
- Description: Works from the private art collection of renowned poet and author Maya Angelou will soon go on public display.
- Author: Claire Voon
- Tags: Art, Auctions, Elizabeth Catlett, Faith Ringgold, Jacob Lawrence, Maya Angelou, Romare Bearden, Swann Auction Galleries, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:08 (2014, 2015, part 2)

![rug3 2619](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/m31335-36.jpg)

Faith Ringgold, “Maya’s Quilt of Life” (1989), acrylic on canvas with pieced fabric border (all images courtesy Swann Auction Galleries)

Works from the private art collection of renowned poet and author [Maya Angelou](https://hyperallergic.com/maya-angelous-last-tweet/) will soon go on public display. Not in a museum, however, but for a [sale](http://www.swanngalleries.com/departments/african-american-fine-art/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at Swann Auction Galleries scheduled for September 15 in Manhattan. The auction, which will be preceded by a seven-day public preview, offers a rare glimpse of some 50 pieces from the poet’s collection. Many are by renowned African American artists such as [Jacob Lawrence](http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2390++++++13+&refno=++703564&saletype=&ref=hyperallergic.com) and [Romare Bearden](http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2390++++++14+&refno=++703530&saletype=&ref=hyperallergic.com); a number are by Angelou’s close friends, including John Biggers and Elizabeth Catlett, and even include personal messages inscribed on them.

![Romare Bearden, "The Woman," watercolor, circa 1985](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/m31335-8.jpg)

Romare Bearden, “The Woman” (c. 1985), watercolor (click to enlarge)

“To: Dr. Angelou — You give me hope and inspiration,” Alonzo Adam pencilled along the left arm of the subject of “[Phenomenal Woman](http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2390++++++39+&refno=++703522&saletype=&ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1993), a watercolor depicting a proud African American woman raising her arms with strength and confidence. Women are prominently featured in Angelou’s collection, from a portrait of a [washerwoman](http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2390+++++++2+&refno=++703568&saletype=&ref=hyperallergic.com) by Samella Lewis to a gouache-and-ink piece of [two sisters playing Mankala](http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2390+++++++4+&refno=++703556&saletype=&ref=hyperallergic.com) by Tom Feelings, signed “To Maya with Black Love.” Feelings, who met Angelou in Ghana in the early 1960s, later drew a portrait of her mother Vivian Baxter, whom she called “[Lady B](http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2390+++++++6+&refno=++703555&saletype=&ref=hyperallergic.com)“; the sketch of the standing nude, which was reproduced in Angelou’s book [*Now Sheba Sings the Song*](http://www.amazon.com/Sheba-Sings-Song-Maya-Angelou/dp/0452271436?ref=hyperallergic.com), is also up for sale. Elizabeth Catlett, whom the poet [referred](http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/elizabeth-catlett-pioneering-dc-born-artist-dies-at-96/2012/04/03/gIQATNLIuS%5Fstory.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) to as the “queen of the arts,” contributes more portraits of spirited women, from a [resolute face](http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2390++++++26+&refno=++703545&saletype=&ref=hyperallergic.com) on the subway to an old, tired-looking woman with a broom, titled “[Survivor](http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2390++++++19+&refno=++703548&saletype=&ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1983).

Also in the collection are a number of portraits of Angelou herself, from a regal, black-and-white [print](http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2390++++++38+&refno=++703571&saletype=&ref=hyperallergic.com) by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe to a bold, blue-and-yellow [watercolor](http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2390++++++24+&refno=++703576&saletype=&ref=hyperallergic.com) by Richard Yarde. There’s even a wonderful self-portrait — believed to be the first known work of visual art by the poet to be publicly shown — of a pregnant Angelou holding a gun, gazing fixedly at an unseen target and ready to fire. She painted it during the winter of 1969, shortly after finishing her acclaimed autobiography [*I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings*](http://www.amazon.com/Know-Why-Caged-Bird-Sings/dp/0345514408/?ref=hyperallergic.com), and titled it, “[The Protector of Home and Family](http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2390+++++++8+&refno=++707786&saletype=&ref=hyperallergic.com).”

![M31335-11 004](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/m31335-15.jpg)

John Biggers, “Kusami Market” (1962), oil and acrylic on masonite board

Another highlight of the collection is a Faith Ringgold story quilt, “[Maya’s Quilt of Life](http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2390++++++32+&refno=++703573&saletype=&ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1989), which Oprah Winfrey commissioned for Angelou’s 61st birthday and later hung in the poet’s Harlem home. Side panels of hand-written quotations from Angelou’s poems frame a portrait of Angelou wearing her signature outfit of patterned African dress and headscarf, with the text sourced from works such as [*Gather Together in My Name*](http://www.amazon.com/Gather-Together-Name-Maya-Angelou/dp/0812980301?ref=hyperallergic.com), [*The Heart of a Woman*](http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Woman-Maya-Angelou/dp/0812980328/?ref=hyperallergic.com), and *I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings*.

The pieces in the auction are but a sample of Angelou’s personal trove, which, according to her son Guy Johnson, consisted of over 500 works. As he writes in the accompanying catalogue’s introduction, art resonated with Angelou as much as poetry did:

> For my mother, paintings, sculpture, dance and music were ways of translating the intangible into digestible bites; these forms of art were ways of expressing feelings and emotions that resisted the confinement of words. She appreciated a well- turned, lyrical phrase as much as the lines and contours of a well sculpted figure or the transcending brush strokes that accent an image or the ones that balance the composition of colors in a painting. If she saw a beautiful dance piece or heard a phenomenal musical riff or melody she would talk about it admiringly for days afterward. Imagination and creativity were the central pillars of her work life.

![M31335-22 001](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/m31335-22.jpg)

Elizabeth Catlett, “On the Subway” (1986), offset lithograph

![Elizabeth Catlett, "Survivor," linoleum cut, 1983](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/m31335-25.jpg)

Elizabeth Catlett, “Survivor” (1983), linoleum cut

![Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, "Maya Angelou," silver print, 1993](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/m31335-44.jpg)

Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, “Maya Angelou” (1993), silver print

![Richard Yarde, "Portrait of Dr. Maya Angelo," watercolor, 1985](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/m31335-49.jpg)

Richard Yarde, “Portrait of Dr. Maya Angelo” (1985), watercolor

![Elizabeth Catlett, "Two Generations," lithograph, 1979.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/m31335-26.jpg)

Elizabeth Catlett, “Two Generations” (1979), lithograph

![Jacob Lawrence, "John Brown took to guerilla warfare," color screenprint on Domestic Etching paper, 1977](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/m31335-39.jpg)

Jacob Lawrence, “John Brown took to guerilla warfare,” (1977), color screenprint on Domestic Etching paper

![M31335-28 003](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/m31335-9.jpg)

Romare Bearden, “Falling Star” (c. 1980), color lithograph

![M31335-6 001](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/m31335-6.jpg)

Romare Bearden, “Rooster” (c. 1985), watercolor

![M31335-40 001](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/m31335-40.jpg)

Jacob Lawrence, “And God said — let the Earth bring forth the grass, trees, fruits and herbs” (1990), color screenprint chine-collé on St. Armand paper

[The Art Collection of Maya Angelou](http://www.swanngalleries.com/index.php/2390-dr-maya-angelou-collection?ref=hyperallergic.com) *will be on public view at* [*Swann Auction Galleries*](http://www.swanngalleries.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *(104 East 25th Street, Kips Bay, Manhattan) September 8–15, with the auction beginning at 2:30pm on September 15.*