Aaron Douglas’ Harriet Tubman painting heading to Sotheby’s auction
A monumental 1931 painting of Harriet Tubman by Harlem Renaissance artist Aaron Douglas is heading to Sotheby’s in New York with an estimated value of $2.5 million to $3.5 million, with proceeds slated to support Bennett College, a historically Black women’s college in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“Aaron Douglas’ Harriet Tubman reminds us of the strength and power of women, and proceeds from its sale will help to ensure a vibrant future for the institution and the students it serves,” Cassandra Jones Havard, the chair of the Board of Trustees of Bennett College, wrote in a statement to WGHP.
Commissioned in 1931 by Chicago philanthropist Alfred K. Stern for the college’s dining hall, the six-foot-wide canvas depicts the abolitionist breaking a chain on an elevated mound of earth while others observe. The surrounding imagery includes a man cultivating land and a young woman reading a book, echoing the compositional style of Eugène Delacroix’s 1830 masterpiece Liberty Leading the People. The work has spent nearly two decades on loan at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh because Bennett lacks the museum facilities required to properly preserve and exhibit it.
David Galperin, Sotheby’s vice chairman and head of contemporary art, noted the rarity of Douglas’s paintings on the market in an interview with ARTnews. The upcoming sale is expected to surpass the artist’s auction record of $600,000, which was set in 2008 for the smaller 1944 painting Building More Stately Mansions at Swann Galleries in New York.
Public Exhibition and Auction Timeline at Sotheby’s New York
The canvas will be featured in Sotheby’s modern art sale and will go on public display at the auction house’s New York headquarters starting November 7, ahead of the live auction on November 18. Sotheby’s has confirmed that the lot comes with a house guarantee.
Ronald Carter, acting president of Bennett College, emphasized the profound symbolism of the artwork in an interview, stating that the piece powerfully encapsulates the vision and hard work required to secure future progress.
Centennial Funding and the Future of Bennett College
The timing of the auction coincides with the centennial of Bennett operating as a women’s college, having been founded in 1873 and dedicated in 1926. Proceeds from the transaction will directly bolster the institution’s financial future, including the expansion of its Women’s Health Initiative, which launched in January to address healthcare disparities.
The decision to part with the historic canvas followed more than two years of internal discussions at the college. While the physical painting has been away from campus for roughly twenty years, institutional leaders intend to maintain its connection to the school’s legacy as the institution balances the preservation of its cultural history with the economic realities of sustaining higher education.